Sister Vella

I was going to write a blog about Aspen Grove, but I don't really feel like it anymore. I've been thinking a lot about Sister Vella and I want to talk about her. The problem is that I'm not eloquent-and I think we all know that-so bear with my inadequate scribblings about a wonderful woman.

At first Sister Vella may have been hard to get along with because she has a very brisk, no-nonsense personality. We were talking about it the other day and my dad said, "She acted like she knew everything, but...she really did!" And it's true. Sister Vella knew everything. Speaking of Sister Vella, someone said, "If you didn't love her, then you didn't know her." I don't think there could be a better phrase. If you really knew Sister Vella, you would know how generous, kind, and loving she was.

The more I thought about Sister Vella, the more I realized what she has done for me. I didn't see her a lot-especially after they moved-but she still impacted my life through serving my family and specifically my mom.

• She would frequently bring over half of whatever food she made for her family. We always had a jar of Sister Vella's soup in the fridge. My dad mentioned it in his talk, but our favorite thing was tomatoes with mozzarella cheese in vinegar. Yum! No one cooked as well as Sister Vella.
  
• She made my Irish dance costume-and a matching one for my doll.
• She made a new underskirt for my prom dress, so it would be long enough.
• She came with me to Jarom's farewell so I wouldn't have to go alone.
• She offered help and materials for my projects in school.

Besides all that, she was my mom's best friend.

Sister Vella loved babies, and I just hope she's in Heaven finding my children and helping to teach and prepare them for me.

I'm glad that Sister Vella can be at peace now, and not have to worry about any health problems. But we will miss her! I just hope that I can look to her example as a way to live my life. I want to be as generous and giving a person as Sister Vella was.

This is the truth

And I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out. So, for the first half of this week I had a pretty awful attitude! I'm serious, ask anyone. Actually, ask Jarom. He'd know. I was sulky, and mean, and caustic, and sarcastic...yeah it was basically great.

So today I decided to put on a positive attitude before I left for work. I decided that I was going to smile more, complain less, laugh more, roll my eyes less. I did it. For half of the day I had to chant in my mind: "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful..." (What About Bob) but it worked. I had a positive attitude, and I even survived the test....my Tell class.

Positive thinking works.

It also probably helped that I skipped one of my two hour classes. But I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful!

Random picture: we rode the bus!

I can do this!

"It's knowing what they want of me that scares me. It's knowing having followed, I must lead. It's knowing that each person there compares me to those in my past whom I now succeed...

I know expectations are wild and almost beyond my fulfillment, but they won't hear a word of a doubt or see signs of a weakness. My nigh on impossible duty is clear. If I can rekindle my ancestor's dreams, it's enough."

Uprising

Jarom took me to see Muse on Monday...and it was awesome!! The only problem was that both of us decided to not wear our coats, and it was snowing, so...we got soaked. But it was fun.

Also, sidenote: People like Macs more than they like me.

Really, subconscious?

Me: Last night I had a dream that we had some huge family emergency and Dad, Grandpa Murray and I went to Japan to help out.

Uncle Kurt: Do you watch King of the Hill?

Me: No....

Uncle Kurt: Oh, because that is exactly what happens in one of the episodes.

Why can't my dreams parallel fairytale shows instead of shows like King of the Hill? Lame!

A very unproductive day

I feel like my heart is breaking, but I don't know why. Is it because I thought I had what I wanted, but maybe I actually don't (have it, that is)?

And Mark and Noelle are already gone, and I miss them like crazy. I didn't spend nearly enough time with them before they left.

Banana squash, then, it wasn't goodbye-they're coming back. And we'll write. But I'm just curiously sad this evening.

Which means I haven't done any homework. Oh well. I just started reading Ender in Exile. So basically that's all I want to do. I probably will go read a bit now.

Brainstorming

Today in VAEDU we did a brainstorming activity where we had to write down 100 things that had to do with us. Like...write down 100 things that are connected to you! Ready...go! If you didn't know, this is actually quite hard. I would write something down and then focus on that one thing and get sidetracked. So I got a lot of random things on my list. A few names appeared. I will now give a list of the names along with the brainstormed words that made me think of these people (if my sentences don't make sense it's because I'm tired).

1. MTC Bookstore, Elders, Jarom.

2. Theater, Irish, Janna.

3. Concentration camp, Nauvoo, Hannah.

4. Laptop, migraines, Gabe.

5. Scera, Orem High, Syd Riggs.

6. Paranoia, panic attacks, chemical engineer.

7. Chocolate ice cream, commuting, Doug Wright.

8. Store squad, talking, Finnegan.

9. Shopping, G2 pens, Grettir.

So...it's weird. And if you are on this list, don't read too much into the words that made me think of your name. Associations our minds make can be really, really weird and far out.

My boys

They aren't really my boys. They would probably feel awkward if they knew I referred to them in such a manner. Oh well! We spent hours on end together, sitting in front of computers, making really yummy chocolate-caramel shakes, talking about our lives (well, I did all the talking), proposing to each other (I also did all the proposing), and just being silly and having fun. Oh, did I mention we had to make Frazil, write a novel, and have twig pencil contests? Sometimes I look back and think I didn't really like working at Aspen Grove. But then I remember that I loved being with my boys, and having adventures with my awesome roommates, and then I realized that I loved Aspen Grove.

Oh yeah, we also liked to frolic. Well actually, Brandon was the frolicker. After the closing show we would go into the store, keep the doors locked, and turn on Space Jam or Disney. Then Brandon would skip and jump around the store...yeah, fun.

But one time Ryan and I were closing (and we had a habit of taking a looooong time to close the store because we would just get talking, and laughing...). So anyway, one day it was pretty late and someone came to the door-it was probably Brandon. We were in the middle of counting our money so Ryan, as he counted his bundle of ones, began frolicking toward the door. As he frolicked, he threw one dollar bills like they were confetti.

We kept finding ones hidden in and under the candy displays for a few days. But it was really funny.