Fun times :)

So I didn't write for a long time, mainly due to a post I'll do next. I chose to write on another site, at onetwocheck.weebly.com , for a while, but for now I've decided to switch back. Surprise!...

Since I last wrote:

we celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas

we took two trips up to Franklin

Sam turned 24

the semester ended (Hallelujuah!)

and I got my Associate's degree. Woo hoo!

I'm sure lots of other things happened too, but I'll just stick with these.

Halloween was fun-we dressed up as Popeye and Olive Oyl (his woman) for a ward party, and just watched a movie the day before. We got invited to other things but I had a deadline for an online class so most of the day was spent doing homework.

Franklin

was fun, as it always is. When we went up right before Sam's birthday, he went for a horseback ride with his brother Jotham

and dad, and I just hung around the house and played with Mosey. (That's Sam's dog-she's old, and a real sweetheart.)

I can't really remember what else we did...we went to church, played games, and

visited James and Jenna, but everything else is a blur. Still, it was enjoyable. :) Oh! They took me to a dairy farm! Fun stuff.

Sam's birthday was actually a pretty normal day for the most part, he having to work and go to school. But at night we celebrated with my family at an Indian restaurant Sam and I have taken a liking to here in Provo, called India Palace or something. I always forget the name. I gave him one thing that's a secret, and two seasons of the Cosby show on DVD since he loves it.

Thanksgiving we spent with the Hatches this year, with all in attendance except Sam's sister Jessiann and her family (who live in California). G

ood eatin, good company, good times. I felt sick the whole weekend but I didn't tell anyone cause I didn't want them to know. We also went and chopped down our very own Christmas tree, which was way cool! It snowed a lot and was freezing so I didn't actually go up and choose it, but I went up part way (where all the kids and women waited) and just read a book and played with the kids till Sam came back. It was pretty fun having our very own little Christmas tree to decorate, let me tell ya.

The semester ended with grades...well, I passed all except one class. But the one that was most important, my horrid Statistics class, I got a B in! A B!!! So that was my last class I needed to take at BYU-Idaho, and I have my Associate's now. :D SO HAPPY!!!!!

I have a lot of different thoughts about school, but basically for now I've decided...I need to lay off a bit. I hate school, I hate studying and tests and TEXTBOOKS! And learning shouldn't be that way-an agony. So hopefully with this new decision, I'll be able to learn more and actually have it last longer, with not having to worry about a deadline coming up. It makes me feel relieved even thinking about it: school started again today, and I'll only be ta

king one class this semester (a cooking class). It felt like a breath of fresh air!

Christmas time! Christmas was really great. My brother Dan and his wife Britany came and spent two weeks in Provo from...I don't remember what day, until the 17th. We really enjoyed their company-we, along with the rest of the family except Nate and his clan, played games, went to a Carl Bloch exhibit, ate out, played on the wii and generally enjoyed one another's company. We had a fun quadruple date the last night they were here, and they were nice enough to move it up in the evening so Sam could join in (he had to work that night).

The boys had a field goal-kicking contest, and I took pictures. We talked lots, ate lots and laughed lots. I'm so glad they could come-I really love my family.

The next week, Sam and I just had fun not worrying much about anything. We watched movies, went Christmas shopping, tried to go sledding, etc. Nate's group arrived on the 23rd, and we spent good time with them. I'm so surprised how different my nephews Jared and Zachary are! Zach (who will be 3 in April) is now talking like crazy, and Jare

d is crawling. Nate just finished up with a job he hates, so I was so happy to get to see them on the brink of a new adventure: he's about to start at a Police Academy in Denver.

Christmas Eve we had the traditional reading of the Christmas story and singing hymns throughout, and then eggnog and pjs. Christmas morning we all opened presents, and I shared some news. :) Ike, Sarah and co arrived around...eleven? I can't remember, and we enjoyed their company too with games, playing in the snow and a trip to the stake center to play in the gym. Woo hoo!

After two more days of fun with the Christensens, we headed up to Idaho to spend time with the Hatches. We saw a little boy out front playing in the snow when we drove up, and couldn't figure out who it was. Surprise! It was Jeremiah, one of our nephews from California! Jessiann and co surprised us all with a visit-we thought they were going to stay in California for the holidays, so it was wonderful to see them. It was really neat to have everyone there, and get to enjoy one another.

While there, we played games, ate good food, played with the many grandkids, and celebrated our anniversary. Sam and I were treated to dinner by all the other adults (the grandkids babysat each other) and then we went to the temple for a session, all together. That was really something special-Darren, Loalee, all their children and all their spouses in the celestial room together. Sam and I are truly blessed to have families with the same standards and beliefs we have.

Sam got really sick Thursday night, so we didn't enjoy New Year's Eve as much as perhaps we would have otherwise. But we had a yummy dinner, watched a fun movie, and just talked with Sam's parents (at that point, all others had departed). His sickness delayed our return home until Sunday afternoon, but we are once again home in our little apartment in Provo now, safe and sound.

I think that's a pretty good update of events. Sorry if it's dull-I don't have room to put all my thoughts about all these things, too! Next time. :)

October 19, 2010

Thoughts on faith10/19/2010

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I talked with a cousin I haven’t talked with in a long time tonight. It was really nice, and also uncomfortable and frustrating and saddening. If you read this, cousin, I love you and hope you don’t now think I’m judgmental and self-righteous. I wasn’t trying to be.

This cousin grew up only half an hour away, but I never really knew him very well. He’s about 6 years older than myself, and our families only really met up once a year. He’s not active in the LDS church currently, and hasn’t been for almost 3 years.

It’s so hard for me to display what I think without sounding self-righteous. This is so frustrating! I don’t know how to say “this is what I think” without them interpreting it as “this is what you should think, you big moron.” That’s not what I mean at all.

It’s hard too, because my ideal for human behavior I am not at all good at showing. I’m weak-willed. So my opinion sounds worth about a pinch of salt, thinking of it that way. I can’t blame him for thinking this-I experience a similar opinion sometimes, when someone is being what I feel is forceful with their LDS views but then they don’t practice it at all. Lame. I hate that. Both hypocrisy and that by not living what I say I believe perfectly, I seem to exemplify it.

He was a good sport-I asked him a lot of questions. I could see how that could be hard for someone-maybe they’d feel like they were being attacked. That’s not what I was trying to do-destroy their basis of belief or something. He just believes something I don’t understand at all-doesn’t it make sense to ask questions when your understanding is at a big 0?

I just feel so sad now. So sorry for him. The way I understand it, he’s never felt comfortable with faith, so doesn’t really believe in any religion. He likes things that are quantifiable. But he feels his life is without purpose currently: he doesn’t feel peace with his lack of belief, either. How empty and lonely that must feel.

You know, almost two years ago I said something similar to what I’m about to say and I lost a friend for it, but really…that’s fine. That’s life. In this case, when I’m going to post access to an experience with someone who had lost their faith and how it made me more sure of my own faith…I think its ok. I don’t think my cousin will mind. I don’t think he’s hiding anything I’ve said here. And, as I said, hopefully he knows I love him. I’m not looking down on his ‘lostness’ with scorn and contempt, proudly dusting off my high throne of beliefs.

I’m glad to find, in the midst of the sorrow at his lacking in life, that my own faith is still sound. It is not shaken. It’s always comforting to feel strongly about something that others sometimes have contempt for, and when it’s tested it not fold under the pressure.

Because even with this, even with what he said I still can say I know God lives. I have no quantifiable evidence for this. Just my heart, and the Spirit. I know the Holy Ghost exists, and it’s not something I made up. I wish there was a way I could explain this that could satisfy the need for evidence that so many people have, but I have none. This can quite easily make people discredit my opinion, but…for those who might possibly read this who are not of my faith, who do not respect LDS people or anyone who believes in God…sorry.

I know Jesus Christ died for us. I know horrible, horrible things happen on this earth that seem far too evil to co-exist with a loving God, but even with these I know He lives. I know He loves all of His children. I know we will be held accountable for all that we do in this life, and that those who commit those horrible, heinous crimes will have to answer to God for them. I know we are challenged, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. And I don’t know but I feel that we are mainly not here for ourselves-we’re here to do things for others, and in the process our own needs will be satisfied. But I do not believe the fact that in the process our own needs are satisfied, is why we do things for others. Or at least, it shouldn’t be why. We’re capable of doing good just because it’s good, not because it also makes us feel good.

Just as I will try hard to respect others opinions, I hope mine can be. It shouldn’t even matter! Unfortunately, I really don’t like it when my opinion is not respected. Stupid pride.

October 15, 2010

woo hoo!10/15/2010

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So exciting: I got a 99 on my last math test. 99%! Whoa nelly!!! It's cause I got a 95, but they let you turn in homework for an extra 4 percentage points. I was even more proud of myself after finding out most of the kids in the class not only failed it, but failed miserably. Like 35%. I don't really get that, though: they have online tests over the same material for past semesters. I just made sure I could do those and I was golden. That's not that hard, is it?

Other than this random awesome math test...we're in the middle of mid-terms. Which seems kinda early to me, but it's all good. I had a 2400-word paper to write on the Bushmen in Africa for my Anthropology class, and a terrifying test for my History of Psychology class. It was over 7 chapters! oi! And in History of Psych, the entire grade is dependent on 3 tests-the first two during the semester and the final.

But all is turning out so much better than I expected! I still don't know if I passed the Psych test-it was an essay test-but I got the paper written really fast, it felt like! I was really happy. :)

In other news...have I ever mentioned how I burn almost anything I cook in the oven? Its true. It's a good thing we took the batteries out of the smoke detector. Lately I've burned banana bread, cookies, bacon (that was stove), and...I forgot the other one. I guess that's another reason it's good Sammy's a good cook! -Oh yeah. I didn't burn, but I don't know how to make good noodles. I know it seems ridiculous-you just put them in water, how hard can it be?-but any time we make pasta (which isn't often-I'm a rice woman) I ruin it. Moral of the story: don't ask Ariel to make spaghetti, or bake pretty much anything.

October 5, 2010: children coming out the wazoo

So I don't know how much I've said about my job so far. My position is technically "Para-professional/Supervisor in the ESOL department of the Provo City School District." Sounds pretty fancy, eh? Nice how I can fool people that way: I'm really just a babysitter. While their parents go learn English, I take care of kids from 6ish-8ish Tuesday-Thursday, excluding holidays.

It was a pretty cushy job for a few weeks there. Three weeks ago on back, we had 4 'teachers' and a volunteer, to take care of 6 well-behaved children. Not exactly a hard job.

I guess I should have known it couldn't last forever. My supervisor quit, which means I got bumped up. More responsibility for the same pay...yay!....Why do I seem so un-enthused? I bet lots of people would love to be in my position! Let me explain:

I hate planning crafts. Hate it. When I worked in a pre-school/daycare center a year and a half ago, crafts were what sucked out my extra spending money and took up the only free time I had, and I was constantly agonizing "Oh man, what are we going to do next week?!" I'd spend hours trying to find 'crafts' or 'activities' online that could be fun for the kids, but didn't require many materials. This is harder than you would think! Or easier than I think. Either way.

My supervisor was great, because she was the head honcho and she would plan out our days. I just got to follow along, helping the kids. But since she's left, and our regular amount of kids has gone from six to 22, things have changed quite a bit.

It really is interesting how you never know what the day is going to bring. Some days I get home and think "That was tiring, but it was really great!" or other days "Ugh. I need to ask Sam to get a vasectomy." (Not really, relax...)

So what did today bring?
Well,
a) I had forgotten babies could scream so loudly and make themselves sick from missing their parents so much,
b) I was impressed with how the older troublemakers, when given some responsibility, can step up so much,
and c) I have that much more respect for Elementary Education majors. Seriously, why would you want to submit yourself to that? I'm glad you're out there, folks! I can only imagine the horror our schools would become if there were 20 Ariel's trying to teach the classes. Helloooooo five hour nap time.

September 29, 2010

I just made a different post, but I thought I'd post again about our weekend in Franklin. It was really great! It's always nice getting to spend time with the family, and we also got to see some friends.
We arrived late Friday night, and had a nice supper waiting for us. We chatted with my in-laws, Darren and LoaLee, put in some laundry, played with the pets a bit, and headed to bed.
Saturday we slept in (which was glorious), did homework, and then took the horses out to an arena and rode them a bit along with Jotham, Hyrum, Mark and Hollie. (Jamie and Hannah were at a bridal shower of one of Jamie's sisters.) I was actually really terrified to ride the horse. I don't know why! We watched Seabiscuit fairly recently, so maybe I was just thinking about that part when Toby Maguire falls off and his leg gets horribly broken, from being strapped to the horse.
Anyway I really was terrified of going any faster than a slow walk. Every time the horses started to, I 'whoa'-ed.
But really, it was a nice time! I especially always love seeing my Samuel Don, at home on a horse. My hot cowboy husband!
Friday evening, LoaLee and I went to this stake dinner for Relief Society sisters that was put on before the Relief Society broadcast, and then Sam and Darren met with us and we all headed over to the wedding reception of Kevin Jensen and his new wife, Nida.
I thought that was really great! I got to see the two of them together, which made the whole thing finally seem real to me. It had almost seemed like a big prank before to me-I guess I forget that people's lives go on, even when I'm not watching.
We also got to see Kevin's twin, Ryan, and James and Jenna. I really love when we get to see any of these people or Mark and Halsey, because I think Sam is just happier when he gets to see his close friends. I wish they would all move to Utah Valley! Oh well.
We also had at our table a boy with down syndrome that Sam went to high school with, and a boy with autism that Sam grew up with. It made for fun conversation at the table. It was great. :)
On the way home from the reception we stopped at Grandma Hatch's place, just to say hello. I'm glad Darren thought to do this. It makes me sad when I think how lonely people must get, living all alone and not working. I hope Sam and I go at the same time! I was glad we could give her some company for a little while, and listen to some of her poems. She's actually a published poet, which is way cool in my opinion. I doubt I'll ever be able to say that.
Finally, we finished up Saturday evening with munching on popcorn and watching the first half of "Fiddler on the Roof" on my in-law's new, really nice TV. That was so fun. I love a lot of the music from Fiddler, but I hadn't seen it in a long time.
I need to work on homework, so I'll just finish this up real fast: Sunday morning we watched the Relief Society broadcast that we had missed the night before because of the reception, went to church, had dinner and soon after Sam and I had to leave. Pres. Monson's talk was amazing: he quoted Mother Teresa, saying "If you judge people, you don't have time to love them." That was good for me to hear: I've been really angry lately, and really judgmental. I'll have to keep this in mind.
Toodles -Ariel June

September 29, 2010

Sam and I decided last week that it would be nice if he laid off on the Optometry school thing for a while. He's already got over ninety credits, and has to take almost all of his major courses still. If he were to try to take all of the pre-reqs for optometry school, that'd be like another major as well. So that's kind of nice! I think he's been a lot more cheerful since making this decision.
He is also, for right now, planning on becoming a helicopter pilot after graduation. I know that might sound...fake, but he's serious about it. I'm proud of him: he's done a lot research with it, and he thinks it'd be something he enjoyed. It's a tentative plan, of course-we have two years to decide if he's really going to fork out enough for the schooling, but for right now the decision seems to suit us.
I also am really tired of school. It's not that I'm ungrateful, or that it's a waste of time. It's a huge blessing! But I'm not good at keeping up. I'm grateful I have such a supportive husband: no matter what happens, he'll be supportive. He wants me to be happy, and be proud of myself. He has suggested maybe I should take fewer classes than most people at a time, as I've said I might do in the past, and I've been considering it. It's just hard right now, since I still at minimum have 3 semesters and an internship after this one left already. Part of me wants to get done as soon as possible, since school is so hard for me so I should stick with it to be sure I finish.
I'm getting to be really sick of people my age. Weird, eh? I suppose I should be more accurate: students. BYU students. Particularly those in my anthropology class/lab, and a few in my math lecture yesterday. I hate the idea that we only go to school for a grade. Though it's hard for me to do it for much other reason, I think we should go to learn. But in my anthropology lab last week, this loud kid said "None of what he lectures on, we will be tested on. Since all we have are assignments and papers in this class. So none of it matters."
None of it matters? Really? That's a really rude thing to say about our professor, and about the subject-none of it matters. This will probably be the only anthropology class any of them ever take: why not get the most of it?
Or another person said we shouldn't discuss anything that wasn't directly related to our paper. What? What about curiosity? Shouldn't discussion of the subject material be encouraged? Sheesh!
In my math lecture, we were going over new material that was SUPER EASY! I don't know how she could have made it any easier. It's simply plugging things in: nothing complex about it at all. But these girls sitting behind me just criticized her teaching and complained/whined about their lack of understanding the entire hour. Maybe if you spent less time whining to each other, and asked actual questions you wouldn't have such a hard time!
It's made me feel even more that I could never be a teacher. Students are merciless! If they don't understand, it's all your fault and that's that. If you have any kind of personality, they will find a way to make fun of it. Sheesh. Aren't teachers people, too?
I guess all of this made me really grateful for a story Sam related to me that his D&C teacher told the class today. He said when BYU was first starting out, back when it was "Brigham Young Academy," one of Brigham Young's daughters was a teacher. But the academy struggled so much, they couldn't pay the teachers. The only way the teachers got paid was if students brought them things, like potatoes and chickens. They were struggling enough that this daughter of Brigham Young went to the prophet of the time, John Taylor, and told him about it. He told her "Don't worry. Christ has this school in mind, and everything will be fine."
Sam's teacher's point was that this is a special school. How many universities could say Christ is watching over it? And because it's a special school, everyone should remember how privileged they are to be attending. He said for every student enrolled, there are five to ten people out there who desperately want to be a student, but weren't able to. Who would give anything to be.
I guess it just gave me some peace of mind. I shouldn't say it made me 'smug,' but the message seemed to say to me "You aren't the only one with this in mind, and you're right. Time at BYU should be taken advantage of."
Now I just have to take advantage of it myself! I'm trying-I just have to try harder.

September 19, 2010: Gettin some digits

...that title probably sounds pretty weird, considering I'm married. But for the first time since January, when it happened then, a guy asked me for my number! Awkward...


In January it was this guy who I quite literally ran into on the stairs at BYU-I. He sure was hasty-he said something like "What, a girl bumps into a guy and he doesn't even get her number?" Check the finger, man.


This time I was chatting with this kid I had a crush on in elementary school who'd just gotten back from his mission, when another kid I knew in high school who also just got back from a mission came up. We only talked for like 2 minutes and he had to get to class, which was fine...but then he asked that uncomfortable phrase, "Can I get your number?" I just kinda stood there gaping like a fish...but I didn't know what to do! I didn't want to make him feel like a moron, but I thought if I said "I'm married" he might have been like "...I wasn't trying to ask you out, or anything." Looking back though, why else would you get the opposite sex's number? I guess old friends to keep in contact kind of, but ones that are married? Not so much.


So yeah...I gave it to him! I'm such a weirdo. I felt really uncomfortable for the next twenty minutes, thinking "Did I just do something unfaithful? My heart wasn't in the wrong place, and I'm not attracted to him at all...oi!"
Finally, I couldn't take it any longer and texted the guy and said "Um, I'm married, just so you know." He was a good sport and texted back "That explains the weird look you gave me when I asked for your number!"

So all is well again. I'm not some adulterous hoochie mama, don't worry.