Lent

So I gave up facebook for lent.

I need to get a lot done and I knew I spent a lot of time on it but I didn't realize how this would impact my daily living!

I am sitting here trying to study and every time my mind wanders or I get bored I instinctively start to type facebook.com into my web browser. I stop myself. Nope, I can't do that anymore.....then I sit there, staring and bewildered. I am completely out of options to waste my time! I take a few breaths and get back to reading about the bipolor II, hypomanic, mild disorder or Aspergers and autism.

If there is one thing I have learned from this it is I need to expand my pointless interests to things other then who's writing on who's wall and what so and so has to say about my status. Maybe I will try to get into WoW or some thing.......No, definitely not.

Anyway, This is a cycle that happens about every 20 minutes. I thought, "Hey! That's fine! I'll go stalk my fav blogs instead of my fav facebook walls". COME ON PEOPLE! I want to waste my time and it's hard to do when I have to read the same posts over and over. Updates! UPDATES! Blogging is just not as entertaining and instantaneous as facebook. I am going a little crazy here. It's probably just with drawls. I'm waiting for when I start getting jittery and irritated. That should be fun. LOL Kidding!

I am doing pretty well if I do say so myself! One day down! 45 more to go!

Thank you mommy!

Just a quick shout out to my mother!

Currently I am tending a cute little 1 1/2 year old boy. I thought it would be a piece of cake.....apparently I needed to learn a thing or two. He is the only child and so he doesn't play well by himself. That means he is constantly crawling on me or trying to get my attention. I LOVE his nap time! It is my....well the only word I can think of is precious! It is precious time to me like I am sure it is to other mothers and caregivers. Lately it has been a fight to get this little boy to sleep. And. I am selfish. I want to put him in his bed and GO! I work as fast as I can to get as much done as I can before he wakes up. But it turns into me putting him in his bed and him crying until he wins.......Ohy!

Because I am watching him at my house my mother has started to help do her thing to get him to bed!! Mommy, can I keep you forever? I don't know if I can raise kids on my own without her.

 Umm...I wonder if my husband will be up for living with my parents once we have kids? .....I think not. Anyway, the point is my mother is VERY good to have around. Maybe except when she feeds the boy cookies for lunch after he refuses to eat his other food.

Not the little boy I babysit, but an even cuter one wanting a cupcake!

Last post for today

I thought for those of you who are interested but don't get to see many pictures of my cute little Nephew I would indulge you and post some for you.

Dear Sister who will go unnamed,

I know you know but here is a reminder. Now that you're a mom your main and first responsibility is to blog more and share pictures of the baby with family and friends alike.

Love,
Your son's favorite Aunt.

PS. I am just kidding of course.....But really.

I don't know what they are doing to this poor kid, but he looks like an elephant.....well kinda

He is for sure my nephew! Throwing gang signs already!

I think he looks like my sister.

If I hadn't bought that outfit for him I'd think Liz gave him hand me down maternity pants. (don't they look like it?)

What a cute kid!

When I was in FL he was the only one in their cute little family I bought a gift for. Ops. (I love you mark and liz!) It's a good possibility I am going to spoil this little boy....... A very good possibility.

Toto, we're not in Rexburg anymore

     Well I am now about a month and a half into school here at the University of Maryland-Baltimore and it is very different! I went to the orientation and realized it was different when the librarian stood up to introduce herself and said "I'm available" and no one snickered. Then the campus police stood and gave us a lecture about keeping our valuables with us and to not leave them unattended. "What? You mean I can't just leave my laptop, wallet, and cell phone out on the table in the common area, go to the bathroom, and expect to see them again when I come back? That's not how it is in Idaho." But I think that the thing that topped the cake in realizing I was in a new school didn't happen until two weeks ago. I have been going to class for a while and totally adjusting well. But two weeks ago the teacher walked in a few minutes late and welcomed us (nothing out of the ordinary) and started teaching. I unaware that class had officially started just sat there. I hadn't started taking notes. I hadn't gotten into my student focus. I was sitting there.....waiting....for the prayer to be said. When i realized my teacher hadn't forgotten to say the prayer and was in fact not ever going to say a prayer to begin class, that's when I turned to my little dog next to me and said, "Toto, we are not in Rexburg anymore."
       I mean who does that?! I always thought I was pretty good at separating the church from school. LOL and It's not like it was my first day of class. I had been to many other classes before this and hadn't even hesitated to jump right into class. Why did I all of a sudden think prayers in class were a normal thing now? Oh well. It made me laugh. That's for sure. Oh and another thing that I miss about BYU-IDaho, while we are on the subject. I miss that I can pay one fee for a parking pass and then park on campus for the rest of the year. And I miss that if I didn't feel like driving I could wake up and be from my bed to my desk in class in 15 minutes flat! Here I drive 30 minutes in traffic and still have to pay AT LEAST 5 dollars every day for parking even though I already paid over 20 dollars for a student permit. And if I want that low rate of 5 dollars I have to walk 15 minutes from the furthest parking garage to class. Oh the good old days! How I miss you. OK. Enough of the complaining.
      I really do love school! I am excited for the fall semester to come and for me to start my internship. Maybe I will write a little more about that next time. But here is a picture of me on my very first day of class. I am a legit Grad student/big kid now!

My First trip to Florida

Okay, where do I start? I have had many many thoughts I have wanted to share but no time to share it in. Do I talk about my AMAZING trip to Florida? Or should I focus on my latest thoughts about my wonderful life? Because it is after midnight and it is easier to post pictures, I will talk about my trip! It was fast but oh so needed! I flew into FL Saturday afternoon and Donald Picked me up. We spent our time in Miami, West Palm Beach, and Key West! We hosted a BBQ (just like the good old BYU-I days), I met his Florida friends, and enjoyed meeting and playing games with his family.  Oh and church! Who can forget church?! During the passing of the sacrament I enjoyed the Rastafarian music coming from the man's cell phone behind me. And then I enjoyed his conversation after he ANSWERED IT! LOL really it was comical! Then there was the man who instantly fell asleep and began snoring loudly after each prayer and the woman who after the water was passed through her row began to offer contaminated Altoids to everyone around her. (she wasn't quiet about it. LOL). This was the same woman who returned to sit in front of half the ward with her zipper broken and the back of her dress wide open baring it all! When told about her dress she said, "oh I know. My zipper broke just today". She had no qualms about it. Although the sacrament was eventful, I couldn't help but sit there and think how wonderful it was to have people from all backgrounds come together on Sunday to renew their baptismal covenants and worship the savior the best they know how. I bet heavenly father appreciated the meeting as much as I did. (Ok probably even more).

Here are my pictures from the trip. (They are all on facebook too. So for those of you who stalk me here and on facebook, sorry for the repeats!)

Biking in Key West was heaven and SO much fun!

Cute cafe in Key West!

Oh I wanted to see a Cuban so bad! (apparently they were all over)

After a long day of beaching, walking, biking, and touring it around Key West.

The beach was beautiful even with the seaweed carpet behind me.

80 degrees with a light breeze! Perfection!

I was only allowed to take one bag on the plane that would fit under the seat in front of me. I was pretty darn pleased with myself that I was able to fit so much in as well as travel so light! Go me!

Mimi after I flew in.

I sure do love this message! What a beautiful thing the Atonement of Jesus Christ is. I truly am grateful for my Savior. He is real and he lives! What a blessing it has been in my life to know the truth of the gospel and to have felt the peace that comes through using the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Oh Paradise

I should be sleeping. But instead I am writing this post about my adventures this weekend that I probably wont finish and will never post. Yep, I'm already sick of it and going to bed. (But I'll post it just for fun anyway). Good night gang!