Preparing For Finals

So as we know, there are certain people *cough cough* about to take finals. Here's some advice from Omaha :)

1. Get plenty of sleep!!!! (especially if you are sick)
2. Get these brain foods: blueberries, salmon, flax seeds, mixed nuts, avacodos, eggs, whole grains, dark chocolate, and broccoli
3. Enjoy your last week at college! You're about to enter into a crazy life again.

Good luck on your finals! We love you!!!!!

It's the Final Countdown!!!!

Do-doo-do-Dooo... Do-do-dup-do-dah.....

Ah, that's a good song. Good old Pep Band! Honestly Sami and Spencer, it may suck now, but High School Marching Band is where some of my best experiences happened looking back on it now. Don't get discouraged or frustrated. Mr. Keith is a nice guy (he has a tough job!) and looking back you will sometimes wish you could be back in High School Marching Band or W.E. for one more day... Ahh........

Anyway, just wanted to give you guys a status update on what's going on in these last few crazy days and weeks.

After you guys left I got a really bad cold that I didn't seem to get over till Friday or Saturday (yesterday), but I'm feeling better now. I studied pretty hard on Thursday, Decently hard on Friday (the morning wasn't very active but the evening was very busy working on a paper till midnight), and barely at all on Saturday. Saturday I had my first real final in Mission Prep. I think I did pretty well on this final. It was free response and there were 181 questions and I missed 19, so I got about an 89.5/90. The frustrating thing in that class was that there's only 3 grades (your 3 exams) but I don't even know what my grade in the class is. At the very end he was like "what do you think you earned in this course?" and I was like "Uh, I don't know. You guys barely ever consider what the student puts down in these types of situations and I don't want to sound arrogant and give myself an A, so like an A- maybe? I don't know you tell me!". That's essentially what I thought and so I put down an A-/B+ and then wrote a paragraph explanation about it kinda like I just did above. The other finals I got done with are my Air Force final (open book, open note, and open Google!) and a Bio test on Wednesday on which I did decent on (I think it was like an 80% or something. I should still get an overall 91% or so in the course).

Saturday, though, was my play day! I didn't get done with my 10 o clock M.P. exam till about 1:30 and I didn't get down to the Library from lunch till almost 3. So I didn't do much studying at all that afternoon. Then Blake called and we decided to hang out that evening. We went to his Kitchen and we watched some T.V. from about 6-7 and then we went to Los Hermanos for dinner. Blake got a Smothered Burrito and I got my classic 2 Bean Burritos. He's never been there before, but he really liked it. I found out that he'll be going to the Single Ward under his Dad and I'm planning on staying in the Home Ward. Now I'm conflicted because I would love to hang with Blake but I don't want to always bend my will so I can do stuff with a friend! AHHHH!!! Decisions decisions! Then we went back to his place and chilled till about 9. I talked with some of his hall mates till 10 and didn't get to bed till 12. Another full day in the life of a College student!!

Now all I have left is a Poli Sci test on Monday which I feel super confident about (I've essentially gotten 100%s on the rest of the stuff in the class, and my test scores have been 85, 88, and 90. So I feel pretty confident for that), and then BOM (I'm nervous about that test because I didn't do well on the Midterm and it's affected my grade pretty harshly, so I need to do well on it) and then my last Poli Sci class. I have a 10 page paper due by Midnight on Thursday (I have a 9 page rough draft that I'll work on the next 3 days) and the only other portion of that final is a multiple choice/quotations, and another quiz. If I can get a good grade on the Multiple Choice again (I got 18 out of 20 last time) I can skip the quotation part (which I don't enjoy doing ) and save myself about 4 hours of test taking. That Poli Sci 202 class was my favorite this entire first year of College! I'm sad that it's over.

I am surviving with my bare neccessities. I've grown used to the sleeping bag (it actually keeps me warmer than my bed!) but I turn a little in it and it's not as easy to sleep in my normal fashion (on my stomach). Otherwise I'm still eating well (though anything off or sometimes on campus requires me to use a debit card. Haven't spent a ton yet, but I've gone out to eat once or twice since you left).

I'm super excited to see you guys in 4 days! Actually, when I post this it will be approx. 4 days, 1 hour, and 35 minutes! Can't wait to hang out with you guys, eat homemade food (got to work off that gut that I've gained! (I'm still sure that at least 20% of that is ab muscle)), teaching Sami to drive stick, playing video games, fixing up the house, ahh... It will be fun for that week or so before I start working again! *Note: For the first night or two, could I sleep on an Air Mattress in the playroom? This way I can sleep without being woken up by all the commotion going on before school starts and I can sleep in till about 9 (that's as long as I can physically sleep for) and that way I can catch up on some well needed sleep. Then I can move back upstairs with Spencer and chill there!

Regardless, I am very happy to almost be done with school and to be able to see you guys again! It will be exciting to see where I get my mission call too! I'll see you in a few days! Love ya!

The Week before *ACHOO* Finals

ACHOO!!! ACHOO!!! AA-AAACHOOO!!!!

Gesundheit. Sorry guys, I've got a cold. I started getting it on Thursday after you left. Sore throat, runny nose, congestion, slight nausea, the gambit. I've been drinking a ton of juice, eating the grapes, and having an Emergen-C everyday. Still congested... I blame Spencer. Or Preston. Or Tanner. Or Brigham. Or Sami. But probably not Mom.

I had a lot of fun with you guys when you were here! I'm sorry if there were moments when I wasn't being patient, fun, or just a jerk. I was a little stressed out when you were here because I had a big paper due and trying to get ready for finals. So if I wasn't as cool as you thought I'd be during College, next time come when I don't have a bunch of pressure going on! ;)

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that this is the week before finals. So I'm going to try and live in the Library and other places so I can study. I have one final today (Wednesday), one on Thursday (It's a take home final), then one on Saturday and Monday. Then after those 4 I have to take 2 more, and 1 is a take home final and a 10-page paper. I shouldn't have to much trouble with that one because I can essentially merge my two papers to help make this one, so that's like 14 pages right there!

I probably won't post again till next Wednesday after I'm all done with all of my tests. There's a possibility that I could be done by Wednesday Morning or earlier. Just depends on how much I get studied and how well I work.

I've never been one to refuse some extra help, so if you all want to pray for me, then that would be fantastic!

Glad that Dad is safe and Sami is getting more of her Value projects done. Good luck to you guys and I'll see you guys in about a week and 1 day!

72 Hour Kits

Hello everyone! For one of my personal progress projects, I decided to create 72 hour kits for my family- in case there was an emergency and we would have to evacuate. I spent hours going through information my mom had collected over the years and I complied a list. I thought I would share it with you! The most important thing to remember is to make the kit personal. Fit the needs of your family. Our kits don't have everything on the list. If you would like a copy of the list, just email me (Sami) and I'll send it to you. I was having troubles uploading it. But we'll keep you updated!

Only a week before I see you!!!!

Can you believe that it's less than a week till I get to see you guys? It's fantastic! I am super excited to see everyone and show off what little of my Room and BYU I can! I'm stoked!

Under normal circumstances I would be freaking out to make sure my room is spotless, but I don't have much to worry about. I keep my room very clean anyway, so it may take a little longer than normal to clean, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Spencer, Preston; have you been practicing your Mario Skills yet? If not you better get on it otherwise all the hype I put up for you will be for not. (Also, let me know which days you two want to sleep over so the Gamecube can be available. Or if you don't want to play Mario Party or Mario Kart (it'll be with two girls from the ward. They're decent, but they're more entertaining to beat than in competition) let me know and we can just chill in my room.)

Anyway, this past week has been pretty much relax for me. I gave double reds at the blood drive (I thought that was going to take like an hour, but it only took 20 minutes or so. And they had a little light to tell me when to squeeze and when not to, and a progress meter, so I didn't have to think at all! It was lovely!). I did well (I think) on my third Poli Sci 170 exam, so that was a relief. And I pretty much just chilled for the past few days.

I will say that Air Force was pretty exciting this week. On Thursday we had our final parade (nothing fancy. I basically stood at parade rest and attention for about 15 minutes and then marched around a soccer field and back into parade rest for another 10 minutes.) and our end of the year awards ceremony. Last semester only a few cadets won awards (we get little ribbons to put on our uniform) and it was a little depressing because a lot of people deserve awards but don't get them. This semester though, almost everyone got at least 1 award. I was able to come home with 4 or 5! I believe one was for my scholarship, the other was for being super academic, the other was for being in the Arnold Air Society (a national club here), and one for being super on my PFA (my big physical test I took). I might be missing a few but I am hoping to have them on my uniform when you guys get here so I can show it off to you!

The other cool thing was something called "Dining Out". It is essentially a really nice formal military dinner. In the past they did it at the Wilk Ballroom but this year we went up to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake. It was really nice! Everyone was in uniform and showing off their dates and ribbons (I didn't bring a date because I didn't want to/they said we couldn't bring dates until like 4 days before the end of the sign up so I didn't want to waste my time and energy trying to find a date that I didn't want to bring in the first place. Also, I didn't have time to go and grab my ribbons on Friday so I wasn't wearing any, but a lot of people weren't, so I didn't feel too left out) and it was at this really nice conference center that had nice white walls and on one side old fashion oddly-shaped-brick-and-mortar wall. It had a nice atmosphere to it and the food was delicious! The caters had super big portions and the food was delicious (so much better than BYU Catering!) We had a guest speaker talk to us. His name is Lt. Colonel Rex Vanderwood, Commander of the 647th Air Base Group and Deputy Commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. He was a lot of fun to listen to because he and our Colonel are good friends. He talked about how to overcome failure and the need to always be prepared. So it was nice to listen to him joke and talk with us. We also had a really cool POW/MIA ceremony. During Dinner and the Grog the President (Cadet Colonel) and Vice (Cadet Deputy Colonel) would make jokes about stuff in ROTC, like how the Drill Team cheer sounds more like the fashion line Carhartt then "grarat" (it's supposed to sound like a dog growling).

The most prominent thing about Dining Out is something called "The Grog". The Grog is a practice used in all military bases and is essentially military hazing that affects even the most senior members. What it is is this: Imagine a giant porcelain toilet bowl (yes, a toilet bowl) filled with a nasty concoction that essentially depends on the head table decided to be in there. It can have any number of ingredients in it; for example: Soy Sauce, Chili Powder, Lemon Juice, Jalapeno Peppers, Cottage Cheese, Yogurt, etc., and it's all blended up into a liquid. This year's Grog was essentially yogurt, like 7 different Jalapeno Peppers, and I think some salt and maybe a pinch of sugar. Here's a good example of the Grog (not all of them are this nasty by the way, and ours was liquidfied.)

The grog can be dangerous. Be prepared...

To get the honor of drinking from the grog, you have to have some infraction of the rules. If someone notices that you have infracted a rule, you can stand up, yell "Mr. Vice, Point of Order!" and then proceed to explain why the said cadet should be groged. If the Vice (2nd in command) agrees, then the cadet has to march up to the table and prepare for the groging. Sometimes they can defend themselves, but most times they can't. But there is proper procedure on how to drink the grog. First you have to Salute the grog...


Then you fill up the cup with the grog...


Then you must do an about-face (Turn around) and yell "TO THE MESS!!!!!"



You then drink the grog without removing the cup from your lips (if it does you may have to do it again)....


And after this is all done than you have to tip this empty glass over your head. If a single drop falls out, you have to do it all over again...


The Final Step is marching back to your seat. But once you get there, you have to yell something that the Vice told you to say. Some of my personal favorites of the evening were "Ooooh! I like it like that!", "Never fear! I have arrived!", and "The Fun has arrived!!!"

And that's the end of the grog! Now you can be groged multiple times during the evening depending on how many infractions you break (i.e. Not having someone watching your date, not having a fully charged glass, doing something stupid during the evening and the semester, etc.). I didn't get groged thankfully, but a bunch did. Our Cadet Colonel from last semester got groged about 4 or 5 different times! Ah.... it was fun!

Well, that's pretty much it. I would be happy to tell you more. Just ask when you guys get here! Love you lots and hope to see you soon!!!!

Spamming the Blog

Preston has iPod troubles.

Spencer won't dance at dances.

Dad is fighting foreign diseases, and is gone all the time.

I'm creating 72 hour kits. It's like camping.

Brigham read his first book today. It's "My Family Eats Dinner in the Bathtub."

And Tanner is maybe finally becoming potty trained.

Check out these pictures I took. IN NEBRASKA. Beat that :)

So ya. Hi :D

Guess What???

Hi Steven. Guess what? I wrote on the blog. Beat that :)

So I was wondering................................................................................................................................
What's up????

Lol, jk. So guess what?? I'm going to get my license soon. Yep. And I might do AP Calc BC. Yep. And I have screwed up shoulders. Yep. And I'm going to an anti-prom party next week and then going to post prom. Yep. With Kelly and a group of people. Yep. I'm excited. Yep. And we're coming out to Utah, which I know you had NO idea about. Yep. And you're still shocked to see this ;)