Happy Valentine's Day

Let's just start this post by saying that I can be a real baby sometimes. Tonight was one of those nights.

Rich and I went to the store to get some milk, and I was in a little bit of a bad mood. He's going out of town tomorrow on another track trip, and I have a hard time when he's gone. I get really sad and lonely. That had me down, and that also meant that he would be coming back on Sunday (i.e., Valentine's Day). I know this is pathetic, but I really wanted flowers before he left. I knew he wouldn't be able to get me flowers when he got back on Sunday, so I was kind of expecting him to get me flowers for tonight, even though I'd told him that I didn't want anything for Valentine's Day (girls can be silly like that sometimes). I came home from work, and...no flowers. So, I was a little sad.

We went into Smith's, and, (me obviously not thinking) after seeing the Valentine's Day section in the store, I told Rich, "You didn't even get me flowers." Wow, I am rude. So, now I was upset, and Rich didn't feel so good either.

Anyway, we got home, and Rich asked me if I could warm up some water for hot cocoa. I went into the kitchen, and Rich went into our spare room (his room - where his closet and dresser are). He came back out with these:

I started to cry (making me even more of a baby) because I was so happy that he'd gotten me flowers and that I had been so mean to him. All I could do was apologize and smile and thank him. Isn't he so sweet?!

He'd gotten the flowers before he went to practice and had hidden them in the closet so I wouldn't even be able to smell them. He knew that I was expecting flowers and wanted to surprise me. And he did!

The flowers are beautiful - lilies and roses. These are the prettiest ones he's ever gotten me.

I asked him if I needed to get him anything, and he said that letting him buy "Little Big League" last night ($4 at FYE) was enough. He's so easy to please. I think I'll share my chocolates with him, too.

New York State of Mind

The thing that I have most enjoyed about being at BYU these 5 years is the trips that I get to go on with the track team. Last weekend, we got to go to NYC completely on the school's budget :). I realized that there wouldn't be another time in my life where I would have a trip of this magnitude completely paid for by someone else! And I really feel like we made the most of it this year.

We got to NYC late Wednesday night. After a run through Central Park Thursday morning, a bunch of us got tickets to see David Letterman's taping for the day. It's the "Late Show," but as many of you already know, it is filmed at about 3 in the afternoon. We won the "ticket lottery" and I'm glad we did because it was a blast! It was really fun being there and the guest, Jamie Foxx, was really awesome. After that we spent time in Times Square and ate dinner in Little Italy. We had unlimited subway passes, so Manhattan was wide open for us to explore!

Friday morning we ran in the park again and then took a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was cool being there and also seeing the city from the boat.

Friday night we kept the fun going with a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden. What an atmosphere for sports! I brought my binoculars so I scoped out the front few rows for celebrities. I was able to spy C.C. Sabathia (pitcher for the NY Yankees) and Howard Stern.

Saturday was my actual race. I ran the mile in 4:16 which was pretty good. But that's not why I was there :). Just joking...but seriously.

We spent the rest of the trip walking around and checking out the stores and scenes. We had cheesecake at the "world famous" Carnegie Deli ($10 a slice!!) and enjoyed the amazing night scene of Times Square, 5th Avenue, Broadway, etc.

It was an amazing trip and I am going to really miss all these experiences when I am done running at BYU!!

Big Top Cupcake

At the Fredrickson white elephant gift exchange this past Christmas, I was lucky enough to win a Big Top Cupcake mold. I was surprised when I was the only person to steal this gift. I thought it would be in high demand. I mean, it makes a giant cupcake! How awesome is that!

Rich's sister Cami heard about my new treasure and was just as excited as me to try it out, so I invited her over for the trial run tonight. We were both so excited today that we told everyone. The funny thing is that people don't seem to know what a giant cupcake is.

Example:

Cami: "I'm so excited! I'm going to make a giant cupcake tonight!"

Classmate: "What's a giant cupcake?"

Cami, using hands to show size: "Well, it's a really big cupcake."

Classmate: "Oh, so like a giant cupcake?"

Cami: "Yes. Just what it sounds like."

Cami and her new husband Ethan came over (I'm hopefully going to post some of their wedding pictures soon) and we all had Papa Murphy's (the delicious stuffed chicken bacon garlic pizza), Rich and Ethan watched the BCS Championship Game, and Cami and I made a Big Top Cupcake. It was awesome, and we had to photo document every step. They take forever to bake, and we were a little impatient and didn't wait long enough for the cupcake to cool, so our ice cream kind of melted everywhere, but it was still delicious!

I want to make another one. Next recipe: Boston Cream Cake.

Not Done

We still have another semester of classes to make it through. So, we're not done.

But Rich applied for graduation today, and I'm getting my application for student teaching in pretty soon. So we're closer to being done.

We just have to make it through another semester.

We love BYU, but we hate the classes.

Good News

I guess I wrote that last post too early. I wore my contacts yesterday with no problems, no redness, no irritation. And I even accidentally feel asleep in them for like 20 minutes. I decided to wait to go to the doctor until after break. Hopefully my eyes will be fine over break!

I think the difference might have been the contact solution. I had been using the expensive Opti-Free Replenish kind, but Rich uses the Costco brand. (See this post.) I tried using his yesterday, and my eyes felt fine. So, Costco's Kirkland brand pretty much rocks.

Done

I just wanted to say that I am done with finals. And I love it. Rich still has one more to take, so I'll try not to rub it in around him. That's why I'm writing about it here. I've already told Rich once, and I don't want to make him jealous.

Oh, and I tried to wear contacts last Saturday, and things did not turn out so well. I'm going to the ophthalmologist once again on Friday, and he can hopefully figure out what the deal is because the SPK problem should be gone by now. At least, you'd think it would be after 2 months of drops and 4 months without contacts. I hope he has some answers because I really hate wearing my glasses. I've gotten to the point where I take my glasses of for almost every picture. Some days I'm tempted to just not where glasses at all. I can at least see well enough not to run into trees.

This is what I feel like doing to my glasses sometimes.

Christmas Season Happenings

Christmas season is here and we are enjoying every minute of it! Even though we have been busy with school, we are still trying to do as many Christmas activities as possible. Out tree is up and lookin real good, we went to Temple Square to check out the lights, and we made some Christmas sugar cookies with the soon to be Provo Wings (Cami and Ethan). We are excited for finals to be over so we can enjoy it without worrying about grades!!

Hip Hop Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

26-20, OT

As always, the BYU-Utah game was a thriller!! What a fun rivalry! I must admit however...I HATE Utah. Probably at an unhealthy level, but there are many of you who understand!

The game was awesome right from the opening kick as the Cougars donned their royal blue throwback jerseys to honor the 1984 national championship team. We jumped out to a 20-6 lead, but let those pesky Utes back in it. Utah hit a field goal to tie it with under a minute left and we headed to OT. Utah scored a field goal on their opening OT possession, but it didn't take long for Max Hall to hit Andrew George for a 25-yard touchdown pass to seal the victory! The crowd erupted and IMMEDIATELY rushed the field. It was a beautiful sight for those who bleed blue!!

Final Score (Notice Andrew George crowd-surfing on the video screen)

Nationals

(Image from the BYU Cross Country Online Media Guide)

Cross Country Nationals are this coming Monday in Terre Haute, Indiana. For once, the weather seems like it will be pretty nice there (as opposed to freezing temperatures of past years for Nationals).

The race is on Monday at 11:45 AM Eastern Time. It's going to be live on TV on Versus this year, so tune in if you can! If you don't have that channel, it will also be broadcast live online, and you can find the link on NCAA.com. You should watch if you can. It's going to be a great race! BYU is ranked #5 right now and has an awesome team.

It's going to be great to see the race live! Thanks for everyone's support this season!