my friend sent me this link to a short video that recaps all the 1st presidency's and apostles' talks from our latest General Conference (october 2008). i thought it was a good reminder of what we learned in those two days and a reminder of what our Church truly teaches.

here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFvIwXJhxCY

disney sends its greetings

this is a real nativity scene in brigham that has been up as long as i can remember. it gets bigger and better every year. the pics aren't fabulous, but we had to run before the neighbors came out.

quadruple berry blitz

this thanksgiving i was put in charge of the berry pie. easy enough i thought--mix some berries, a little sugar and cornstarch, make a couple pie shells and voila! we have a wonderful berry pie.

well, this year didn't go quite that well, but for my first two-crust pie it didn't go too bad. i began the whole process with starting a small fire, but luckily nothing more came with that. the crusts were a little crumbly and i did learn you don't need to poke holes in the bottom crust when there is a top, which is unfortunate--i had a lovely "K" monogrammed in the center (even if you wouldn't have ever seen it). the top crust had its difficulties as you can see, and the "K" on top didn't go as well as the one inside; my grandma told me i had better stop poking when the filling started coming out the top.

in the end the filling was a little thin, the crust a little uneven, but after all the fam had stuffed our stomachs with pie mine (the quadruple berry blitz) had the smallest amount left and it had some tough competition with the "chocolate mousse supreme" "key lime delight" and "chocolate oreo extravaganza" (i'm hoping this wasn't just to be nice)

new style

thanks to my dear friend annie, i was finally able to figure out how to change the background of my blog to something cute and not just the boring blogger template. for me blogging is like scrapbooking, i'm just not that good at it. i've made two scrapbooks in my life--the first was only pictures with marker designs all over, and the second i made from a kit (everything was there, i just had to stick it on a page). let's just say, it's not my cup of tea, but i'm trying.

in a year of having this blog, i've made 23 posts; some bloggers make that in an hour. i guess i'll be leaving off "seasoned blogger" on my resume. this next year, i'll go for 50 posts and maybe next year i'll have another skill for that resume (p.s. if you hear of any job opportunities let me know, i'm definitely in the market).

finally, since it is thanksgiving and annie's post inspired me, here are some things i'm thankful for
1. my family: mom, dad, annie(1) i couldn't do it without you, i know i wouldn't have made it through college without you 10 minutes away
2. the gospel: it keeps me sane, it keeps me stable
3. my friends: i have been blessed with lots of them, and they always seem to know when i need their love and support
4. annie (2): my best friend, i look up to her and admire her so much, (the selfish part of me still wishes she hadn't found a boy and fallen in love because i miss her)
5. my neighbors: i have the best neighborhood around, my neighbors are just like my extended family
6. nature: great peace can be found in being outside and enjoying God's creations
7. trials: while i hate them in the moment, i know they make be better
8. an education: i love learning and i have loved going to school at byu
9. on a lighter note: my closet, well more so, the contents within my closet

proof that boys never grow up

girls just wouldn't try this, no matter what age. it is definitely not smart, and probably can't be very comfortable

honestly?

Ok, who honestly falls for these emails? I get them at work all the time and they are hilarious. obviously people are falling for them if they're still being sent, but really, you think some random rich man found your name and wants to make you his heir and give his millions to you? yeah right, he's lying to you.

Mi querido amigo

I am Mr. Hooper Lee, at present I am suffering from throat cancer and have a hole in the heart. My attending medical practitioner has just informed me that my days are counted because of my degraded health. My matrimonial situation is such as I do not have a wife and even less children to whom I could bequeath my heritage.

It is because of this I would like gracious and with the aim of help stripped to give you this known as heritage rising to a value of $9.5 million US dollars for you to use it to help the orphans, victims of war, HIV/Aids, and expand the work of God in your country. As you can see this is a very hard decision to take but I have no option than to will out this deposit before my major operation in few days from now therefore I would like you to think about it very well and forward to me your complete data, full name, address, age, occupation and telephone number, etc.

I count on your goodwill and especially the good use of these funds for your endeavours. God bless you and your family.

oh and what is the etc.? maybe your social, bank account info, what you eat for breakfast. just feel free to give whatever information would make the transaction of stealing your identity a little easier.

being bold

do you ever find that you've been a little bolder than you thought you could be? you say things that you wish you would have said a hundred times before? that happened for me just the other night and it was so refreshing.

i was on a first date and it got to the point where he asks if i would like to go out again. pause. (the date was fine, we had a nice dinner and conversation, but i didn't see anything coming from future dates so do i say sure and not answer or just tell him.) "i think it would be a waste of your time to take me out again," i say, not quite sure i'm the one saying it. wow, i actually told a guy no, i've never done that before. i'm the girl that says yes and doesn't answer the phone or all the sudden gets really busy, not a "no" girl. but i did it, and it wasn't too bad. now i know he felt a shot to his ego at first, but i imagine that he feels much better about that than me getting his hopes up and then dropping him.

it felt nice ya know, to just say no. it was bold for me, but very refreshing. try it sometime.

discontinued

the word discontinued is one of my least favorites. it means something that you once loved is no longer there and back to square one you go. (i guess it can also be a good thing, but in this case, it was a very bad thing)

i went to buy my favorite (and my only) perfume today and it was gone, discontinued, the girl didn't even know which one i was talking about it was so gone. no more MAC greenify for kristen. i'm lost. i don't get into perfumes, but i liked this one, a lot.

hopefully, i can find another good one soon, but i don't even know where to start. (good thing i found two cute new cardigans to offset my losses :))

beautiful girl

Well this week was the first week of classes for me which generally entails several introductions. usually, it's just name and hometown but one professor got creative and wanted to know what our very first career choice was (like when you're 4 and want to be a treasure diver). Well, I started thinking really hard and all I could remember was thinking that I had the most beautiful voice and that when I grew up I would use that beautiful voice to be a singer, or use it as my talent in the Miss America competition. I also remembered that if I wanted to be a beauty queen I would obviously have to be beautiful. what more could a 4-year-old want than being absolutely ravishing? In my time crunch (when your last name starts with "B" you never have much time to think about your answers) I couldn't think of the words "princess" or "Miss America" so all I could muster was that I thought I wanted to be a singer, but mainly I wanted to be a beautiful girl. As soon as the words left my mouth I knew that I had made a pretty dumb comment and there was no return. I was now the girl that had no aspirations in life except being a beautiful girl. It may not sound too bad, but it was awkward; my professor had no words to respond except to wish me luck with the singing career. (Little does he know, I don't sing.)

making faces

will making faces ever stop being enjoyable? i think not. it keeps us young at heart. here are some of our best from dinner the other night.

growing up

the other night i went to dinner with some of my best college friends and realized that we are all growing up. graduation, marriage, buying houses, real jobs, and moving away have all come our way much faster than i wanted. we're all starting to go our separate ways and it's a little bittersweet. i'm happy for all my friends that are moving on to bigger and better but sad that we've been spending less and less time together as we approach the new phases of our lives. it has made me realize that growing up isn't always fun, but it's necessary and it always brings new adventures. if i could give any advice about growing up, i would say take your time. being a student is easy and a lot of fun, there is no reason to rush graduation as i'm starting to find out (only one semester left for me!). after graduation, life starts getting a little more serious and i don't know if i'm quite ready for it. however, i do know that there will always be some time to be a little crazy.

chow mein hill

sister nina hill has been called to serve as a missionary for our church in korea. nina has been my lifelong friend, and i can't remember a time without her being around. even though i do miss her (she left last wednesday) i'm really impressed and proud of her decision. serving a mission is not easy, it's a lot of hard work and it's not always in completely favorable conditions. nina and i have always lived pretty comfortable lives (even living in the dorms and sharing a bathroom with 37 girls wasn't so bad) and she has chosen to leave those comforts and serve the people of korea; i know i would have a much harder time leaving those comforts. what an adventure though, you never know what's coming next, but nina has a great attitude about life and i know it will be an exciting and gratifying experience for her.

p.s. the "chow mein hill" title comes from what her name will sound like in korean (which sounds something like he-ro chow may) and some how we got chow mein hill from it, and it stuck. it's fitting though right?

It's been a while

well, to all 3 of my readers (maybe more, i don't know), i'm sorry it's been a little while. this blog was started basically to record some adventures in dating (and other random experiences), but since i haven't had any boys trying to give me love ferns or married men hitting on me lately, i haven't felt like i've had much to write about. yes, i have received a love fern, that stuff doesn't happen in movies only. generally, i have a new crush every day, but it never lasts long. i've even been going on dates, but still nothing too exciting (although LeAnn Rimes acoustic was pretty good--man that girl can sing--and golfing was fun even though i maybe hit the ball 30 yards).

so what have i been doing you ask? well, i work 40 hours a week at Color Me Mine. . . a paint your own ceramic studio. i'm not that artistic, but i do the jobs others don't want to do (and i love them) i'm the manager, i like being in charge; sometimes i get offended when others tell me what to do, i'm working on being more open to suggestions. (i already know what i'm doing, and i do a pretty good job i think--maybe i don't--but constant change and adaptation is good.)

i also play a lot of volleyball. i am so grateful that i didn't dance or cheer in high school. seriously, no offense to those that have those talents, you do a much better job than i could ever do, and i'm happy being a volleyball player. volleyball is one of those skills that is life long, and as it turns out, it's one of those skills that allows me to play with the boys and i love it. it's always a good feeling to get picked to be on a team (and not just because they feel bad but because i can play the game).

what else do i do? i don't really know, except that i tend to fill my days and always find myself going to bed too late. i'll keep ya posted if anything new and exciting happens

You can't make this stuff up

Well, last week I was at lunch when my friend showed me the police beat. I'm not a huge fan of the newspaper, much less BYU's "The Daily Universe" (it doesn't quite match up to the Nordstrom catalog or People) but I decided to read it anyway. And, I guess it was polite since my friend was showing it to me. Anyway, I started reading down the list, an arrest, random criminal mischief, domestic violence, and then I get to the harassment section.

First, there were a few inappropriate text messages that were being investigated, and second my personal favorite and reason why I am writing this post. . ."BYU math teaching assistants called BYU police to report a male student who had repeatedly threatened them. The student said he would pull out a female TA's hair with duct tape (strange) and would stab another TA's foot with a thumb drive to infect him with a deadly virus. BYU police are questioning the individual."

They were totally serious, you can't just make this stuff up boys and girls. This is real BYU crime at its best. A deadly virus from a thumb drive, I can't get over it; I wish I could express my hysterical laughter in type, but let's face it, that's hard. Maybe a little too much world of war craft, I don't know. Next time you're planning on using that threat just be careful, you might end up in the police beat.

These are a few of my favorite things. .

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things. . . well, maybe for julie andrews, but i definitely have some favorites that i want to share.

1. the hane's men's white v-neck tee. they are perfect for working out, hanging out, going out, eating out, they're just good to wear and really cute. not to toot my own horn, but i have had several people comment on my cute white shirt and i laugh when i tell them what they are and that you can buy them at target in a pack of 5 for $8.97 ish. (that sounds more like a walmart price.) i have had several friends go out and buy some after they see mine and they wear them all the time.

2. c.o. bigelow ultra mentha lip shine from bath and body works. this stuff rocks! it adds a great shine to your lips and it tastes great. once again, i've gotten so many comments on my lip gloss while wearing it, from people i don't even know. now compared to your average drugstore lip gloss, it's expensive, but it's a great price compared to any major cosmetic line. it's $7.50 a tube, but bath and body has great sales and quite often they have them 3 for $15 dollars (it's like getting one free) so i just go and stock up when they have the sales (unless i'm in desperate need). seriously though, it's so worth it. plus they have all sorts of flavors and tints now and it's always fun to try something new; i recommend the lemon and black cherry soda if you want to mix it up.

3. costco vanilla soymilk. for some of us, dairy does not do a body good. luckily, costco has decided to make another quality product and kirkland has brought us vanilla soymilk. it's so good (i like it better than silk) and the price is right. why buy one carton of silk for $3 when you can buy three at costco for $7. even for a single girl this is great, since it's not dairy it has a much longer expiration period and i can definitely finish all three before it's time is up.

4. rainbow flip flops. these are so great. i have bad feet and a i need a good sole on my shoes. these are the only flip flops i can wear all day without making my feet hurt. they also last so much longer than any other flip flop i've ever had. they look good with most outfits because they're so basic, they're just like the perfect summer shoe. they are more expensive than a lot of flip flops but totally worth it ($45 at nordstrom and pac sun, sometimes cheaper on ebay). get some, you'll love them.

5. finally (for now) restoration hardware no crack, super hand cream. this stuff is awesome. living in utah means dry skin and especially dry, cracked, bleeding hands in the winter. this cream works miracles, it keeps your hands soft and moisturized. it's not greasy and it smells great. it comes in all sorts of scents (some favorites are the sweet orange and the herb) if you have dry hands this is the answer to your prayers.

and, of course, the rest of the lyrics from a classic, oh we love "The Sound of Music"

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels, door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles. Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings. These are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that melt into springs, these are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad.

My first day in court

I started off my day in court by telling my mom I had to go to court. She was a little surprised by that news, I'm a pretty good kid (yes 21 and still a kid), and I almost had her worried that I may have been hiding something. Well, to her great relief, I then explained why I was going to court; I was observing a court session for my business law class to get a little extra credit (oh what college students won't do for little extra credit). So off to court I went with my friend Dave.

Rule one, when going to observe court take a friend, it's surprising how not like "Law & Order" it really is. It's nice to have someone to talk to during recess.

Rule two, don't take a camera phone to court, they won't let you in, no matter how upstanding of a citizen you may look to be; just don't do it.

After riding the slowest elevator in the world (honestly, I thought we were on the 4th floor when we had only made it to the 2nd, slow elevator), we found the courtroom. I thought I had walked into a chapel when I entered. There were cushioned, blue fabric (the kind that never shows any dirt unless you spill red juice on it) pews, a podium in the front for the judge, and a jury box that could have also served as a choir box. The basic chapel design is more universal than we all thought.

Before the hearings, the police and lawyers were talking about their weekends in Vegas and it felt so casual, nothing like Hollywood promotes. When the judge finally came in, we all stood, and it was as if casual ran out of the room and formality strolled on in. The first hearing was for a man that could only speak Spanish so he had an interpreter. The interpreter whispered every word spoken into the defendant's ear at million miles a minute and answered back to the judge just as fast. At the end it was decided that the defendant would be put on two months probation to undergo some psycho-analysis and then be sentenced to prison for 1-15 years. The whole thing took maybe seven minutes! Granted this was a pretty easy case and the guy plead guilty, but still I was expecting a good thirty minutes of questioning; seriously, Hollywood overdoes it.

Rule three of going to court, learn some court jargon. Luckily, I know so much from business law that I was able to keep up on those trick words, but if you don't know the jargon you might be a little confused.

The most entertaining part of the whole experience was watching the interpreter; it's rare you see someone so completely happy to be doing their job. He was smiling like the entire time. After he was dismissed, I was almost expecting a bow, but he just gave us a nice little turn, a few little skips out the door and then a nice little jaunt down the hallway. Let's just say this man was very light in step.

Plain, normal courtroom

Fancy schmancy, not so everyday courtroom

Overall, court was not what I expected, but I'm glad I got a realistic view of what it is. I won't be able to watch any show with a courtroom the same anymore; "Divorce Court" isn't even totally realistic. Now, I know not all courts look like those in Provo, Utah, but I'm going to take a wild guess that about 75% are pretty darn similar.

On a more serious note, it was very disheartening to see three teenage boys sitting in handcuffs in the jury box waiting for their hearings. They were probably 15-17 years old, but they looked so aged because they had to grow up so quickly to deal with the poor choices they had made to get them to that point in life. Kids shouldn't have to grow up that fast, but yet they do everyday.

happy 21 to me

yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially 21. not that really means much to me, I'm another year older and wiser too, but not so interested in the drinking and gambling privileges. as Annie1 might say, I feel taller, smarter, and cuter now that I have aged another year. for my birthday I had a fabulous french toast party so I thought I might share a few pictures. the party had a great turn out, which made me so happy, who doesn't like to feel loved on their birthday? and yes, the cake with the buff man is you. . .(for the male viewers at least)

Don't step on a crack or you'll break your mother's back

The other day I was walking across campus next to this kid who had a very strange skip in his step. I started watching him to figure out what he was doing, and realized that superstitions do exist--he was being very careful not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk. He was doing a great job, and then, we hit the brick sidewalk! These bricks go every which way, and they are bricks so they are small. (I saw him step on a few bricks before he realized, but let's just keep that our little secret.) The panic that entered his body was very apparent and I wasn't sure he would make it across. His initial reaction was to take very small steps and tip-toe across the sidewalk; his steps got a little bigger though as that was taking much longer than needed. He was very graceful in his step. We finally reached the normal sidewalk again, and I believe his heart rate and blood pressure became normal again; anymore of that brick sidewalk and I may have been calling the campus EMT's. Then I thought I would rock his world a little bit, and I began stepping on every crack. This definitely frustrated him a little, and he began walking faster to get away from my astounding behavior. We quickly parted ways and amazingly, I did not break my mother's back. One this is for sure, that kid made my day!

If kids aren't thinking about drinking, let's make sure they do

I found this interesting. This is the Anheuser-Busch Natural Resources building on the campus of Missouri-Colombia. (Have you ever heard of it? Me neither.)

I wish we could see the building name, but still, if kids weren't thinking about that foamy, cold Budweiser, they will be when walking by this building. I mean most kids aren't thinking natural resources when they see that name, they're thinking beer. Way to go Anheuser-Busch marketing team--make sure those students are aware.

Superbowl like 42 I think

So I'm not normally a huge football fan/viewer, but I did watch part of the superbowl (this was partly, well mostly due to the fact that I had boys over for dinner and the superbowl so I felt obligated to watch). I did not have a preference on who won, but I just wanted to comment a little about the Giants-- if I knew names and positions this would sound much more impressive--how about the end of the 4th quarter? The quarterback gets into a situation where he could be sacked, but he gets out of it. Then he makes this amazingly long throw to a guy with three or four defenders on him and the guy catches it (it being the ball) on top of his helmet! After that I was just like, the Giants should win, it's not everyday you make a play like that. Yes, I was impressed and happy for the Giants to win, I mean when was the last time they won? Does anyone really know? I know Brady was going for some record of wins, but come on, spread the joy (or wealth).

My Annie's

I have decided that I'm going to start giving numbers to my two Annies. It just gets way too confusing for other people when I tell stories and forgot to explain which Annie I am talking about. I'm going to keep it simple, but Annie1 is my little sister and Annie2 is my roommate. I hope this will keep things a little easier for those that actually listen to my stories.

Speaking of Annie1, the poor girl has pinkeye after she just had the flu; it hasn't been a good week. Unfortunately, she has Preference this weekend so we have been coming up with ways to hide her eye. So far we have a mask, an eyepatch, or dramatic bangs covering the left eye--not the best ideas so hopefully by Saturday her eye will be looking a little better.

It's a little difficult to tell in this picture, but her left eye is pretty swollen and looks a little glazed over. I was closing my eye to sympathise.

This week I was asked what I do in my spare time. After much pondering and asking Annie2, we have discovered that we don't really do anything of significance besides school and homework, but yet we always manage to stay up late doing something. We do like to talk, and sometimes act like we are 5, but nevertheless we find ourselves very funny which is probably what keeps us up so late. (Our roommate Juliana thinks we're a little crazy.) We have also discovered that after a long day at school it is not fair to keep us couped up and quiet after 6:00 PM. This happened on Monday night and we were with a lot of nice kids in the ward, but they were all quieter than us. After we left, Annie2 and I ran through the complex (loudly) to let out some of our energy. So don't make us sit quietly after 6:00 if it is not totally necessary. We are like 5-year-olds and can't really handle it.