Life Of A College Grad

The Greatest Concert

2011-09-17T22:27:00.000-06:00

Ever since high school (when I was first introduced to country music) the one concert I have been dying to go to has been Rascal Flatts. On September 9th, 2011 my dream finally came true! I used the excuse of wanting to take Elise for her birthday. . . but my real reason for wanting to go was purely selfish. Breanne, Elise and I got to the concert at the Usana Amphitheatre right on time. We got to see the opening act of Justin Moore and Sara Evans. And then FINALLY we were graced with the presence of Rascal Flatts! The show was so entertaining, on top of the fact that they are so amazing at performing live. We had such a great time together singing, dancing, and watching drunk people. . . And I think it's safe to say that Rascal Flatts has been my favorite group I've seen in concert yet!

During Justin Moore, while it was still light out

During Sara Evans

RASCAL FLATTS!!!

So this video doesn't so much showcase the talents of Rascal Flatts as it does my dancing around and singing at the top of my lungs! haha : )

**You'll note that I linked different favorite songs by these artists several times throughout my post**

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-09-16T12:32:00.001-06:00

Memorial Day weekend was full of family fun! Ginny, Nathan, and I headed up to Boise to hang out with Jensa's family. It was right before Ava's birthday so we had a little practice party for her. After that fun fill portion of the trip I headed down to Brigham City to watch Elise's kids for the day. Danelle was basking in the warm weather so we played in the pool and even made an obstacle course out of it.

Attempting to take a picture with all three kids. . . yeah right!

Chase and his idol- twinners for the day

Swimming at the hotel

Ava opening her presents

Ginny, Ava, and Celeste at Pojo's

Ava thoroughly enjoying the carousel

Gunnison being forced to accept my kisses

Danelle jumping into the pool

Belated Birthday

2011-09-15T12:16:00.005-06:00

Aaron and Amy's wedding was March 26th, just 2 days before Breanne's birthday! Since we had the whole family together we decided to make a little trip to Disneyland for her birthday. . . In all honesty Disneyland sort of lost it's magic to me. It was great when I was a kid but now all I see are long lines and over priced food. Luckily we had Danelle, Ava, and Chase with us. I was able to see how great this place is through a child's eyes once again. It was so much fun rediscovering Disneyland!

The Castle. . . which gets smaller every time I go!

Riding "It's a Small World"

In line for "Dumbo's Magic Flight"

Big Kids photo op with Goofy

The over priced but oh so delicious churros!

Seeing how excited Ava was to meet a "real" princess almost brought tears to my eyes. Disneyland really knows what they're doing : )

Lupe Fiasco Concert

2011-09-14T23:26:00.017-06:00

Nothing beats a free concert, especially when it's someone as big as Lupe Fiasco! Breanne, Nathan, and I went to Pioneer Park (aka Hobo Park). It was a finale for the free concert series they had been doing all Summer long. Granted it was ridiculously crowded, sweaty, and smelled like weed. . . but it was a free concert! And Lupe Fiasco was so great live!

We were pretty far back. . . I believe that is humidity on the lens

**I linked Lupe Fiasco's name to a couple of my favorite songs by him, in case that video wasn't enough : ) **

Manti Pagent

2011-09-13T13:27:00.001-06:00

I had only ever heard of the Manti Pagent a few times before this Summer. My grandma said that it was a wonderful show, and Tela's family invited me to come with them. I'm so glad I went... The Manti Pagent is a reinactment of the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints. In all honesty, it was a little bit on the cheesy side. But the setting was amazing and I have a new love for not only the Pioneers, but the Manti Temple. It was quite a drive out to Ephraim, Utah, but it was well worth it!

We had dinner before and found the perfect seats (then were rained on)

Manti Pagent

Manti Temple at dusk

Donut Falls

2011-09-12T13:19:00.000-06:00

Before Tela left for her mission I wanted to make sure we did some fun things in Salt Lake. Janae, Tela, and I decided to hike Donut Falls up Big Cottonwood Canyon one Saturday. Even though it was hot outside, we were surprised to find that there was snow on the ground! We also didn't quite know where the trail was- so what should have been a 30 minute hike ended up being about 2 and a half hours. On the bright side, we eventually made it to the falls, and got to see so much beautiful scenery that most people miss!

Before our hike began

The view- part way through our hike

Hiking in snow... in JULY!

I tried to "ski" and slid into mud

Finally made it to the Falls! (which were sort of a let down... very small)

Utah Summer Games

2011-09-11T13:12:00.000-06:00

The Utah Summer Games are like the Olympics of Utah. They are held in Cedar City each Summer. You can compete in any sport imaginable: weight lifting, water polo, gymnastics, basketball, golf, track, etc. I, of course, competed in volleyball. My friend Brooke asked me to join her team and I gladly accepted. Little did I know that our division was the Open Division (aka: older women) My team ended up winning the championship and recieving gold medals. It would have been more satisfying in the upper division... which is where I plan to compete next year. But until then, my gald medal will hang in my room with honor!

Champions!

Park City and Pine View

2011-09-10T13:03:00.000-06:00

My parents came up to visit Park City in July. Of course, if someone comes anywhere reletively close to where we are in Utah we have to have a small gathering. So we did just that. First we hung out around Park City. We did the slides, carousel, downtown, etc. Then later we went boating up at Pine View Resevoir. It was so much fun to go out on a boat! We did a little bit of wakeboarding, tubing, and relaxing. Even my dad attempted to wakeboard! For the most part the kids loved it... except when there was wind in their faces...

At the Park City Alpine Slides

Alpine Slide

Alpine Coaster

Loving the attention... getting to lick 3 ice cream cones!

Waiting by the carousel

Swimming... but afraid of the deep end

Main Street Park City at night

Resting in the boat at Pine View

Me wakeboarding... note the snow capped mountains in the background

Dad's attempt at wakeboarding

Trying to keep the wind out of our eyes

Speaking of Easter....

2011-09-09T12:47:00.002-06:00

A few of us Metcalf's met up at my grandparent's house in West Jordan, Utah. The "fun" side of Easter really isn't any fun unless there are young children around. Lucky for us, we have Danelle!

Feeding the ducks is a staple

HOORAY!

Searching for eggs in the front yard

Dessert!

Camping

2011-09-08T12:41:00.000-06:00

In all my years of life I had never gone camping until this last April. I don't consider Girls Camp camping because in all honesty we stayed in cabins of wagons/ teepee's. I went with Marli's family around Easter weekend. It was so much fun! Just the cousins our age camped out the night before and the rest of the family showed up the next day for lunch, games, and an Easter egg hunt! I love her family, and it was so much fun to be a part of their celebration!

Right next to our campground- out Southwest of Enterprise

Marli and Me

After sleeping on the ground the girls huddled together in the bed of the truck to keep warm

Easter egg hunting

Most of Marli's family

Long Time No Post...

2011-09-05T15:33:00.000-06:00

There's a reason I haven't posted on my blog in a while... and that reason is 45 little five and six year olds! I have been working so hard with them this last month and a half. Now I am finally off track and ready to get all caught up on my blog. But I figured that while I caught up I might as well give a little peek into the blog I have for my classroom. Check it out! :)

www.kindergarten-metcalf.blogspot.com

Everything I need to know I learned in...

2011-07-06T17:23:00.001-06:00

KINDERGARTEN!
Well- I did it! I snagged myself a job teaching Kindergarten at Herriman Elementary. I'm pretty dang excited about this... and nervous too! I've never worked with kids this young. But I know it is going to be so much fun! I got this job pretty late in the hiring season, so I only have a few weeks to get my classroom and lessons prepared rather than a few months. But who's to say I wouldn't have procrastinated until now like I usually do? ; )

At this point I really don't want to be reminded of the crying, stickiness, and short attention spans. I just want to bask in the fact that I have a job and get to work with some adorable little 5 and 6 year old kids!

Denver

2011-05-30T20:51:00.001-06:00

Back in February I had the chance to go out to Denver for Suni's birthday. It was such a great weekend with all of her friends!

We hung out in downtown Denver. We went to dinner and an amazing duel piano bar called Sing Sing

Out of Suni's thirteen friends that went out with us, six were redheads! What are the odds? We had to document it

Touring downtown Denver the next day

Pearl Street in Boulder (where Suni lives)

Snowboarding in Breckenridge with Suni and a few friends. This was my first time snowboarding since I tore my ACL. I was a little bit nervous but had nothing to worry about. I went straight from snowboarding to the airport. It was such a fun weekend and a great break from life! : )

April Dance Party

2011-05-29T20:48:00.005-06:00

The Crew- Marli, Hailey, Lusia, Kylee, Alyssa, and Me. I have had so much fun with this group of girls this past year!

Having a blast at a warehouse dance party . . . this is how we roll in Cedar City : )

Red Cliffs

2011-05-28T20:30:00.001-06:00

I had the chance to go to Red Cliffs down in Hurricane a little bit back. The weather was perfect! Tela, Marli, Dan, Ben, Jon, and I had a blast!

There was tons of exploring along the hike...

Standing by a cliff with the boys

Marli going down a natural water slide

Hiking through the river

Scaling our way to some more pools

Cliff jumping

Red Cliffs was absolutely gorgeous and so much fun!

Angel's Landing Triple Date

2011-05-27T00:15:00.000-06:00

I guess I just can't get enough of Zion. I went on a triple date where we hiked Angel's Landing.

Chains!

We ended up running into some friends when we got there who joined us for part of the hike.

At the top with Bronson, Marli, and Jesse looking at the beautiful view!

College Grad

2011-05-26T12:03:00.000-06:00

I think this picture with my roommate Haley pretty much sums up how I feel about that day...

I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family that came from all over to be here for me : )

In my backyard with Breanne after the celebrations.

An apple a day...

2011-05-25T23:56:00.003-06:00

One of my students came in the other day and brought me an apple. I'm serious. An apple. I thought this only happened in the movies!

Firehouse Field Trip

2011-05-25T10:55:00.000-06:00

During my first week of teaching I was able to take my class to the firehouse for a field trip. All of the other second grade classes went as well. I was pleased to hear at the end of our tour that my class was the most well behaved of any class my "tour guide" had all week... I think I'm doing a pretty good job so far : )

They were super excited to see the fire trucks!

I was probably the most excited to see this kid get strapped down. He can't sit still in class... I wonder if they'd let me borrow this.

The students learned how to stop, drop, and roll. We also got to simulate a house being on fire (with synthetic smoke) and the students got to jump out of the window onto a foam pad. This was everyone's favorite part.

Students also got to talk to "911" and practice what they would say in case of an emergency.

Chick's

2011-05-24T23:32:00.000-06:00

We recently studied the life cycle in my second grade class. We got six eggs and only two of them hatched.

The students named them Fluffy and Bob. They were soooo excited to have some classroom pets. These chicks were adorable and not too high maintenance.

Although listening to them all day long was a bit distracting... It was nice to use petting the chicks as an incentive for them to get their work done.

Ms. Metcalf

2011-04-26T12:06:00.001-06:00

Today I started substitute teaching for a second grade class. I'm long term subbing for a teacher who is having a baby. So essentially this class is mine until the end of the school year! Maybe four of the kids can actually say my name correctly- so the majority of the day is spent repeating my name. But I am so excited to get to do something like this so soon after student teaching (and to make a little money)! This class already has a lot of fun stuff planned- I'm sure a lot of my posts over the next month and a half will be about these 7 year old munchkins : )

Intraramural Champions!

2011-04-18T14:30:00.000-06:00

This season my intramural team finally won the top women's division championship! I didn't play my first year down here because I tore my ACL. And last year my team lost in the championship. It's still a sore subject. But this year- this was a great year! We finally had a perfect combination of ball handlers, post players, defense, inside/outside game. I had so much fun each week playing with these girls, The Bed Intruders... yes that's our team name : )

The Bed Intruders

The Many Faces of 3rd Grade

2011-04-12T11:32:00.000-06:00

My third grade class had an art exhibit that they had to display in the gym on the same day as the science fair. My third grade teacher that I did my second placement with asked if I would come up with some sort of art project for the kids to do. The only thing I could remember that wasn't horribly messy from my Art 4000 class were these masks. Some kids were really creative with there's : )

Dixie Cup Art

2011-04-11T17:48:00.001-06:00

Another "Adventure List" item checked off! My roommates and I went to a freeway overpass and put cups all in the fence. The hardest part was figuring out what we should write- everything we thought of was inappropriate ; ) In the end we went with PURP HOUSE which is an abbrev. for Purple House, the nickname that was given to our home. Then Marli and I decided to put up a heart for good measure.

London Bridge is Falling Down

2011-04-10T23:50:00.089-06:00

So I know that it has been an embarrassing amount of time since I have posted about my summer back packing trip through Europe- but it still needs to be done! So be prepared to read all about when Lindsay and I were in London, England (last May).

Now if you read about my adventure in Dublin and how much of an adventure it was to take the ferry over to Wales then you would understand how happy we were to make it to Holyhead.

once we made it to Holyhead, Wales we hopped on the rail and rode through Wales and into England. After riding through the Welsh countryside I was so sad that we didn't schedule time to stay and visit. We saw some of the most amazing scenery!

This is Dunster Castle which is nestled right into the side of a hill. I was completely blown away when I saw it! Seeing this and the rest of the Welsh countryside made missing our original ride and sleeping in a ferry terminal the night before worth it (otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see this in the daylight!)

We stayed at St. Christopher's Hostel. This was the one location the entire trip where Lindsay and I actually shared a room with complete strangers. At first I was a little skeptical about who we would be paired with (in our all female dormitory) but we met the sweetest old Polish ladies.

These were our roommates. They were retired school teachers who were nannying in England and wanted to take a trip out to London. And for the record my experience was nothing like any of the horror stories people told me...

Here is Lindsay enjoying another one of our many meals. I'll admit we splurged a little with the Pringle's. But buying a loaf of bread and tub of peanut butter and making sandwich's every day saved us a ridiculous amount of money!

Here I am at Trafalgar Square standing with one of the famous lion statues.

Above is Big Ben- and I learned that Big Ben is just the name of the bell inside that chimes, not the entire clock tower. It had so much more detail on it than I ever imagined it to have! I loved it!!!

Lindsay and I in front of Buckingham Palace. The queen was inside so we weren't able to take a tour of it... but we met some of the nicest guards :)

So all of the pictures before this were of our first two days in London. We had originally planned to do a bike tour where we would get to see most of the sites- but missing that ferry threw us off a day. Fat Tire Bike Tours was amazing and let us hop on a different tour the next day- but it wasn't the tour we'd planned for. We ended up getting to do the Royal Parks Tour which took us through several of London's ginormous parks! I'll admit that we wouldn't have taken the time or effort to go through the parks as extensively as the tour did so I'm glad we were able to get switched to that tour.

Westminster Abbey (on the bike tour)

After the tour was over there were still a few things we wanted to see that we hadn't gotten to yet- like Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye

We also went through the London Tower. This is Tower Bridge. Now let me explain the pose. I stupidly thought this was London Bridge.... you know, London Bridge is falling down? So I'm holding it up. Then about 12 seconds after I take the picture I realize that this is Tower Bridge. So I took a normal picture. But this one is more fun :)

The next morning we took a train ride out to Dover (note the white cliffs above) and the a ferry across the English Channel to get to Calais, France where we planned to take connecting train to Lilles and then to Paris.

This is us on top of out boat on the ferry ride over to France. The ride took about 2 hours and we later found out that the English Channel (from where we traveled) is only 20 miles wide!

First Graders

2011-04-09T04:52:00.000-06:00

These are my first graders. My favorite little bunch of 7 year old's! For all of January and half of February this was my class. I student taught for Mrs. Sauceda's class at East Elementary. This was the biggest crash course in teaching I have ever encountered. And I would like to think that my experience with these children could rival many. I learned quickly what I needed to do to be an effective teacher-having crazy little kids to instruct puts your methods to the test immediately!
Some of these kids I fell in love with instantly, and others it took a bit longer. But in time I grew to love them all! How could you not? They say the most sincere and hilarious things. But this class was very difficult. The school I am at is Title 1, which essentially means it is extremely low income. Because of this (and it's just a fact) the learning level is lower than it should be. More than half of my class has tested at below grade level (some even below what a Kindergartner should be at). But then there are also some students who are up to a 3rd grade level in some subjects. Figuring out how to reach all of these students and get the to learn everything that they need has been one of the hardest challenges.
But let me tell you what the most difficult part of this class has been: observing. As a teacher you become aware of each student's home life. I have come to find that many of these kids face harder obstacles at home than at school. Too many of my students don't get 3 meals a day, have parents that don't speak English, have been abandoned, or come from broken or abusive homes. Each individual child is a special circumstance, and there is only so much that can be done as an educator. It is pure toture to see what goes on and be unable to do anything in most cases!
Working with these kids has reminded me why I've been spending the last five years of my life pursuing a degree in Elementary Education. Although it breaks my heart to watch them leave each day to go home to a place that holds so much negativity, I love what I get to do with them! I know that each day- regardless of what goes on at home- they get into come to my classroom and feel love. Sometimes it's difficult for me to put aside my own mood about the crazy day, but I always think about how important it is for them to see a smiling face. After seeing what these students go through on a daily basis I quickly made it a point to get to learn each of these kids individually. I tried each day to talk with as many of my kids as possible, to let them know that I cared about what was going on in their life and that I loved them, so they knew I wasn't interested solely in teaching them how to read or subtract. I have gotten to know each of them, their lives, their likes/dislikes, and dreams. I can honestly say that I love this group of kids and feel so honored to have been able to teach them. For a very small, maybe insignificant, moment in their lives I was able to see them- 8 hours a day, 5 days a week- and I hope that I was able to in some way make a positive impact because I know that I will never forget everything that they taught me. I already miss them so much!

Here is one of the projects my teacher and I came up with for our students to do. This is a bulletin board in our classroom and it was entitled "100 acts of kindness".
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day we learned all about what MLK did for this country. But first graders can't fully grasp the concept of race, hatred, and inequality. We explained Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream as being about wanting for everyone to be kind to each other regardless of what they looked like.
For this project we told the students that they had until Valentine's Day to reach 100 acts of kindness, if they did we would have a pizza party. They were to have parents, family members, and friends write down if they did a random act of kindness. They would then bring that in to class and we would read it out loud and pin it to the board. The kids surpassed their goal and loved it so much they asked if they could keep doing it even after Valentine's Day. I'm so proud of all that they did and of how aware of other people they are starting to become!

SUU Pride

2011-04-08T04:47:00.000-06:00

It's hard to feel involved in campus events when you're student teaching. But one thing I have not been lacking in is school spirit! I have been to almost every home basketball game, gymnastics meet, and baseball game that we have has this Spring. One of my friends is a photographer for the school- this is me cheering at the SUU/UCLA gymnastics meet (we won by the way). If you can't spot me in the sold out crowd I'll give you a hint- I'm sitting right next to the guy with the sign (my friend Tylar)

Couch Sledding

2011-04-07T04:41:00.000-06:00

A little while ago we had quite the snow storm. Rather than let yet another blizzard get us down we decided to embrace it! My friend's neighbors had the most incredible idea that I'm sure glad they followed through with. They took an old couch and screwed skis to the bottom of it. That may look like that's all it is in this picture but there's more. They then attached a chain around it and hooked it up to the hitch of a pick up truck! We hopped on and rode around the freshly powdered (deserted) streets of Cedar City for as long as we could stand the cold :)

Kim and Alex's Wedding

2011-04-06T03:02:00.000-06:00

Over Spring Break my roommate Kimberly got married to Alex. They are two of the kindest and most fun people I know! Bot of them are from Vegas, so Tela, Marli, and I made a little weekend road trip down to go to their reception!The usual construction near the strip...

Their first dance

Tela, Marli, Kim, and me at the reception

Kim lives about a block from the temple so after the reception we made a little trip to the temple grounds.

Tela, Marli, and me at the temple

Sadie Hawkins Dance

2011-04-05T18:01:00.002-06:00

Marli, Dan, Ben, and Me

A while ago we had an institute Sadie Hawkins dance . I asked out Ben Hermansen, a boy in my ward, and my roommate Marli asked out his brother Dan. It was a western theme and as you can see, some of us got a little more into it than others! We had dinner before and the dance was afterwards. And although they played a slow song every two songs, it didn't go unapreciated by me or my date ; ) It was such a fun night!

Ben and me when we got to the dance...

Partying in Cedar City

2011-04-05T02:50:00.001-06:00

One of the many things that I have found to entertain me in Cedar City has been parties. This will probably be part of what I miss most when I graduate. It's such a fun way to meet new people and just have fun with the friends you know! This is how I spend about every other weekend, and occasionally some week nights :)

Rock Star party- where we dressed up and had Rock Band and Sing Star competitions! I think dressing up was my favorite part.

At a dance party with Marli, Caitlin, Jaz, and Cash.

On our way to the "Black and Yellow" dance party. Hailey, Marli, and Kylie are my teammates/ party regulars.

Family Home Evening

2011-04-04T02:44:00.002-06:00

Recently FHE has been a ton of fun to attend. I'm sure it can be attributed to that fact that the majority of them have been combined with the entire ward (instead of small groups) and that Tela and Ben have been in charge of planning the activities... Here are a few of the things we have done:

Glow in the dark volleyball

Anteater

Crab soccer

My Apologies

2011-03-22T17:14:00.002-06:00

I have been virtually non existent on the web these last few months. I would like to attribute it solely to the fact that have been over my head in student teaching.... but that's not the main reason. I got a virus on my computer over Christmas break (stupid Limewire- which by the way if anyone knows of a new way for me to get free music let me know!) So instead of paying to get my laptop fixed I just left it alone. Then last night I was feeling brave enough to tackle the job. It took me a few hours but I finally figured out how to get everything up and running again!

So I'm sure all of you are on the edge of your seats waiting to see what I've been up to these last few months... So as I gradually update my blog over the next few days, just know that I am going to backdate everything.

Alive and Well

2011-02-16T08:32:00.003-07:00

So last night around 3am there was a standoff (<---link to the news story here)between a suicidal man and the police officers. After being chased up Cedar Canyon they made there way down towards the elementary school that I am currently teaching at! I heard nothing about it until the next day. So I am obviously fine, but I know there were some people who heard about it and were worried about me so I want you all to know that I am alive and well :)

Celeste's Blessing

2010-12-12T17:44:00.000-07:00

Holding my favorite Anderson niece's!

Hanging out on the floor...

Family photo after the blessing

DOG PILE!!!

Holding Sleeping Beauty

SHowin the love

I love that this bow is as big as her head :)

All good aunts double as ballerina's

Sharing artichoke dip

Family. Isn't it about time (that I updated my blog)?

2010-12-12T15:08:00.007-07:00

Sorry these aren't in any particular order. Here is what I didnt with my family roughly around late November and early December...

At Gunnison's baby blessing- taking a little nap :)

With Danelle at the movies early December seeing Tangled (so good!)

Playing Air Hockey at Chuck E. Cheese for Danelle's 3rd birthday!

The sanitary tube system....

Chuck E. Cheese and the princess

Yep, I still kick the machines to get extra coins ;)

Gunnison (after his blessing)

Decorating the Christmas tree (note the general area of all of the ornaments)

In front of the finished product

At Temple Square with Nathan and Elise (the night we found out that Aaron and Amy were engaged!!!)

Last Semester

2010-12-12T00:09:00.006-07:00

Well I've been considering this my last semester of classes. Next semester I'm technically still a student but I'll be student teaching- aka no classes. So I tried to make the most of this semester. I had so much fun with everyone in this class. I'm a bit sad at the idea that I may never see some of them again.

The last 4 ish months were spent with this group of people 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Here's just a couple of the more interesting projects that I had to do this year: A health fair tri-fold (with matching lesson plan)

And my personal favorite... 250 pages of writing letters. Why? No freaking clue, but apparently it's essential to becoming a teacher!

I went to dinner after our last final with my favorite girls from class

Goodbye to a fun semester... hello to the almost real world!

Breakfast for Dinner Party

2010-12-09T15:09:00.003-07:00

Well we threw another party in November- I'm just really slow at posting. But it was a breakfast for dinner/ pajama party. It was really so fun! I made my mom's french toast casserole. My roommates all made stuff, and people brought their favorite breakfast item to share.

We have two living rooms so people were spread out all over enjoying our awesome food!

Once the food was mostly gone we broke out Twister and played games for a while.

We took a group photo before most everyone left. It was definitely a success... I mean who doesn't love breakfast??

White Trash Bash part duex

2010-11-29T02:40:00.005-07:00

So my roommates and I made a goal at the beginning of the year to throw a party a month. This one was in September and it was pretty funny. Last year I posted some pictures of a White Trash Bash and the party was actually hosted at this house. So we decided to make it an annual event for the residents of this house.

Sitting on the couch we moved to our backyard... which was right in front of the camp fire where we roasted hot dogs.
On the menu: hot dogs (bread instead of buns), pork rinds, Twinkies, jalapeno poppers, and a 5 gallon jar of cheese balls.
In our best White Trash Bash attire. (My black vest was a $1 find from D.I.)

As part of the festivities we hosted a water pong tournament. It was pretty competitive (note the angry runners up glaring in the background). These guys were our winners, and as their prize they got Macaroni and Cheese.

The roommies by the couch/fire.

It was so fun to see all of the mullets, trucker hats, cut off demin, fake tatoos, and flannel. Hopefully whoever lives here next year will keep our tradition going!

Warehouse Dance Party

2010-11-28T19:59:00.002-07:00

A few weeks ago there was a dance party in a warehouse that a bunch of my friends and I went to. It was possibly the most fun I've had at a party ever!

Cash, Me, Caitlin, Stacia, and Marli

Can you spot me in this sea of fun? :)

Belated Birthday

2010-11-26T00:54:00.004-07:00

So I know it's a bit late (almost 2 months), but here are some pictures of my birthday weekend. I had a bunch of family come down to help me celebrate :) Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Nathan, Breanne, Elise, Danelle, and Tela. It was so great and thoughtful to have everyone come down!

The amazing chocolate birthday cake Grandma made
Me and my bestie

The whole gang in front of my house...

My birthday was actually on a Monday and my family left on Sunday. On my actual birthday I also went night rappelling in the rain with my roommates and some boys. If I ever get the pictures from my roommate I'll post them... most likely under another "Adventure List" title.

Mae/ Allred Concert

2010-11-19T10:48:00.004-07:00

A few weeks ago Marli and I made a little day trip down to St. George. We heard Mae and Allred were performing on a Thursday night and decided to make a day out of it. After class I drove a company car down (yes, a Mustang Convertible!!!) So we drove down with the top down, had dinner at Olive Garden, went to the mall, and had a blast at the concert! If you've never heard Mae or Allred before, you NEED to look up some of their songs!
Marli and Me

The warm, sunny, November drive with the top down!!! So fun! :)

Summit League Conference Tournament... so far

2010-11-18T21:43:00.004-07:00

So we flew in to Fargo, North Dakota on Wednesday. We qualified for the conference tournament where only the top 4 teams from out conference got to compete. We have the number 3 seed. Wednesday was a full day of travel- driving to Vegas, flying to Chicago with a 2 hour layover, then flying to Fargo (which in case you were wondering is bitter cold!). Thursday we basically walked around the mall (Fargo's only real attraction), had a mini practice, and then a banquet for all of the teams.

These pictures were taken at the banquet. Obviously the top one is my team. And the bottom picture is my teammate/roommate Tara Sawyer :) We don't even get to play until tomorrow night. Another full day of waiting for us. We play North Dakota State first and WHEN we win we will be in the Championship game on Saturday night! Wish us luck!

Wheelchair Basketball

2010-11-11T01:16:00.004-07:00

Ballin'

It's Disability Awareness week at SUU and as one of the many activities that the school provided to raise awareness, they held a wheelchair basketball tournament! Now this is harder than you think. There are real rules:

After every 2 "rolls" or about 6 feet you must dribble the ball.
You can not be rolling when you shoot
You cannot use your feet in any way to assist you or the ball
Any contact with another persons wheelchair is a personal foul
All other basketball rules apply (e.g. back court, out of bounds, 3 pointers)

It was so fun! And my team made it all the way to the quarter finals. Not too bad for a first timer!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2010-10-25T01:46:00.002-06:00

All month long our team is warming up in pink warm up tops for Breast Cancer Awareness. And this Thursday we're having a benefit game where all proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. I love that our team is doing what they can to help... and looking cute while at it!

We also all wore pink bows...Alissa did her hair a little crazy so we had fun with hers :)

The Girls of the Purple House

2010-10-23T17:54:00.005-06:00

I don't know why, but our house has been nicknamed the Purple House. It's just a name that it's had for a while and people know it as that, so it stuck. Anyways, all of us roommates finally found a day that we could all take pictures a few weeks ago (we all have pretty busy lives) Don't I have some gorgeous roommates??

East Elementary Eagles

2010-10-21T13:57:00.002-06:00

Dear Student Teacher,

That's how my letter in this mornings mail started out. I just got my student teaching placement and I'm so excited! I will be student teaching starting this January at East Elementary School in Cedar City, Utah. I will be in either a 1st or 3rd grade classroom with one of two teachers. I seriously can't wait! I am so close to being graduated and licenced and out in the real world of teaching!!!

AHHHHH!!! I really can't contain my excitement! Just ask my roommates who witnessed me dancing around the kitchen as I read this :)

True T-Bird

2010-10-16T01:55:00.005-06:00

I'm sure every University has some equivilant of the True T-Bird. The night before the homecoming game everyone stands at a certain place (in our case touching our statue) and kisses at midnight after we count down. This is my last year here at SUU so it was basically now or never. So I asked a friend of mine, my roommates boyfriend's friend, if he'd help me to reach this goal of mine.

As you can see, I'm not one for doing things halfway, so rather than just touching the statue of Old Sorrel, We were standing/sitting on the top of it with a few other couples.

This is with Zach Wall a couple of minutes after midnight, after all of the couples "making out" cleared out of the way. Now I can check that one off of my list of things to do this year ;)

Pretend Camping

2010-10-03T18:51:00.003-06:00

Another adventure list item we crossed off: pretend camping. We brought out our extra couch by our fire pit and made dinner and dessert (hot dogs and s'mores). Then the plan was to sleep out on the grass... but then we thought better of it and just brought out love sack and recliners out to the patio and slept there.

Adventure List

2010-09-29T05:26:00.004-06:00

So this is my last year of college (Thank Goodness!) And I really want to make the most of it. So my roommates and I came up with an "Adventure List". We wrote down a list of things that we have wanted to do in Cedar City-or in general- but haven't gotten around to yet. And we're slowly crossing things off of our list.

Writing on the football stadium bleacher seats. It's been discovered that if you flip certain chairs up and certain chairs down you can spell things out.

Playing night games at Discovery Park (a tricked out park that overlooks the town)

And wiffle ball. Thanks to my roommate Kim Duke's idea we turned it into glow in the dark wiffle ball. We used glow sticks as the bases, and wove glow sticks into the ball. It was quite the success...

...until of course I was running home, trying to score, and took out my roommate, Haley.

I felt so horrible! I mean when I play games, I usually am able to contain my competitiveness. And in all fairness she was clearly hovering over the plate (which isn't legal for this very reason)... she's fine. But I felt like a total jerk!

I've already posted some other things off our list, like rock climbing. And needless to say there will be many more posts pertaining to the infamous "Adventure List"

Frisbee Golf!

2010-09-22T00:54:00.003-06:00

Some friends of mine decided to play some frisbee golf around campus this last week... It was a ton of fun (and I need a better frisbee)
Well my roommate Marli got a frisbee stuck on the roof. So of course we figured out a way to get onto the roof to get it down... Needless to say the next night we got a huge group of people to come out and climb on the roof with us to star gaze. You couldn't really see many stars from there, but it was pretty awesome to hang out on top of our student center!

Back in action

2010-09-14T00:19:00.003-06:00

So life in Cedar City is going full swing! I'm working my 2 jobs, playing volleyball, and in my last semester of classes (next semester I student teach- then I'm graduated!) But most importantly I'm out having fun =) This last Saturday one of my roommate's boyfriend took us rock climbing out west of town. It was probably pretty boring for him, but just the perfect amount of challenge for me.

(Two of my roommates Kestri and Haley)

Sorry this picture is crooked. I suck. But Not too bad for only my second time rock climbing! (I decided I need to invest in some real rock climbing shoes)

And of course, it wouldn't be Cedar City if we weren't going to bonfires! This one got to be pretty huge... Note to self: don't let ignorant boys put a propane tank in the bonfire. This way you won't need to put out additional fires!

More excitement to come. My roommates and I are throwing a White Trash Bash at our house next Friday =)

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-13T23:34:00.003-06:00

I went up to Elise and Lane's for Labor Day weekend. It was a blast! I had to puppy sit for my friend which I thought would be a problem. Turns out Danelle loves puppies =) I got to spend tons of time with the awesome McKellar fam. We went for a drive up around Logan on Sunday and had a beautiful picnic in the mountains (below)!

And I got to take Dannelle to the swimming pool and park. It was so much fun to have her all to myself! =)

In Dublin's Fair City

2010-09-07T22:04:00.004-06:00

Alright. So I guess it's time I put some pictures of Europe up... So my friend Lindsay Heim and I backpacked trough Europe on our own in May/June. It was basically the most amazing and cultural experience ever! We started out in Dublin (after an 11 hr flight to London, then 2 hr flight to Ireland). We stayed in hostels and rode trains, ferries and the subway everywhere. Dublin was fabulous! It was everything I imagined... We had planned for one day to rent bikes, taking a train to the edge of town, and take them out into the countryside. I've always wanted to just be in those rolling green mountains. But it turns out you can't take bikes on the trains. So we switched it up and rode out to Howth- a gorgeous little seaside village.

Standing outside of our hostel, Camden Place, with all of our gear on :)

We were walking around Dublin looking at the different houses/ doors, etc. and we didn't see a cross walk around. So we asked this police officer if we were allowed to cross the street here (not wanted to get ticketed for jay walking in a foreign country) ... he laughed at us for maybe 10 seconds before saying we could. Lindsay and I felt way stupid. Apparently there's no such think as Jay walking there...

Some kegs that were just sitting on the street!

One of our many PB sandwich lunches... but the view is amazing!

On the cliffs in Howth, where we were eating our lunch

As long as you stayed on the path they really weren't that dangerous. But these signs were posted all over

I wish the camera were able to capture how gray-green the water was... and so cold!

Self explanatory... but the most beautiful stained glass windows were inside!

Oh the doors! Why can't we have doors like this here???

Temple Bar District. We went into a couple of pubs and listened to some amazing live music and met some pretty cool people!

Oh yes. And how could I leave out out last night in Dublin. The plan was to take a night ferry from Dublin to Wales and then the train to London. Well... we forgot to double check the time for our ferry and showed up an hour late for it! We calmly asked when the next ferry was thinking we could just hop on the next one. Well, surprise! It was the last on of the night and the next one isn't until 7am the next day. Of course I'm near tears at this point. We don't have a place to stay and this is going to throw us off an entire day! But the security guard was nice enough to let us sleep in the passenger waiting area. Well as you can see this isn't exactly the Ritz. We slept on skinny little metal benches with our Virgin Atlantic pillow and blanket. There was a floor to ceiling window- that looked right out to the street- which was a little disconcerting, the lights were 24hrs so they never shut off, and it kinda smelled like a bathroom. But hey! It was free and there was no way we'd miss our ferry the next morning (probably because neither of us could fall asleep for longer than 20 minute increments.) Hands down the worst nights sleep I have ever had! ... But oh so worth it in the long run! :)

A New Season

2010-08-10T12:04:00.002-06:00

I know I know.... Ive been slackign lately. I still need to put more pictures of Hawaii up... and let's not even get into how many pictures of Europe I need to go through. But life still goes on. And I'm back up in Cedar City already. Volleyball is in full swing and I'm very excited for my fifth and final season! http://www.suutbirds.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=106902&SPID=12707&DB_OEM_ID=20100&ATCLID=1568951&Q_SEASON=2010

Oahu!

2010-05-17T13:25:00.004-06:00

Chinaman's Hat. We actually were able to walk the entire way out there! And the hike to the top had such an incredible view!

My very first rope swing. And this little secluded paradise is better than anywhere to do it!

At the top of the volcano looking out at Waikiki

At Pearl Harbor

My favorite beach of all time! (Waimae Bay) North Shore

Shooting from the hip

2010-04-20T16:10:00.002-06:00

So while Breanne was visiting me for her Spring Break I had one of my friends and his brother take us out shooting. Neither Breanne nor I had ever shot a gun before, so it was really fun! Breanne is a natural. She was hitting almost all of the clay pigeons they put in front of her... I, on the other hand needed a little more practice. Breanne was able to hit a flying clay pigeon on almost her first try.... I, on the other hand failed miserably. So although it was a little chilly out and I basically wasn't very good at it, we still had a ton of fun and can't wait to go again!

Anyone with a gun who's willing to take me, let me know ;)

Fantastic Four

2010-04-12T11:40:00.004-06:00

Jensa and Ryan came down to Salt Lake to go to an Elite Eight game of the NCAA tournament. Since they came down- Breanne and Nathan and I made a trip up. We had the usual meeting place of grandma and grandpa's aka Hotel Raiser. It was so great to be with them- even if it was only for a day.
I started messing around with Jensa's camera and began having Chase do action shots jumping off the step. That quickly evolved into a full blown photo shoot where over 70 pictures were taken of these three doing various jumping poses off of the steps. It was quite a fun 30 minutes =)
And finally, a fort was built. Forts have become a regular occurrence when the four of us (Nathan, Me, Chase and Ava) get together. I have to say this is one of the better forts I've constructed. It had plenty of room for kids and aunts and uncles! We just HAD to take a picture in front of it.

Although it was a short visit on my end, it was so much fun! I love family!!!!!

Texas

2010-04-12T00:44:00.003-06:00

I went out to visit Elise in Texas for part of my spring break a few weeks ago. She lives in Buda which is just outside of Austin. I got to do a lot of sight seeing along with getting in a lot of quality time with Elise, Lane, and Danelle. We went to San Antonio and walk along the River Walk.
We also got to see the Alamo... and remember it =)
We went to the zoo where Danelle had a great time watching all the people and pointing to the animals. Most of the ones she recognized she knew from the Disney movie Madagascar.
And what's a trip to Texas without have some BBQ? We went to a place called Salt Lick which has some of the best meat I've ever eaten.... Danelle enjoyed licking off the tasty sauce.

All in all it was a fun and relaxing trip! The weather was perfect... I couldn't spend enough time out in the sun. It almost made me forget that I had to wait 9 hours in the Denver airport on standby on my way back home. But it was all worth it to get to see family and visit all of those great places!

College Math?

2010-03-10T01:08:00.004-07:00

This semester I am in a math for elementary educators class. It is meant to break down math to its simplest form so that we understand it at a deeper level in order to better teach the kids. Yes, this is what we did one class...
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And can I tell you that there are people failing?????

Quick Sand

2010-03-07T18:32:00.003-07:00

So this picture is from a few months ago but I figured I should let everyone have a laugh with me. A few friends of mine came down to visit from up north and brought down a boat. We were gonna go wake boarding/ tubing down in St. George at Sand Hallow. Well I had work in the morning so my roommate Marli and I left late to meet them down there. Well, I didn't know where they had parked, so I accidentally passed the lot where they had parked and had to make a U turn... So since the road was so narrow I figured rather than make a three point turn I'd take in wide and go a little bit onto the sand...How was I to know that if you try to drive on sand, well, you can't drive??

So naturally my car gets stuck. And I have no idea what to do. A bunch of people who were quadding stopped to help us damsel's in distress. Well pushing didn't work. And neither did trying to tow it out with the quads. I was in pretty deep! So finally my friends saw where I was and they went to get their truck... they hitched my up to their truck and towed me out no problem.

I couldn't help but laugh! I mean, who thinks they can drive on the sand??

Lesson learned! =)

Busted

2010-03-06T13:39:00.002-07:00

So as you can see my phone split in half... It had come apart a few weeks ago and I used my professional super gluing skills to put it back together. On top of that it wouldn't charge on its own- I would have to force the cord in and wrap it around twice counterclockwise and keep it tilted at in angle in order to give it any power (so naturally for the last few weeks that battery hasn't been charged past half power!) It held for quite a while, but it finally came completely apart to the point of no repair. And I don't think it could have happened at a more convenient time! I had ordered a free upgrade phone online 2 days before and it got delivered while I was in class, so I only had to go a few hours without a phone! =)

My new phone is a Rival. I don't love it as much as my last phone, but it's in one piece and makes calls- so I'm not complaining!

Fire Alarm!

2010-03-05T11:31:00.004-07:00

So this is my most recent culinary masterpiece. I decided one night to make a quesadilla for dinner. The way I usually do it is to put my oven on broil and then it only takes about a minute and a half to get all melty and toasty- instead of having it kind of soggy from the microwave. Well time saver that I am, I decided I would attempt to make nachos the same way at the same time. Not even 30 seconds goes by after putting the pan in the oven and smoke is billowing out of the door! I ran over to turn off the oven and pull out the pan and my nachos are literally on fire! Then the fire alarm starts blaring and is making it so I can't even think straight (whose idea was it to make them so piercingly loud??) So I'm sitting there holding the flaming food and stupidly blowing at the fire like its a birthday cake or something while simultaneously yelling "Oh Crap! Oh Crap!" ... my roommates came out just in time to watch me panicking and blowing out the fire. Then after the fire is blown out for some reason I took the pan outside to let it cool...? Don't ask. I wasn't in my right mind. I was able to salvage my quesadilla, but as you can see the nachos were lost in this tragic incident.
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I promise I'm a better cook than this photo indicates (1-my ability to misjudge necessary temperature and 2) my choice in food) How was I to know that processed cheese was so flamable???

Yet another injury on my right leg...

2010-03-05T00:49:00.004-07:00

So I have decided that my right leg is cursed. After having an ACL surgery on this leg over a year ago I have yet another injury. Although this one is NO WHERE near as bad as that. When my volleyball team was in the weight room one morning at 7am we were jumping over hurdles and I landed wrong. My ankle immediately swelled up! (as seen in the last picture) It turned out to only be a sprain but it sure looks worse than that! I went to practice later that day and played on it (I don't wanna be a baby... and when you've experienced that pain of a torn ACL and everything that entails a sprained ankle doesn't seem bad at all) I've been keeping it wrapped with this special thing called a horseshoe that pushes the swelling away from the ankle- but what happens because of that is that bruising gets pushed to weird spots too, hence the weird shapes of bruises.

I'm fine. Currently slightly hobbling like an idiot yet again. I've been getting treatment, icing my ankle, and keeping it elevated as often as possible- even as I write this... So I'll just have to get it taped for extra support during practice on top of wearing my normal ankle braces for a while.

Mustaches

2010-03-03T13:47:00.005-07:00

So when I was out with a couple of my roommates we found these really random gumball type vending machines that had stick on mustaches. Naturally we each bought one and put them on for fun... Here are a couple of the ridiculous pictures. I for one am sure glad I don't hav a real one! ;)

The Last Three Months

2010-02-22T15:44:00.001-07:00

I've done a lot these last few months. So much in fact that I haven't really had time to blog about it. I had my volleyball banquet, went to a couple of parties, made cookies for all of our neighbors, went home for Christmas and spent time with the family, went Bungee jumping with friends while home, played in the snow with roommates, went 4 wheeling on one of my dates, went on a game show, and went hiking in Saint George.

It has definately been an eventful three months! Some of the stuff I did was life changing... some of it fun... and some of it just adding more stress (like getting a second job at Hertz car rental)

Hopefully the next 3 months will bring just as much excitement!

Masquerade

2009-11-13T02:36:00.002-07:00

One of the girls on the softball team threw a themed masquerade party for all of the athletes a little bit ago. It was so much fun! Getting ready was probably my favorite part. I loved decorating my mask, doing my hair, putting on huge amounts of make up, and dressing up! I feel like I never get to do that these days. The party was tons of fun- until it was later broken up by the police because it was too loud... but until that point, it was so much fun! =)

At Least One Of My Teams Can Win...

2009-11-09T00:58:00.003-07:00

Last weekend we had a co-ed stake volleyball tournament. Now, SUU's team hasn't done so hot this season and I haven't really gotten to play much. So it was nice to play a little volleyball on a saturday, have no pressure, no yelling coach, and just enjoy the game. I'll admit- there were some pretty ugly plays. But our ward took first place and we got a cool plaque that will have 11th Ward engraved on it! =)

Costume Time

2009-11-06T04:27:00.004-07:00

So when you're a "starving college student" you don't really feel like going out and buying a whole new costume for Halloween... but at the same time you don't want to wear what you wore last year. This year I decided to break out a costume I hadn't worn since 7th grade. So for my ward party I decided to wear my referee shirt and put on some sunglasses with a cane and be a blind referee. Now there were people there with some pretty intricate costumes, but surprisingly enough I won the individual costume contest! This picture is with the boys from the apartment below me who decided to be "The Price Is Right" and won the group contest. Much more creative than mine I thought!

And then there was The Howl- our school Halloween dance. I didn't want to be carrying a cane around all night so figured I would need to come up with something else... and then? Voila! The Office came on, and Jim was "Facebook". So I decided to use this idea of just wearing regular clothes and writing on my face so that I wouldn't have to worry about getting a whole different costume together... I loved it, and so did a lot of other random people who I've never met (There are a LOT of Office fans down here at SUU) Other than some parties and games my Halloween was pretty low key- but hey! It's Cedar City!

Repelling

2009-10-27T01:42:00.003-06:00

So last weekend was a weekend for firsts. We had Monday Off for the hunting holiday (only in Utah!!! lol) and so a bunch of us decided it'd be fun to go down to St. George and go repelling. Now I had never been of course- and I had no idea what I was getting myself into (but some of my neighbors were pro and had equipment)! You have to strap yourself into a harness and basically attach yourself to a rope that is at the top of a cliff. Then you pretty much just walk off the cliff and support yourself the whole way down! Now mind you we only went on a 90 foot cliff this time (which is still huge- think 9 story building) but I was basically in tears as I did this. I knew I'd be fine but for some reason the thought of walking backwards off a cliff while i only had a rope I held onto to save my life freaked me out (I know, I know... I was over reacting... not! It was so scary!) But once I made it down the first time and got over my fear it became an adrenaline rush and I went down again and again!!! Then I started doing tricks, like 360 on my way down. And then I advanced to going down Aussie- which means walking down face first- much scarier and a little more complex. All in all I left feeling super accomplished... and you guessed it! I can't wait to go again!!!! =)

Rock Climbing

2009-10-24T18:10:00.003-06:00

Cedar City actually has a lot to offer by way of outdoor activities. I've done a lot of hiking and bonfires- but some stuff requires having equipment. So luckily a few friends of mine had gear to go rock climbing. So I got to go for the first time. It was really fun! Once I got over the fear of falling and dying, and knew that my belay-er really did have a secure hold of me I was able to really have fun! I went up a couple of times... It was quite a work out, but getting to the top made me feel so accomplished! I can't believe I've never gone before... and definitely can't wait to go again =)

I Caught It

2009-10-22T11:23:00.003-06:00

Well, I caught the Swine Flu. I was hanging out with some friends this weekend and found out on monday that one of the guys I was with had the Swine Flu (which he caught from his sister). So of course by monday night I start feeling pretty crappy. Since it didn't get any better by tuesday afternoon I went in to go see the doctor. After trudging through the rain and sitting in the waiting room for over an hour he told me that I also had the Swine Flu. Let me tell you- it's not fun. Almost four days later and I still feel sick, although it's not nearly as bad as it was a few days ago. I guess the really expensive antibiotic is doing its job. I'm currently locked away in my room because I don't want to get any of my roommates sick (since two other girls on my team now have it). I guess this'll give me plenty of time to catch up on tv shows and reading other people's blogs! =)

Emo Bowling

2009-10-04T02:33:00.002-06:00

So I know this looks totally weird. Believe me- I still don't know how they talked me into it. But a bunch of us wanted to go bowling one night but decided to put a little twist on it. Instead of just going out and bowling we made it themed... So we all got decked out in these gothic dark looks and had so much fun pretending to be Emo! Needless to say this is the last time I will dress up like that (I can't really pull it off) but it was a fun twist to the same old thing you usually do...

Caving

2009-10-04T02:26:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago I went down to St. George with a bunch o friends and we went caving. Now I'd only been once before- and the last time we were literally tunneling through the ground forever until we got to this big underground cave. We ended up lighting glow sticks and playing a version of hide and seek. It was so much fun! This time we really just walked around in caves until we were bored and then went out and made a camp fire. Not as fun as my first time- but all in all a fun night with great people! =)

White Trash Bash

2009-09-30T10:32:00.002-06:00

I haven't updated my blog too much since school first started up so over the next couple of days I'm going to try to attempt to get the main things I've done posted on here. A few weeks ago some of my friends threw a white trash bash. It was pretty hilarious! It was held in the backyard of their house. We had a fire pit going, hot dogs and mac n cheese, wrestling, hoedowns, and anything white trash imagineable. It was so funny to see everyone dressed up- and then to be in character! Everyone picked different "white trash" names... As you can tell I was pregnant (with Baby Cleatus) and an alcoholic. .. By the way, you wouldn't believe how many guys would hit on a "pregnant" girl. But it's not like I could even pursue them... I mean how am I supposed to know what the guy is really like when he's wearing a mullet wig, a stained shirt, and cut off jeans?! ... Anyways, I also had tattoo's on my arms of my ex lovers (Bobby Ray and Bubba) and everyone was talking about their double wide, working at the gas station, and speaking almost another language! I'll admit- it wasn't the classiest party I've been too. But it sure as heck was one of the funniest!

Drive up the canyon

2009-09-29T12:35:00.002-06:00

Mom and dad came up to visit this weekend. It was so nice having them come visit because I was starting to get home sick! Mom and I sang the National Anthem at my game and sang in church. She also made an amazing dinner for my roommates! Grandma and Gandpa also drove down for saturday and we went out to lunch... We took a tour of my campus and the town and drove up the mountain that over looks Cedar City. It was so pretty up there with all of the changing colors! I'm definately going back up there and taking some friends to hike with me =)

Mini Trip

2009-08-25T19:34:00.002-06:00

I drove up to Salt Lake on Saturday after my practice. I didn't get up there until really late. But I got to see Jensa, Ava, Chase, Ginny, Grandma, Grandpa, and my mom! It was definately worth the 3 and a half hour drive both ways to be with them for 20 hours.

Bowler of the Year

2009-08-20T15:03:00.003-06:00

So I went bowling a few nights ago with some girls on my team. I don't think I need to mention how competitive I am. So my new roommate Courtney (the shorter Hawaiian) and I bet a bag of Dorito's on the game. The trash talk started before we even left the apartment. It was fun to get out ofthe house and do something that wasn't volleyball related...

When we got there I figured out that Courtney was h o r r i b l e at bowling. So I decided to have some fun with it. I was bowling right handed, between the legs, granny shots, eyes closed, you name it. Surprisingly I bowled a 147- probably the best score I ve ever gotten! ha ha. It was really fun. And now I'm the proud owner of a bag of Cool Ranch Dorito's! =)

Back To Southern Utah

2009-08-09T00:46:00.003-06:00

Well- the summer is never long enough for me it seems. It always gets cut short. But after a whirlwind of a break I had to pack up and head back up to Cedar City. My car was filled with luggage and groceries and I made the 6 and 1/2 hour drive up here by myself after i got off work at three... I rolled in close to midnight and was extremely exhausted. But now I'm all unpacked and ready for volleyball to start! =)

Video

2009-08-07T02:53:00.002-06:00

Well I just got the link to my sky diving video emailed to me- so here it is! I can't wait to get the dvd in the mail and watch it on the big screen! Man- my stomach gets that same feeling I got just WATCHING the video =)

http://www.lifepursuitvideo.com/asppublic/Video91935.aspx?CLIENT=91935&VF=MeganMetcalf_080609-1952.flv

p.s. I was freaking out pretty bad right before I jumped out of the plane! Good thing they covered up my screaming with music! ha ha!

Yosemite

2009-08-01T10:56:00.003-06:00

This post is a little delayed- but the pictures are amazing regardless.

For the fourth of July Breanne, my mom, dad, Aaron and I all went up to Yosemite National Park. Apparently I've been before but mom said I was 6 or something- so I have no memories of these trips. Anyways, the trip went very successfully. No casualties. And Breanne and I hiked to some pretty AMAMZING spots! As a family we would take the little stroll up to a looking point and them Breanne and I would break off and go hike down the river or up a waterfall or through the trees. It was so much fun!

And Breanne and I are now determined to hike Half Dome sometime soon =)

Sky Diving!

2009-07-25T23:09:00.005-06:00

Today, August the 25th of 2009, I, Megan Kalynn Metcalf went sky diving! I jump out of a plane a 13,000 feet!!! I then free fell at 120 MPH for over a minute until I reached 5,000 feet, where the parachute was deployed! I actually got to steer the parachute part of the way... and I asked my instructor who I was attached to (beforehand) if he would do some tricks. So while we were in free fall he did probably fifteen to twenty 360's! (I can't even calculate what that would be!) And he did a bunch of this crazy spiral plummeting stuff once the parachute was out. It was a 20 minute plane ride up, where the anticipation and excitement built. Breanne was freaking out the whole time- she looked near to tears and must have said 3 different prayers on the way up. Then we got connected to our instructor and got ready to go out. I was the last one out so I watched as each group before me seemed to be sucked out of the plane... THEN we got to the open door where the wind was so loud and looking out I could see Mexico, San Diego and the Pacific Ocean. That's when the fear really hit me. I don't know how many times I screamed at the top of my lungs "OH MY GOSH!!!" So with my toes hanging off the edge, my instructor inched forward so that I was then dangling out of the plane and he held on for a split second longer....... and then all I felt was the rush of the wind and my stomach clenching up at the knowledge of my body dropping from a plane at over 13,000 feet! Free falling was the most incredible feeling EVER! I was dropping down with the wind in my face and my instructor doing 360's. I wish it would have lasted longer than a minute! And once the parachute came out we glided down and I had time to appreciate the gorgeous scenery around me... (that is of course when my instructor wasn't spinning us around seemingly uncontrollably) Once we got close to the ground all I had to do was lift up my legs and let my instructor do the work for my landing! Then I set my feet on the ground and it was all over. He unattached me and I walked back to my mom, dad, Breanne, and Haley. That's about when the nausea kicked in... I felt wonderful during the whole experience, but all of the spinning that my instructor did (that no one else did) -because I told him I wanted him to go all out and do tricks- really had my stomach going. We waited in the parking lot ten minutes before I finally threw up. Once I got it out of my system I was good to go and we headed home from the perfect weather and most incredible experience of my life! =)

I can't wait to do it again! Anyone wanna come with me?!

Kayaking in San Luis Obispo

2009-06-28T23:41:00.003-06:00

So this weekend I went up to San Luis Obispo with Suni to visit Brittany and meet her boyfriend. We had a ton of fun! We made cookies, went the the movies, played some pick up basketball games, and had a pancake breakfast. But one of my favorite parts had to be when we went kayaking in the ocean! I had never been before so I was a little nervous, but it didn't take long to get used to it... It was fun paddling around and weaving through rocks and everything. We must have seen about ten seals. They would come right up near our kayak and swim around. The only part I didn't like was swimming over the seaweed- in case you didn't know I have a bit of a seaweed phobia. Long story short I was in tears from us going through it and we decided to turn around and head another direction. But other than that traumatic part it was a blast! I really want to go again soon!!! =)

Quite The Weekend

2009-05-28T02:11:00.004-06:00

This last weekend was a ton of fun. After Grandma's 90th birthday celebration we got to relax just a little bit more. It was a fun day with mom, dad, and Breanne. We went to the beach, had some more Red's BBQ, and of course- our Memorial Day is never complete without going to one of the war memorial cemeteries to pay our respects... But before that we went down to Huntington Beach to catch some rays. Mind you it was so crowded that once we found a place to park we walked a whopping 22 blocks to the beach! Such a long way to go... and as you can see from the picture below, once we made it to the sand we were exhausted. We just set up camp and slept for a while =)

Also, while we were down in Long Beach (after dropping Aaron off at the airport) We decided to walk around. We went to this little sea port village and saw where the Queen Mary was... It's a cute little place! (This is the only part of Long Beach I've really ever been in... I'm assuming this isn't the LBC that Snoop Dogg raps about!)

The weather was beautiful, the company was the best, and I didn't have to go in to work. All in all it was a great day! =)

The Big 9 OH!

2009-05-24T02:58:00.005-06:00

So today was grandma Metcalf's 90th birthday. And to celebrate we had a huge family party at our house... All of grandmas children (my aunt's and uncle's) were here but maybe only 1/3 of her grand kids and great grand kids made it. Needless to say there were TONS of pictures taken. Dennis has all the good ones on his "professional" camera (it was like Vegas all over again if you know what I mean). Anyways, we had Red's BBQ deliver, Joan brought an amazing cake, and Dennis made a great video of grandma's life-It was so wonderful, I teared up... (and he said copies were to come...) I wish we could get the family together more often because it was so great to get together with everyone and have such a fun time! (what are those things called?... oh yeah! Family Reunions! What a novel idea. We should give that a try!) Anyways, all of those hours of slaving away in the yard since I've moved home paid off (I seriously can't count how many hours were put into this)! ... What's our next big backyard adventure? Breanne's Prom picture's! T minus 6 days!!! (I guess I'll be slaving away every day this week again to get the yard perfect for our next event)! =)

Say Yes To The Dress

2009-05-20T00:30:00.005-06:00

Prom is on Saturday May 30th, and Breanne is going with a boy from another ward (his name is Josh Hayes)

So ever since I've been home I've been trying to help Breanne find a Prom dress... we went to several malls with no success. We finally resorted to going to the Fashion District in downtown L.A. (side note: it's a bit sketch) Anyways, we spent over three hours and went in nearly 25 shops. In the end we finally went back to one of the first stores we were in and trying on (what I think was) an amazing dress. They had it on display in white so it looked like a total wedding gown... but we tried it on in this really pretty royal/teal-ish color. I definitely fell in love, and it looks amazing on Breanne! Now all we have to do is add a jacket and she'll be ready to go!

I'm Amazed!

2009-05-14T02:43:00.001-06:00

This man is seriously amazing! This is a video of Jon Schmidt. He composed a version of "Love Story" and combined it with "Viva La Vida" and plays it on the piano and cello. It's seriously the best thing I have ever heard and could listen to it for hours on end!!!

Thanks Jensa for showing to me =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

Home Sweet Home

2009-05-07T12:29:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm back in good ole Simi Valley again. I got home on Saturday and have been busy ever since. I started my job again at the Boys and Girls Club on Monday. It's pretty crazy, but I need the money =) I'm not exactly sure what my plans are for the rest of the summer- all I know is I have to get to the beach as much as possible, hopefully get to Magic Mountain, work out for volleyball (and get my vertical back) and relax... we'll see how much of that actually happens though...!

Angel's Landing

2009-04-07T00:17:00.003-06:00

Last weekend I went to Zion National Park and hiked Angel's Landing. I have a TON of pictures of it on facebook but thought I'd put a few up here since I haven't really done much since then... Anyways, here's a few stats about the hike:

It's a 5 hour avg hike (We got up in under an hour and a half and gat back in under two.)

It's over a 5 mile hike

The peak is at 5785 feet

The hardest thing I've ever done

So freaking steep!

Most amazing view

Sheer cliffs at high elevations while hiking on a narrow fin. Not suggested for children or those with a fear of heights. Avoid standing near the edge at all times! Do not hike the trail when it is wet, storming, or when high winds are present.

http://www.zionnational-park.com/zion-angels-landing-trail.htm

Handicapped No More

2009-03-30T01:12:00.002-06:00

I just wanted to let you all know that although I haven't needed it since November- my handicap pass just expired. Looks like its back to being a normal pedestrian... parking in the back, waking up earlier for class, and not getting stares from people who are wondering why I am parked in that spot! =(

Another Trip to California

2009-03-30T01:03:00.002-06:00

Sorry these took so long to get up... but I went home for Spring Break and brought down some of my friends. It was a jam packed first couple of days. They stayed from Saturday til Tuesday and and hung out with my family and friends for the rest of the break. In those first few days we went to Santa Monica Pier, Rodeo Drive, L.A. temple, Malibu, Downtown Hollywood, City Walk, and Magic Mountain (well... they went to M.M. on Sunday while I went to church) =)

4 days!

2009-03-10T23:55:00.003-06:00

Only four days left until Spring Break! I'm bringing down six of my friends and we are gonna be doing quite a bit on this trip. But we're cramming it all in in just a few days because they will all be leaving on tuesday and I will stay the rest of the week and hang out with my family and friends! =) I think I'm only there for eight days, but it's a much needed break and I am SO ready to get out of Cedar City and all this cold weather!

My 8's

2009-03-05T01:01:00.005-07:00

I saw this on my friends blog and decided to give it a go!

8 shows I love:
1) John and Kate Plus 8
2) Little People Big World
3) 24
4) Gilmore girls
5) The Office
6) Gossip Girl
7) Extreme Home Make Over
8) What I Like About You

8 restaurants I love:
1) Red's
2) Olive Garden
3) Hermie's (in Cedar City)
4) Paul's Italian Villa
5) In-N-Out
6) Cheesecake Factory
7) Tomato Street (in Cour d'Alene, Idaho)
8) The Old Spaghetti Factory

8 things I did yesterday:
1) Lost my phone
2) Went to class
3) Reffed old women's volleyball
4) Played back row with my team at practice!
5) Conducted our bi-weekly R.S. meeting
6) Ate Top Raman
7) Checked my facebook
8) Went to bed at 3am with Breanne on the phone because I was scared =(

8 things I like about summer:
1) The Beach
2) No school
3) Get to hang out with friends from high school
4) Multiple Magic Mountain trips
5) Get to be with family
6) I guess making money has to be on this list... can't forget the summer job!
7) The heat/ sunshine (I'm so sick of cold and snow right now!)
8) No bills to pay!

8 things I do in my spare time (when I have it!):
1) Read read read!
2) Play volleyball
3) Catch up on TV show episodes I've missed
4) Check my facebook/email
5) Bake treats for people
6) Scrapbook
7) Write in my journal
8) Clean our disgusting apartment

NOTE!!!!

2009-03-03T23:51:00.000-07:00

NOTE: The clean bedroom below is the bedroom where earlier today a man broke into my apartment shoved me aside by my door and made his way through the window just to have the cops bust through my door with their guns pointed at me- yelling and then tore through my apartment to see if I was harboring a fugitive. Needless to say I cried for hours and am still shooken up. LOCK YOUR DOORS!!!! (even during the day time) I will also be carrying my pepper spray with me 24/7. Too bad I didn't have it in my hands when he came bursting through my door!

My Own Room...

2009-03-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

So one of my favorite things about having my own room is that I don't have to please anyone. It of course came in handy once I tore my ACL and was crying every night and mom stayed with me and took care of me... But now it's main benefit is that I can let it look like this and not have anyone yelling at me to clean it up! ... I am of course a neat freak in our kitchen and living room- but definately not my bedroom! So I enjoyed letting my room look like a disaster area for about 5 days until I could no longer stand it and HAD to clean it up!

Smaller Knee Brace

2009-02-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

So although it's not exactly brand new I am just now getting around to putting up pictures of my new brace. It's definately not what I thought it would be. But apparently this one is supposed to be better than those black metal ones you see around (or that Jensa wears ;) ) Anyway, I really only have to wear this one if I'm working out, playing sports, or walking where it's super icy and what not. I'm pretty dang excited that I never have to wear my other one again!!!

Also... I just went to my last physical therapy session last friday. And although I still have to work with the school trainer, that's still 4 more hours a week that I don't have to spend working on my knee!!!! =)

Ward Talent Show

2009-02-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

So my ward had a combined FHE with another ward this week. And when mom found out I was performing she got pretty excited (I'm sure she thought I was going to play the piano or something) But I actually ended up doing a skit with my friends that is a spoof off of a cartoon... It was pretty much a hit. And it was really fun to do!

And I apologize... If you haven't seen the YouTube video called "Potter Puppet Pals- Ticking Noise" this probably isn't that funny...

SUPERBOWL SUNDAY!!!!!

2009-02-02T01:03:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was Superbowl Sunday and it was pretty crazy! After going to my relief society meeting before church, then going to church, and making hot wings for the party I went to my coaches house. My entire team went over and we ate tons of food and watched the game (where I was the only one cheering for the Steelers!!!) We eventally bailed on that party and went over to my neighbors where we watched the end. I'm not gonna lie- It was probably the best/ most intense Superbowl I've ever watched!!!

Bring It On Mother Nature!

2009-01-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

So we got over 16 inches of snow over the period of about a day and a half earlier this week. And it doesn't help that it's still in the twenties so none of it is melting... But just to show mother nature I wasn't going to let her get me down (and to do a little service) I spent 2 hours out in the snow (while it was still snowing- I know... not a great idea) and I scrapped snow and ice off of a TON of cars. I figured it would be one less thing that the snow would ruin that day. It wasn't too bad, although the snow did soak through my jeans fairly quickly. But it felt good to serve other people... plus one of my neighbors saw me out in the cold and brought out some hot cocoa! =)

An Eventful Weekend

2009-01-28T11:05:00.001-07:00

This weekend there was a ton that went on! I went to an institute dance, watched a gymnastics meet, went down to St. George, and threw a party! It was pretty amazing!