My Daymaker

Stephanie has strep throat, but had to go to school today to get hours. So, I figured today would be a great day for me to get my hair done, so that we could spend the day together if she had to be at school when she was sick. The poor thing... she's really sick and I feel so bad for her! She did a fantastic job on my hair! Bye Bye platinum blonde and grow out! It's way close to my natural color, and I'm so happy to be back. Nope, I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I'll get on that tomorrow and then post it asap. This post isn't about my hair though... it's about my best friend in the whole world.

Stephanie Mitchell is so wonderful. She is my best friend and my sanity. She is a Paul Mitchell daymaker, and definately makes my day,everyday. She is getting married and I am so 100% totally and completely happy for her. Yes, I'm very scared to live without her. She helps me with everything, from making me feel better about myself, to what I should where to school the next day, to painting my toes, to experiencing anything and everything eventful with me in my life. But, we're living it up while we can :). While she was doing my hair today, I was just thinking about how lucky we are to have had each other for the past 21 years. So here's some pictures of my daymaker and I over the past couple of years.

I love you, Steph :)

Really, I'm not good with coming up for titles for these things...

Is it just me, or does life get complicated at the craziest times? That's ok, I'm enjoying every second of it.

School is going great. I cannot even tell you how happy I am to not be taking Chemistry! My life is a million times less stressful. AND- yesterday I was informed that I didn't need to take my physics lab, so I dropped that sucker in a hot second! I'm so happy about that. It was insanely boring. Seriously- painfully boring. I need to focus on school more though. It's like, now that I'm not taking chemistry and I don't have crazy hard problems to do every night, I feel like I don't have to do anything. I'm going to have to get back on the ball. I love my job, I love working with Student Living, I love my apartment and the girls in it, I love my new ward. It's weird, part of me wants this semester to fly by, and the other part of me things that 12 weeks isn't nearly enough time to enjoy it all! Anyway, on to the important stuff...

WHY IS JANUARY THE BEST MONTH OF THE YEAR!??? Because AMERICAN IDOL STARTS!!!!!!!! I don't know about you guys, but it was like an old friend came back to see me this week when it started again. Man, I love it so much. AND- how about Jason Castro being on there? OH MAN, WELCOME BACK! I just love this show. once again, another reason this semester can slow down- because I want American Idol to last forever!!! I know that some of you share my love for this show, so I can't wait to hear opinnions as the season progresses. I'll probably actually be able to watch it every week this time since I'm hoping not to have tutors every night this time. HAPPY IDOL SEASON!

lots and lots of love everyon. life is good.

Logical Road Signs

This is something I've been meaning to present to the world for an opinnions for some time now. When you are driving and you see a sign that says "Speed Zone Ahead", what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is that there is going to be a zone or area where there will be faster driving. This is a completely logical assumption, considering the fact that the actual definition of speed is 'rapidity in movement; swiftenss'. Notice that the definition says NOTHING about change or slow movement or anything of the sort, because that would be completely counterintuitive, would it not? Well folks, the sign "Speed Zone Ahead" actually means that you will be entering a zone where the speed is going to change to a slower pace. I KNOW- RIDICULOUS! Are you having as hard of a time wrapping your mind around it as I did? I would submit that those of us who are confused by the sign are the ones with a broad understanding of the actual definitions and meanings of words.

Now, let us discuss a very logical sign. "Reduced Speed Ahead". The definition of the word reduced is 'to bring down to a smaller size, number, extent, etc.'. Now, that makes PERFECT SENSE! When I see that sign, my first thought is.... Oh, the speed is going to be brought down to a smaller size, I guess I'll slow down. I love when I see these genius signs.

So, why... WHY do "Speed Zone Ahead" signs even exist? I hate them.

How did this all come up you ask? Well, when Steph and I were driving home to Oregon in July, I said to steph, "UHHH, why does it keep saying "Speed Zone Ahead" and then the speed limit goes down?! Steph called her dad to get to the bottom of it, and he informed us of the true meaning of the sign. I have been very concerned about it ever since.

Ok so I'm not REALLY that fired up about it... I just think about it sometimes, probably more often then I should. And mostly because I know that I should get it, and it probably is logical... I just don't see it :)

Yes, I'm alive! With all of the fun of Christmas and the stress of moving (again), I forgot to keep up on my blog life. I just want to share some of my favorite pictures from the Christmas season. It was SO wonderful. There is nothing better than spending time with my family and closest friends while eating delicious food and celebrating the birth of Christ. It was an excellent 3 weeks and I'm certainly not ready for it to be over. Thank you, everyone for all of the fun! And I missed all of my family that I didn't get to see. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! There are lots of pictures here!! It was too hard to choose!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! The party gang with our Holiday Cracker crowns!

The cute cousins saying Goodbye
Caleb :)
My seriously rockin parents :)
The Traditional Christmas Eve Gift Exchange
Whitty and I made gingerbread men!
The Cutest picture of them... i love it!

A great morning suprise!

My first of many tickets from Officer Jolley
lots and lots of love! Now that it's all over, it's time to start my last semester!! Wish me luck!

Thankful

I'm just feeling very thankful right now. And I realized that I never got the change to blog about my wonderful trip home for thanksgiving, so I decided now was a great time for an update. Let me tell you why I'm feeling so thankful.

First of all, I had a fabulous time during my week home for thanksgiving. The family, the food, the fun... it was all so great! Unfortunately I didn't take enough pictures. But here are some of what I have. There is just no feeling like being at home. Honestly. I just love it! I do love this picture of Joseph and I though. Ok, those dang ducks were SO SCARY! Why do they think it's ok to get so close? Seriously, it is just so uneccesary. I just wish they'd stay in the water. And of course... I got pooped on. Also, scooter and I missed Steph, but still managed to get the job done and eat ourselves sick... way to go, man!

Next, I am so thankful and happy to say that I passed Chemistry! Well, I guess grades aren't technically out yet, but I am 99% sure. I still won't 100% believe it until I see it, but it looks good. Do you know what this means? I AM DONE WITH THE LIFE RUINING SUBJECT OF CHEIMSTRY FOREVER!!!!! There are no words to describe how that makes me feel. I am SO thankful for my Tutor. I can personally guarentee you that you've never had a better tutor. He was so flexible with my crazy schedule and he would meet with me multiple times a week, all when he wasn't even technically the tutor for my teacher. He was my tutor for 105 too and I give all the credit to him! To be that patient with me, while trying to learn Chemistry was a serious blessing to me! Goooooood Byeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And lastly, at least for now, I'm incredibly thankful for all of the wonderful, PATIENT people in my life right now. I'm so blessed to have so many close friends and family who encourage me, help me, and always make me laugh! I might have had a melt down these past couple weeks without you guys. THANK YOU!

I could go on and on, but it's time to pack. Yep- pack! I'm coming home!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

18 Months

Michael's mission has been so great. He's having the time of his life, working hard, and loves what he does. I'm doing great over here and couldn't be happier for him. He loves Taiwan, the people, and the language. He will be released on April 8th, 2009. :) Way to go, Mikey!

A Very Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. I really do. It's so fun to dress up, and laugh, and eat yummy treats, and just have fun. This year was really great. I held strong to the wonderful Jolley family tradition of spooky dinner. It was great! There will be quite a few pictures in this post, mostly so my mom can see what we did... but I hope you all like them too. First, right after we were all free from school and work, we starting cooking cooking cooking!

This year we went with Frankenstine Guts (Spanish Chicken), Skeleton Graveyard (Salad), Snake Bread, Black Cat Brains (Green Beans), Bat Turds (Pumpkin Cookies), and the every year favorite... Ghostly Goobers. Obvioulsy you had to call the food by it's proper name in order to eat it! True Jolley style, there were "spooky suprises" in the food haha!! We all dressed up of course and it was just great.

Me,Kevin,Steph,Brooke,Matt,Mark,Jim, and Shaun

After we filled ourselves to the MAXIMUM and were scared out of our minds because of how spooky the whole evening was :), we got our running shoes on and went to run the Halloween Midnight 5k! I was SO pumped! I run most days, but this was my first organized 5k.

It was so fun!! We started with one lap around the track, then out the gates! For those of you who know Rexburg, it was up Wal-Mart street to the temple, down temple street, then back to the Hart building, and around the track again. Yes, yes running up that hill was hard. Actually real hard. I'm not a real fan of uphill running. But, I'm proud to say that we did run the whole way. It felt SO GOOD! Afterward we were all real happy. The boys beat us of course, but we won't worry about that haha :)

The Runners: Molly, Jim, Jenny, Kevin, Brooke, Me, and Mark

It was a very happy Halloween! I love this holiday and had a great time. It helps that I have wonderful friends here. Here's some more pictures. I hope everyone had a great Halloween! :)