A Collection of Random Thoughts

My life is insanely busy these days.  I am teaching and it is exhausting and rewarding and the best thing ever (aside from Harry Potter and BYU sports).

Something that is absolutely disgusting that you might not think about: steaming football players.  Please allow me to explain.  The last two home games have been exceedingly cold.  They have the heaters set up on the sidelines and all the fans are wearing four thousand layers (which gives you negative chest points).  Then one of the linemen comes off the field and removes his helmet, and you see more than his breath.  You see steam coming off of his head and neck and it is so gross.  Without seeing it, it's hard to understand how disgusting it actually is. Ok, I'll stop now.

Listen, I know you'll think I'm crazy but I can recognize Jimmer based on the way he moves his body.  Jimmer hangs out on the field during the football games and during the last few games he's been hidden under various layers of clothes and hats.  Usually I just look for him standing near Whitney before the game, but then there's so many people to watch (Andrew Rich, Riley Nelson, etc etc) and I lose sight of him among all the other people dressed in navy and gray.  Except that I can find Jimmer.  I've spent so much time watching Jimmer play and be on the sidelines and interviews and stuff, that I can tell it's him just by the way he moves his head and body.  Go ahead and laugh at my insanity, but it's the truth.

I've added something to the mental pseudo-list I have about future boyfriends/spouse.  It is important that the person knows how to use a well placed swear.  Some people swear gratuitously (I think I might be one of them) and some people don't swear at all (which I respect, but I think it might be a little up-tight).  However, the ability to confidently use a swear word on appropriate occasions is something I find attractive in a man.  Now judge me.

I guess I should just quit blogging while I'm not even really ahead, but before I get further behind.

Bad Fans

I need to preface this post with a disclaimer saying that I have nothing against this gentleman.

(That's Riley Nelson with the long hair for those of you not on the up-and-up with BYU football players). 

I mean really, did you even read my last post about football?  Clearly I have nothing against him.  Also, in the game last night he ROCKED IT OUT.  We owe a lot of the credit for our last minute victory to Riley and his willingness to take a hit and ability to think on his feet.  He's a great quarterback.  Ok, disclaimer over.

People need to shut the hell up about Jake Heaps.  First of all, he's a tiny infant child (meaning, he's extremely young) and gets flustered.  We wish he wouldn't, but it happens.  I got distracted, I need to get back to the point.

Stop being crap fans.  Don't chant for Riley when Jake is in.  Honestly, do you think that improves his game play?   I'm sure your performance would improve if the people who are supposed to be on your side are cheering against you.  Also, never boo your own team (didn't happen at this game, but it did against UCF).  Every time the lousy fans decided it was a good idea to chant "Riley Riley" I was filled with rage.  If you're a good fan support your team NO MATTER WHAT.  Even though I think Heaps has it in him, do I cheer against Nelson?  No, I cheer for whoever the coaches decide to put in.  I feel so bad for Jake.  When you can get out there and do better then you are welcome to talk bad about him all you want.  

I know some of my friends and not just acquaintances are guilty of the Jake hate and especially of Riley worship (dear Provo, he's not the second-coming).  Perhaps this post offends you.  I don't care.  Perhaps you feel this is a direct attack on you.  It probably is.  It's not pointed at one particular person, but it is pointed.  

Rant over. 

Let Me Introduce You

Let me introduce you to someone.  This is Riley Nelson. 

Oh yes, hello.  Could you please go back to this haircut?  Thanks.  

Riley is backup quarterback for BYU.  Tonight he rocked out a trick play that was BEAUTIFUL.  Not the point of this post.  Moving on. 

Looky, even though baby Jakey took his job they are nicey nice to each other (I have nothing against baby Jakey, by the way).  

Right now he's grown his hair out long.  I prefer it short, but it's growing at me.  He seems to keep it clean.  Still, not the point of the post.  

Want to hear a little known fact about good old Riley Nelson?  Let's talk about what Riley wears under his football pants.  Is it A) Underarmor shorts B) briefs C) athletic shorts D) nothing.

Did you choose an answer?  

If you chose D you are right!  Our seats being on the third row and all we see the team up close and personal and let me tell you, you can see RIGHT through those white pants and you can tell that Riley is all skin color under there. 

Also, you can see the whatever the leg strap parts are called on his jock strap.  That part's not my favorite. 

Is it bad that I don't mind my view much?  In fact, I really like it.  At the Utah game the most interesting thing on the field was Riley Nelson's backside.  

Men look good in football pants.  Riley looks especially good in football pants.  Riley apparently has something against underclothing.  

I'll stop there.  I promised Sarah I would try to keep this post relatively tame because her mom reads my blog.  

P.S. New football love?  Daniel Sorensen.  Yum.  

A Great Video

Listen, just go watch this now because it's so funny at the end in my opinion.  I giggled out loud to myself.

Fourth Grade Thus Far

I started in my fourth grade class on Monday. I sure do miss my sixth graders, but fourth will be good. Here are reasons to love them already.

-There is a black girl. I miss black people in my life. Not to mention she's as sweet as pie.

- There is a kid named Jackson and a kid named Noah (great men's basketball team names).

- All of my students are at or above level in reading (this is unheard of for the classes I've been in so far).

- My mentor teacher is amazing.

-There's a saucy redhead in my class. It's like having a little Sarah around sometimes.

- My kids love BYU sports. One wrote a name tag to cover his that said "Jimmer Fridet #32." That kid is a bamf.

-Several of my students remind me of my cousins when they were little and spunky.

What I Like

I was asking Sarah what I should blog about and she said I should follow her lead and blog about things I like.

Here it is.

Yes, thank you laminated life size Jimmer Fredette.

Love Basketball

I love BYU basketball. If you don't know this by now you should probably stop reading this blog. My friend Caroline is in the MTC right now and will leave on a mission soon so she didn't get to see the game against SDSU the other day. Her brother wrote this and I thought it was great so I'm reposting it.

Caroline requested that Robbie send her a Dear Elder letter today to let her know how last night's game turned out. He decided to maintain the spirit of missionary service as he provided her a recap...

1 Behold, I, Robbie, who am thy older brother, and do speak all manner of things pertaining to righteousness, or in other words, of things pertaining to the BYU Cougars

2 Do address this epistle to you, Sister Bullough, who art in the service of our God, which service causes me great joy

3 For thou art doing that which is great in the eyes of God. Thou art performing a labor that will bring souls unto Christ, yea, many souls, insomuch that no greater service can be performed than that which ye are performing at this time.

4 And I do write unto you this epistle to tell you of the great and marvelous battle which did take place in the land of the Cougars last night.

5 And it came to pass in the twelfth year of the oppressive reign of the Mountain West Conference – BYU having declared its freedom from those wicked judges

6 Which freedom was to commence on the first day of the seventh month –

7 And it came to pass on the twenty-sixth day of the first month, the Aztecs of San Diego State invaded the land of Provo.

8 And the Aztecs were mighty and strong, for they had yet to fall by the sword to anyone, being perfect in their record, and ranked fourth throughout the land.

9 But behold, the Cougars of BYU were also mighty and strong in their own right, yea, they were ranked ninth in the land.

10 And it came to pass that the Aztecs invaded the Cougars at the heart of the land of their possessions, yea, in the Marriott Center.

11 But behold, the Marriott Center was among the most fortified of all the strongholds in all the land. Yea, in 31 attempts to invade the land, the Aztecs had only been successful thrice.

12 And behold, the leader of the army of the Cougars was a man by the name of Dave Rose, he leading the Cougars to battle in the Marriott Center 88 times and defeating his enemies 84 times.

13 And it came to pass that this particular invasion marked the first time that two top ten teams did battle in the Marriott Center since Lehi left Jerusalem, yea, and probably even before that.

14 And the people of Provo did gather themselves together in the Marriott Center, yea, 22,700, many of whom arrived many hours before the battle was to commence.

15 And never before had there been a louder gathering in the Marriott Center. Yea, it was deafening to the ears and sent chills down the spines of all who had come to witness the battle.

16 And in the strength of their wives and their children and their bretheren did the Cougars go to battle with the Aztecs.

17 And it came to pass that there was one mighty and strong among the Aztecs, yea, and his might and his strength was known throughout the land.

18 And his name was Kawhi Leonard.

19 And it came to pass that Kawhi Leonard fell ill and did thrust up the contents of his stomach many times throughout the day and did receive IVs before the battle.

20 Nevertheless, he did fight diligently, insomuch that he did score 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for a double-double.

21 And he did hit a three-point basket in the final seconds of the first half.

22 Which first half was a truly great battle, for both sides did fight mightily for their cause, and neither team gained great advantage over the other, for it was a close and intense battle.

23 And it came to pass that the Aztecs had a 31-30 lead as the two sides pitched their tents for halftime.

24 And now, behold, the Cougars also had one mighty and strong, whose might and strength was also known throughout the land, yea, he was feared by many, and when others saw him tarrying in other parts of the land, his presence did cause them to quake, yea, quake even to the depths of their souls because of the great fear which he did cause to come upon them.

25 And his name was Jimmer Fredette.

26 And it came to pass that even Lord Voldemort did refuse to utter his name, and did call him he who must not be named.

27 And moreover, Chuck Norris did enter into a covenant with the Jimmer, whereupon the loser must grow a beard.

28 And it came to pass that Chuck Norris grew a beard.

29 And this Jimmer Fredette did have much weighing on his mind, for his brother TJ did perform for the students before the battle, yea, and twenty and four NBA scouts were there to observe the battle.

30 And it came to pass that the Jimmer did score from anywhere and everywhere on the battlefield.

31 Yea, the Aztecs did defend him mightily, yea, sometimes two or three Aztecs attempted to guard the Jimmer.

32 Nevertheless, the Jimmer did score 20 points in the first half, including the last 15 points for the Cougars.

33 And it came to pass in the second half that the Jimmer did dominate the battle.Yea, he did make a crossover three that exposed the foolishness of the ankles of D.J. Gay who tried to guard him.

34 And he did come off ball screens and hit fade away threes, yea, insomuch that he made shots that looked as if he were falling from off the face of the earth.

35 And he did drive to the basket and score, yea, and the number of his points was exceedingly great.

36 So great that never before had anyone scored so great a number of points in the Marriott Center among all the people of BYU.

37 Yea, the Jimmer did score forty and two points.

38 And it came to pass that the Aztecs of San Diego State were astonished, yea, exceedingly astonished.

39 And it came to pass that the Cougars won the battle convincingly by a score of 71-58, and the rumor spread throughout all the land that the unbeaten Aztecs had fallen and that the Jimmer had scored forty and two points.

40 Yea, even Kevin Durrant of the Oklahoma City Thunder – who himself scored forty and seven points in the NBA on this night – did tweet that “Jimmer Fredette is the best scorer in the world.”

41 And at the conclusion of the battle, the students, yea 5,000 strong, did rush the floor to congratulate the Jimmer.

42 And behold I tell you these things that you might know that the Cougars of BYU are perhaps the greatest team in the land.

43 Yea, they did fight mightily for their cause, insomuch that they were victorious.

44 And again, verily I say unto you, that never before had such a gathering of Cougars been so loud.

45 For those who came were filled with passion, insomuch that they shouted exceedingly loud.

46 And the people of BYU did celebrate exceedingly because of the greatness of their victory.

47 But behold, Dave Rose and his army did not celebrate exceedingly, for another battle did await them. Yea, in two days’ time, on the sixth day of the week, they will go to Albuquerque to do battle with the Lobos in the place that is called the Pit.

48 Yea, the Pit is not the Marriott Center, but is like unto it.

49 And Dave Rose and his army must be strong in mind and spirit so as to win that battle as well.

50 And behold, I, Robbie, do end my epistle.

Sports Related

You look like a homeless person...

Especially when you haven't shaved either. So here is a present for you.

Because as much as I hate to admit it and as much as Sarah will not be my friend again because I said this. You have the capacity to look pretty dang good.

But I still hate the Pats....

Go Colts!

Thanksgiving and Etc.

Caroline and I are watching The Derby Stallion right now. It's awful. I'm not just saying that. It seems like a Lifetime movie that was made in 1993, not something that was made in 2005. Confession: Zac Efron is still attractive in this movie.

I wish I had a header for my blog. Maybe with some pictures or something with me and my friends or who knows, but I wish I had one.

I was lucky enough to have a great friend (Britt) offer me a place to go for Thanksgiving. At first I thought that maybe I would just stay home by myself and chill and possibly grab some Denny's for dinner. Then I realized that that would be supremely depressing and went to Britt's Mom's house with her and Kyle and her old roommate Nadia. Turned out to be such a fun time. It's so kind that there are people who will let other people invade on their family time for the holidays.

Caroline (she's been staying with me for the past couple days) went Black Friday shopping with me at midnight. It was crazy and she was such a good sport and I bought a tv online and some movies and a crockpot and a little food processor and it was awesome. I've also been doing some online shopping with the amazon.com deals and stuff.

I miss my family right now. They're crazy and obnoxious and irritating as all get out, but they're my family and I love and miss them.

Tomorrow is the Holy War. I'm SO pumped. I made two dozen chocolate peanut butter cupcakes (even though one dozen got eaten tonight) and two crockpots full of taco soup. Good football needs good food. Also, BYU basketball almost gave me a heart attack today, but we won and then I just had palpitations.

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!

My Boys

All weekend (at least since Friday night's amazing basketball game) I've been mentally preparing a blog post about "my boys," namely Jimmer, Jackson, Noah, Jake Heaps, Luke Ashworth, JJ, and so on. Then came last night.

We've been having a competition in my ward between the guys and the girls. The girls won by a hair so the guys had to serve us dinner - that was the deal. They put this beautiful dinner together and did it up right. Every single girl in the ward (all those that came anyway) was treated like a queen.

The boys who decided to valet park our cars, those are my boys.

The boys who escorted each and every girl to her seat on an arm, those are my boys.

The boys who slid in chairs and took our coats, those are my boys.

The boys who cooked and served a delicious meal, who gave personalized invitations complete with live music, who wrote beautiful letters of appreciation and gratitude for each girl individually, who planned the whole outstanding event...

Those are my boys.

I'm hoping to be able to get a picture from last night and post it here. Watch for it.

Don't worry sports guys, I still love you too and you did a bang up job this weekend and it was absolutely awesome.

The Weekend in Review

The good:

1. Thursday: Inception with Sarah, Vampire Diaries with Sarah, and watching the Backstreet Boys on Oprah (TiVo'd so we didn't have to watch the whole episode).

2. Basketball vs. BYU-Hawaii (exhibition game) in which we dominated and had a grand old time and of course saw our dang awesome team and got stoked for the season (except Jackson Emery didn't play which was sad).

3. Eating some of these with Sarah and Mike.

4. Watching That Thing You Do (ok, so I slept through half because I was tired).

5. Dang awesome football game vs. UNLV on Saturday including seats all the way at the top of the east bleachers and completely dominating UNLV (55 - 7).

(picture stolen from Sarah)

6. Productive time before getting ready and going to wait in line.

(picture stolen from Sarah)

7. For Divine Comedy with Sarah, Britt, and Kyle! (which was hilarious I think).

The bad:

1. The Colts lost to the Eagles today.

2. Probably because of this. :(

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.

Life Lately

I printed my 4+ years of livejournal, am having it bound, and shipped to my house all for about 12 bucks. I really did use it as my journal for that time in my life and even though it's super angsty, it will be helpful to have.

School is both busy and not busy. I don't know how to explain so I won't.

I love the smell of fire on my clothes.

My friends and I in the elementary education program started a new blog called Teachers Read Books for posting reviews, recommendations, events, etc.

Steph sometimes makes me feel a little worthless because she is super motivated.

JK Rowling is going to be on Oprah on Friday. I'm TiVo-ing it.

Today we were assigned "mentees" in the elementary education program. Basically they're the little baby frosh that are still freaked out by the prospect and might want to ask someone questions. I like that I'll get to be the authority on something.

My job is essentially the easiest thing in the world. Today I got paid for an hour of doing absolutely nothing.

I'm FHE mom now (I don't know if I said that yet) and it stresses me out more than it should. I want everyone to love every activity. I know that can't happen, but whatevs.

I realized by the time I get home for Christmas, Tori will be about 11 months old. That's freaking me out. She won't know me at all. I'm trying to convince either her mom or my mom to video chat with me so I can see her. She's still fat.

The BYU football team is pretty bad this year. I'll still cheer as loud as possible and be proud of my boys, it's just a building year.

I'm ready for basketball season.

Football Fight

Today the BYU v FSU game was on some crap network (ESPN-U) that no one really gets around here unless they pay for a sports package. So BYUSA teamed up with Cougar United to hold a party in the Wilk (the student building with the food court and stuff for those of you that don't go to BYU) for people to gather and watch the game. There was some hot dogs and lemonade and a ton of people and a big screen and happiness. Problem is, there was this one FSU fan. Homeboy was being pretty obnoxious and standing to clap while the rest of us were sad when BYU was not doing so hot. May I just remind you that this was on the BYU campus? Yeah, what a jerk. Shortly thereafter BYU made some great play and people pointed and hollered at the FSU fan and one BYU fan ran up and yelled something really close to the douche. Well, Mr. Idiot FSU fan decided to stand up and do a little chest push on harmless, but celebratory BYU guy. Event staff came over as the two guys yelled at each other and a little bit more pushing happened. The whole ballroom full of people stopped watching the game and started watching for a fight. I hoped someone would throw a punch because, hey, who doesn't like a good fight? It all simmered down, though event staff stayed close to those two guys.

Oh, and we did lose. It was pretty sad.

On a happier note this is hilarious to me. STRONG LANGUAGE WARNING! I did warn you. I know some of you that read this are good nice people that aren't so wicked as I am.

Sidenote: miss him.

Potassium 2.0

I got my blood level checked yesterday and my potassium level hasn't even changed from before the infusion a couple weeks ago. This means I get to go back tomorrow for another potassium infusion with even more potassium which means even more time chillin' in the hospital. Last time they told me 3-4 hours and I was there just over 5. This time they told me at least 5 hours.

On a different note, I spent a lot of time today reorganizing my bedroom and doing all the little clean out the drawers type of stuff as well as this great project. It's not perfect yet but it's a work in progress.

My New Favorite Toy

I have a new favorite toy. Sarah introduced me to it. It's called RealPlayer (I know, you've already heard of it) and it's magical. Any video I find on the internet that I want? It's mine. All I do is click and it downloads and then I convert it to my iPod. So what if so far everything I've downloaded has been BYU sports videos? I kind of love BYU sports. Remember? I started a whole blog on the topic?

After Sarah, Caroline, and I went to the BYU baseball game today (which we won - it was payback to Kansas State for basketball) we decided we needed a sweet. So we headed over to The Chocolate in Orem. After several minutes of observing I wasn't very excited. I was trying to pick something I wanted but nothing really appealed to me. Naturally we just went ahead and left and headed over to the tried and true Cocoa Bean Cafe back in Provo. Yum. I couldn't decide which flavor I wanted, so I got two (one for then, one for later). My favorite flavor is ultimate brownie, but I definitely want to try this one some day. Yum.

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:

BYU Basketball Fail

I'm on my computer during a basketball game. Usually I would be riveted to the screen, but I had to find something else to focus my attention. The first half isn't even over and BYU is losing to UNLV 45-18. Sad. I'm so sad. We're missing every shot and they're making every shot. Oh dear.

Men's Basketball Vs. Utah (part 2)

Ok, here's the rest of the basketball info. Mike and I went to wait in line starting at 1pm (and the game was at 7). As people got off work/finished their obligations they showed up. Sarah was first to show up. She wins the prize. Mike and I played 8 games of mancala and 8 games of blink (a super fun, fast card game that you should try). Also played: 3 rounds of bananagrams, 2 hands of scum, lots of bop-it, and some catch phrase. As the time got closer and closer I got more and more hyper and excited. Finally, it was 5:30 and time to go in.

I knew it was going to happen, but as the entering time started I began getting really pissed off. People cut all the way to the beginning of the line and ruined my life. I was so hyper and excited and mad that I yelled a few unkind things at people. When we went inside we got some decent seats at the half court mark in the uppermost part of the lower bowl. Eventually the game started and it was an amazing start with huge white sheets and projectors and darkness and amazingness.

Even though BYU is clearly the better basketball team this year by far, the energy for the Holy War is completely different and tense. There were a few beautiful plays and few nasty ones. Including some punk Utah freshman (Marshall Henderson) punching Jackson Emery in the face. It was a great reason to chant "You are classless" also we got to use "Just like football" which is my favorite of all time. I love when we kick Utah's trash. It makes me so happy. Oh, and their coach was totally bogus and was all over the court (clearly visible in the video linked above). He did go check on Jackson after his player punched him, though.

Afterwards about 13 of us went to Training Table to get some good, cheap food. We are all about the good cheap food. I was sitting so I could see the door and just started smacking Sarah's hand and hyperventilating a little bit. Who had just walked in? Jackson Emery and family! Several of us nearly died. Me from a heart attack. On the way out we stopped and congratulated him on a fantastic game. It was amazing. I spazzed out a little in the car because sometimes I need to do that. Overall, successful and awesome night/day.

Here are our sweet shirts that cost 3 bucks apiece (thanks to Scott for loaning cash to the lot of us).

(From left to right: Scott, Mike, Sarah, Me, Susan, Trent)