From mountains to trees

Well, its over. I have officially finished my first year at BYU. I've been living in Utah for the last 10 months and the contrast between there and Oregon is so drastic! Its no greener here than normal, but it seems incredibly green compared to the browns of Utah. Driving home, the sky seemed really low because there were no mountains. That doesn't happen here though because the trees are so tall. I like being home with the fam and my home ward and Murry, but I'm missing all my BYU friends. At the end of summer term and fall semester, we weren't really saying goodbye, it was just "see you in two weeks." Now its goodbye for either a few months or two plus years. Its kind of sad - endings are never that fun. Well, hello summer and goodbye school. See you in the fall.

Book Review: Austenland by Shannon Hale

This book is one of Shannon Hale's adult novels. Austenland is about a girl named Jane who is obsessed with Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Jane's great Aunt pays for Jane to go to Europe to Pembrook Park - a place that is pretty much Jane Austen's world come to life. So Jane spends three weeks in this "Austenland" and discovers a lot about her self and a bit about Jane Austen. I liked this book as a novel, but as a Shannon Hale book, I was a bit disappointed. Shannon Hale has written fantastic books for a younger audience (like Princess Academy and Goose Girl). Those books are extremely cute and 100 percent clean. I am very impressed with them. Austenland, on the other hand, is written for adults, so of course there will be more to it. But I was disappointed with some of what Hale wrote because she has these other books that are so enchanting, and I felt like she sort of lowered her standards. But it was a good novel, and I thought it was a clever plot line.

when Raul attacks

On Tuesday I was working in the sixth floor dish room. Apparently the dishwasher has major issues but no one bothered to tell me and I've never used it before....so when I pushed it up to pull out dishes (it opens up and down like a garage door) the door went up quickly and apparently got off its tracks. When I tried to pull it back down to close it, the door flew down and hit me in the head. My crew lead yelled "are you ok?" from around a corner. At first i thought I was fine so I said I was ok. Then blood started streaming down my face and dripping onto my clothes. So I said "actually I think I'm bleeding." She took one look at me and screamed. Then we rushed to the 3rd floor kitchen where the 'in charge' girl was. They kinda wiped up my bloody face and the BYU EMS came. They put Neosporin on the gash/cut and then drove me to the ER. The doctor in the ER gave me 10 stitches. I have to got to the BYU health place on Tuesday the 13th to get the stitches out. It's not sore and I feel fine. It was very exciting though.

a poem titled Dear Mailbox

Dear Mailbox,

Please have a letter,
Inside you today.
You've been empty so long -
It's hard to say.

Please have a letter,
With an address I know.
And a stamp in the corner,
And a little "xo."

Please have a letter,
That's signed "miss you."
I could use a smile,
And it'd be something new.

Thank you, mailbox.