Lake Retreat Camp in Maple Valley, WA (our Lodge) 

I heart extended weekends

So, today I have no school! I slept in until almost 9:30, it was nice. Part of me feels bad for those of you in schools that don't celebrate holidays such as this. However, I am glad I chose one that does. :)

Today will be pretty busy though. I have to go shopping for all the things we need for retreat. We have a whole list and like 4 different places to go! It should be good though. We leave tonight at 6:00 for retreat...or rather that is when most people leave. Me and most of Hall Council will be leaving at 4:00. :) I am hoping we remember everything and that everything runs smoothly. :)

For the next like 2 hours I plan to do homework so that I won't have to do tons when I get back on Sunday...but I am not sure how successful that plan will be. :( Oh well.

So, that is my weekend plans, and the reason I won't be blogging for the next few days. I will try to post again on Sunday...Depending on homework it might have to be Monday though. Hopefully I will have pictures as well. :) ttfn

Happy Day

So, when I got back from work today I was happy to see that my parking place was the only one without a car in it! :) My sign is working! There was definately 2 cars to the right of my spot who didn't belong there, but since they weren't in my spot I didn't care. hee hee. Yea for mean signs that scare people away!!

Today I have spent my whole day not having fun. lol. I worked and then I came back and did homework, which meant writing a paper. I am done with all that now though so I can enjoy my evening now. Except that most of my evening will be taken up with Hall Council...which isn't a bad thing, but it isn't exactly the same as watching tv or hanging out with people all night. Oh well. :)

Hall Council is busy putting the finishing touches on the Hall Retreat plans that are this weekend! It should be pretty good. It looks like it will rain much of the time though. :) I am on the Retreat Committee so I have been involved with all of the planning. It has been good. On Sunday we had a leadership training dinner which went well. We learned about our personalities. I am an ISTJ for all who care to know. :) Emily one of my friends on Hall Council is also an ISTJ, we find this funny. We are similiar in a lot of ways...scary really.

Anyway, I am going to go wash my dishes before Gilmore Girls starts at 8! I am so excited for tonights episode! Yea for having 10ish people in my room! ttfn

Hall Council Posters

So, Bonnie and I had a little too much fun making posters to try and sell Moyer Hall sweatshirts...see below!!


Paris Hilton 


Adam Brody 


Julia Roberts 


Arnold wears a moyer sweatshirt! 


Jennifer Garner 


Hugh Grant 

Bleh

I am so tired of school. I really want it to be over. Ugh. I have to many due dates approaching, and I don't want to deal with any of them. Bleh. I have decided that I relly don't care for any of my classes...except for maybe my bible study...but even that is just mindless extra work. I almost think that I have lost all talent for writing papers...although oddly I got a good grade on the papers that I knew nothing about and a 'bad' grade on the paper that I knew something about. Go figure. It is all just a matter of the teachers opinion. It is highly annoying and I just don't care anymore!

K....that's all for now. Enjoy the following pictures from Halloween


Bonnie and I 


1st Moyer Girls Dress Up 


Hanging in the 1.5 


the leftovers 

Weekend!

Okay, so I am going to begin my weekend blog with Thursday. :)

On Thursday evening I went over to Megan's for our first real bible study of the quarter! (Bonnie is typing in your blog!!! Secret hidden message!) It was really good and it was nice to see everyone at once again..well except Janelle who wasn't there. While I was there Megan told me that Jaeyeon was in town, and I was like "Jaeyoen is in town!?" So, after bible study Megan and I ventured into downtown Seattle and found the hotel she was at. We later determined that it was the hotel we had eaten at on a previous occasion with the Longview gang. :) It was like 11:30 at night by the time we got there, so we only stayed for like an hour and a half, but it was good to see her. I am glad that she is doing well. :)

On Friday after classes I just spent time doing nothing. It was nice. My friends and I ended up hanging out in the 1.5 watching boys play hacky sack, which got pretty interesting. See pictures below. Then we wandered around looking for a movie to watch. We finally decided on Robin Hood Men in Tights. I had never seen that movie, so that was nice.

On Saturday I got up and did a little homework before JonTon and Aunt Linda and Susie came over. We then went to lunch at Costas Opa (the place where JonTon had their first date). It was pretty good, but I didn't really have anything greek. lol. After that we went to Jonathan's downtown office to pick up the tickets for the art museum. The Seattle Art museum (SAM) was amazing! We were only there for about an hour and a half or so but it was great. We toured the special exhibit which was on Louis Tiffany...as in Tiffany lamps. Some of the glass-ware was really complex. I thought of Grandma Ruth the whole time. :) I will have to go back and see the rest of the museum though. It was so great to hang out with everyone and I am glad that Aunt Linda and Susie were able to make it up. I had a wonderful time. :)For pictures you will have to go to Tonia or Aunt Linda's blog because they were the ones with the cameras.

Then after that we said goodbye to Aunt Linda and Susie and JonTon and I got ready for a costume party at Dan and Joy's. I dressed in my Dalmatian costume and JonTon went as the Phantom of the Opera and Christine. It was a really good party full of food, games, friends, and movies. :)

Today I have spent most of my day doing homework. This afternoon I was able to hang out a bit, but I did nothing of consequence. I am about to leave for evening church and meet up with JonTon. We might go get a frosty afterwards. :) Then later this evening I have a date with the television and a group of friends. lol. Hope your weekend went well.


Moyer Men Play Hacky Sack 


The Guys on 'tables' 

It's coming....the end of the quarter, I'm scared.

I meant post on Monday or Tuesday, but here it is Wednesday and I have not posted yet. I am getting so bad at this. Sad day.

This weekend was really good. I loved spending time with my family and friends. I spent Friday night with my family. Saturday afternoon I spent with Grandma Theo and Grandad, which was really nice. I always enjoy a good visit out to their place. :) Then that evening my friends came over and we watched a couple movies then we stayed up until 2 a.m. talking. It was so nice. I wish we could have stayed and chatted longer. Then Sunday after church Grandma Ruth and Grandpa came over. It was wonderful seeing them and having Grandma in better health again. Then that evening I went over to Andrea's and hung out with her for a little bit. It would have been nice to have more time with her, but I took what I could get. :) Then on Monday I skipped classes and remained in Longview for some appointments. I came back to SPU in time for my evening meeting. However, upon returning there was someone once again in my parking spot! Who does that! It was 7:00 at night! SO ANNOYING! This is like the 10th time this year that someone has been in my spot...and I am not joking.

So, today was my first day of classes for the week since I skipped out on Monday's. It was sorta hard to get back in the swing of things since I had so much time off. Plus Wednesday is my busiest day anyway. I am too quickly approaching another bach of due dates. It is getting on my nerves and beginning to stress me out. I really am ready for this year to be over. After this year I will never again on a daily basis have to listen to boring sessions that present worthless information. I will never again have to define my self worth by some meaningless letter written on an assignment that is based on the ambiguous requirements of a professor. I will not have to appease the meticulous desires that teachers who are so vague about their grading that one can never tell what one is going to get.

My Ranting Question of the Day:
Why do teachers insist on requiring papers to be written with 1 inch margins when the default on Microsoft Word is 1.25 inches!?! Is the .25 really that big of deal? Whose bright idea was this anyway!!! It is a conspiracy...Don't get me started....

Yea for Firemen!

So, the most exciting thing about yesterday was the fact that Moyer had a small fire. Okay, so technically it wasn't a fire, but there was smoke, and the fire alarm did go off, and the fire department did come. So there ya go. :) It was quite the adventure. Unfortunately I was not in the dorm when the fire alarm went off, I was up eating dinner at Gwinn. However, news traveled quickly and before I was done eating we had heard that there was smoke in the movie lounge and that the people that found it couldn't find a PA and were calling the wrong Safety and Security number (but it still worked)...so they went and found the Vice President of Hall Council (which is funny if you know the guy). Anyway, we had to hang out in the loop for like a half an hour or so after dinner. Then we were allowed to go back in. Apparently the breaker above the movie lounge got tripped somehow and was getting hot and the heat sensors sensed it and tripped the fire alarm. However, everything is fine now. We are even still allowed to use the movie lounge. :) At least it was out of the routine right?

Yeah, so I thought I would fill you in on that. The other thing that happened last night was the 6th Hill Men's Fashion show...which is always interesting. Perhaps I will get some pictures from my friend and put them up. We shall see. Anyway, I am coming home today! Yea! So, I will see some of you soon. ttfn. ~Laura

A good day

So today was a pretty good day! :) One would not expect this from a Monday but it was nice. Below is what made it good:

-Got a B+ on my Economics Test
-Got a 95 on my paper I thought I would do poorly on (Jedi Master Bullshit lol.)
-Hall Council Dinner (a time when we focus on having fun together instead of business)
-Finally paid my summer tithe that I had been accumulating
-Talk to Kristen on the Phone (yea!)
-Hung out with Megan (haven't seen her in a while!..despite the fact that we life half a block away from eachother)

Let me catch you up a bit....

Another 'lonely' Friday night here at SPU. Nothing quite like a chick flick with a group of girls and then finding out (although I knew it was going to happen) that someone got engaged to make me feel alone. I am so glad it is Friday! I am here in my room by myself (currently). Bonnie is off with Andy and the rest of my friends have seemed to disappear. But that is okay because it leaves me hear to dwell in self pity and blog to you all, which is something I need to do anyway.

School is a new adventure this year. I am enjoying being on First Moyer. I believe I like it much better than being on Second. I am not really sure why, I guess it is just smaller and you don't have to climb as many stairs. :) I am definitely enjoying the dorm aspect this year. It has been great to hang with all of my returner friends as well as all the new freshman.

The last couple weeks have been pretty stressful for me, but I am thinking that things will slow down a little now. I just had a lot of homework all do at one time, which kinda sucked. I only like about half of my classes right now, which is another downer. My English class and my Bible Study on Joshua are both good. I don't like the Joshua study as much as I liked the David study, but it is still going well. The classes I don't like are my Economics class and my Christianity and Society class. My Economics class is pretty dull, although the professor does add some entertainment because of his awkwardness. He wears 1 of 2 suits and his tie is always crooked...plus he has a major comb-over. I often wonder why his wife lets him out of the house. This sometimes makes it hard to concentrate in class. :) Poor guy. My Christianity and Society class seems like it should be interesting....but it is not. Why do theology teachers (or any teachers for that matter) turn an interesting idea for a class into a bunch of mumbo jumbo that no one cares about? Grrrr. It irritates me. This is why I refuse to become a teacher. The teacher is either mocked or is a bore.

I have been caught up these last couple of weeks with not only homework but also other school events. There was of course the initial welcoming rituals which required numerous hours put in by the Hall Council. Also this last week we had Fusion which used to be a type of initiation, but has since been taken over by the University and is more of a night of bonding. There are skits and fellowship among the floors/dorms. It is pretty cool. :) We also had SPUD (SPU Directory) pictures taken this last week. I took my picture with Brian of course. ;) See pictures below.

This weekend I can finally relax a little. I had thought about doing homework, but I did not get that accomplished tonight because of the randomness of college life. Tomorrow I am going over to JonTon's at some point in order to watch chick flicks with Tonia since she is relaxing from her wisdom teeth adventure. I guess that Sunday will be my main homework day. I don't have anything really major, just a lot of reading for all of my classes. I don't expect it to be too much of a problem. Anyway, I feel like there is more I could blog about, but nothing really is coming to mind. I will try not to be so bad about blogging from now on. Enjoy the pictures!
~Laura

Random pictures:


My SPUD picture - I heart ROTC Thursdays! 


Christine's sign for SPUD - she is a music major 


Visit to the Troll, all of Moyer 

Someone please shoot me.

I do apologize for my hectic life. I will be able to post on Friday or Saturday. By this time I hope to have gotten pictures from Stephanie so that you can all enjoy what I have been up to these last couple of days. However, do realize that it has been a lot of homework. :( I am feeling better though so that is good. Must of the floor is has gotten it though. I must say that I think I will die before Friday because of my workload though. Please pray that everything works out. Will write more later. ttfn

Weekend?

Would love to post right now, however I am currently working on my mountains of homework.

Hope to post soon....with picture!!

Bleh

I hate school.
I have a cold or something.
Life is currently crummy.

Maybe this will leave you feeling more informed!

I really don't even know where to begin. I feel like I have a lot to post about, but we shall see....

School is going alright. Most of my classes are pretty dull. I am taking Microeconomics, Ethnic Literature, Christianity and Society, and a Bible Study on Joshua. Economics is dull and so is Christianity and Society. I am not even sure if I really understand what is going on in either of those classes. My literature class is pretty interesting so far, but will require writing several papers later in the quarter. Ugh. My Joshua study is the only thing I really care about. I am not really into the book yet though.

Life here at Moyer is getting into full swing. I must say that this year has a much better atmosphere than last year. For starters I already know a lot of people, which is nice. Plus I have already visited the guys floor more than I did all of last year! ;) The RLC--Resident Life Coordinator (the Hall Council Advisor, among other duties) is a lot better than last year. She is actually making an effort to get to know the residents, and is really cool about hanging out with us and stuff. :) For those of you who remember Jonathan talking about Tea Time Sarah, it is the same person. :) She is really cool.

This weekend was super great! On Friday we stayed up until like 1:30 a.m. talking in Bonnie/my room. We spent most of the time laughing about stupid stuff too. At which point we decided that we needed a quote board on our floor! Then on Saturday after a pancake breakfast in the RLC's apartment I went to a movie with Megan. We went to see Serenity. It is based on a TV show that Megan got me hooked on. It was really amazing. I loved it! It made me want to own the TV series and the movie when it comes out! :) Then the rest of the day was spent in sporadic homework and wasting time. In the evening there was a game night in the 1.5 which was nice. I jumped around playing a lot of games including spades, scatagories, nerts, and skip-bo wtih partners...

Today I got up and went to church with most of the returns on my floor. We went to Bethany Community. It wasn't bad, but I don't know if I liked it enough to go again. I think I might try the JonTon's church again...either morning or evening service, I haven't decided. :) The rest of the day was spent doing homework until it was "done." Stephanie decided to make dinner so that was cool. We had Japanese curry. It was pretty good. :) (granted I picked out the stuff I didn't like) lol. I think we are gonna try making more meals in the dorm kitchen on Sunday since Gwinn isn't open.

Tomorrow another week begins. I can't say I am particularly excited about this. I wish I were. However, I guess I can't complain too much. This first week, however, has impressed upon me how excited I am that this is my last year of schooling....hopefully forever. :) It will be nice to not have homework and to be able to just pick whatever books you want to read. Plus I won't have to pay for the books...which means disposable income for other desires....like an i-pod or something. jk :)

Anyway, I guess I should get to bed....or at least think about it. ttfn.

Pictures from the last week

Here are pictures from Leadership Retreat and pictures of the decorations for Freshman/Returner move-in! Enjoy!


President Matt and I at Fort Casey during Leadership Retreat 


Camp Casey 


Decorations for Freshman/Returners move-in 


Beautiful butterfly made from a coffee filter, a clothespin, markers and water!  


Fun in the Sun! 


Butterflies decorating Moyer lounge 

Sorry for the delay

Do you know what is weird...So I plan to do things all differently all summer, and then I get back here and I just fall into the same rut again. I might be a little better, but not much. What is with that? The location of the C-Store has changed, but I have not. The fries in Gwinn have changed, but I have not. The floor I am living on has changed...but I have not. It is sorta a sad reality. I am totally happy with the person I am, I am just wondering what ever made me think I would do any of the things I thought about doing all summer? I am lame.

Woah!!

What a week. I have been kept very busy these past couple of days. On Thursday the Freshman moved in which kept us busy all day. It was nice to have people on the floor again. :) However, most of them were afraid of us.

On Friday we had a free day which was spent cleaning our room so that our roommates would have somewhere to move in. Other than that we just kinda hung out. We also put together a futon in Emily's room which took a good 2-3 hours. :) Gotta love Ikea.

On Saturday the returners moved in. I had to go get Christine from the airport, which was fun. I had never picked anyone up from the airport before at SeaTac. Bonnie came back, which was exciting to me! :) I was glad to have the company.

Since then we have just been hanging out and slowing settling in. Our roommates now have to get settled. :) I am so not ready for school to start tomorrow. I don't have classes until 11:00 though, so that is nice. I start work on Thursday, so that will be good. :) I am hoping that this quarter goes well. I hope so. I just need to get on a schedule.

Anyway, that is all for now. I hope to have some pictures coming soon. :)

I can breathe again.

Okay, so it has been a while since I posted last. I have been pretty busy though. We left for Leadership Conference on Sunday mid-morning. It was a long drive up to Camp Casey, but we finally made it. The Leadership Conference went pretty well, I thought there were things that could have been done better, but overall it was a good experience. Emily and I couldn't stop thinking about how messed up our rooms were back at campus though. So, most of the time we just wanted to go back to SPU and get our lives in order. lol.

We returned to campus late Monday night. Upon which we basically went straight to bed. On Tuesday we had training in the morning and then we went shopping as a Hall Council for decorations for the Lobby for when the people move in. :) It was a lot of fun going up and down the rows in stores looking for "Fun in the Sun" things. Needless to say we would get a bit distracted. lol. However, we were rather successful in our shopping adventures. lol.

After that I spent the rest of the evening cleaning up my room. It is now livable. I just have a few finishing touches I have to put on. :) Some girls came over from the floor and watched Gilmore Girls in my room last night. This made me happy. :)

Today we have a State of the University speech we have to go to and then training for an hour in the afternoon, but other than that we are going to be setting up the decorations for the new student move in. It should be good. I am hoping it all goes smoothly. :)

Tomorrow we will be busy all day checking new students into the dorm. It should be both good and tiring. lol. Anyway, I should probably go get ready for the speech and stuff, but I am alive. I am having a little bit of trouble being online because of SPU's stupid CIS stuff, but I am sure it will get worked out...however until then I will most likely not be on IM. Anyway, hope you are all doing well. ttfn.

~Laura

Telgram from Laura

I am alive. Stop.
Gone on Retreat til Tuesday. Stop.
Write more later. Stop.
Signed Laura

Last night was my last night out with my friends this summer. Megan and I watched The O.C. and then we went over to Andrea's place. Andrea just got a new car and she gave us a short spin around the town in it. It is very nice! :) We then played halo until 'late' into the night. It was a good end to the summer. Andrea promised to come visit Megan and I in Seattle, but we have our doubts since she hasn't come up any of the times that people have visited us in Seattle. Hopefully she and Vern will follow through this year though. :)

Tonight my family is coming over to say good-bye to me. It should be a great evening with everyone here. Nothing quite like a family gathering in my honor, hee hee. :)

This will be my last post from home this summer. I am just about to take down Carter and pack him away so that he is ready for tomorrow's trip to Seattle. Although he has enjoyed his time here in Longview he is anxious to get back to SPU and be set up once again in the dorm room. He will be joined in a week by Dravus (Bonnie's computer). He is looking forward to that. Until then Carter will be a tad lonely. However, I am sure the week will pass by quickly with all the Leadership things I have to do.

Anyway, it has been a great summer here in Longview....sadly it may be my last summer spent in Longview---but that is too depressing to think about.

So Long.

Good-Bye Wilcox and Flegel

Today is my last day at work. It seems to be creeping by. I have 4 more hours left.....

Yesterday after work and dinner I went over to Andrea's place to hang out. We played halo 1 co-op for a while (which is the actual game). Later Megan came over and joined us and we moved back to halo 2 and played capture the flag and slayer. Both were fun, however, yesterday was not one of my better halo playing days....

Tonight I am going over to Megan's to watch the premiere of Gilmore Girls! Which has me excited. :) Then after GG we might head up to Andrea's for halo again. :) We have to soak in as much as possible before school starts again. Once back at SPU Megan and I will have to find new sources to feed our halo addiction. hee hee.

I am doing pretty well on getting ready for school. I am about 80% done packing. I still have some errands to run as well. The next three days will go by quickly. :)

Anyway, as much as I would love to continue posting (as it would give me something to do) I can't really think of anything else to say. So, ttfn.

Happy Anniversary Mom/Dad! 29 Years!

This weekend was pretty full. Teresa and I headed up on Saturday morning to visit JonTon. We arrived shortly before lunch. After hanging out for a little while Jonathan and I took off for the flight museum (no pun intended). We spent about 3-4 hours meandering through planes. It was pretty cool. Airforce 1 was closed because of the weather, but we did tour the Concorde. I think my favorite displays were in the newest section concerning WWI and WWII. That was pretty interesting. All in all it was a good day. After that Jonathan and I headed back to Renton and watched television for the remainder of the evening. :) Teresa and Tonia had backed goodies and then left for a facial party while we were away. They arrived back at about 10:30 that night. Both groups had a very enjoyable day.

Then on Sunday we got up at about 10:00 at JonTon's and just hung around. We didn't really do much because Teresa and I were leaving at about 2:30. We watched endless amounts of home makeover tv shows and ate lunch. It was a very relaxing afternoon. Then Teresa and I headed back home. Upon arriving home we ate dinner and then Dad and Teresa left for the circus. Apparently they had a good time. :) Mom and I went shopping for my college needs. We accomplished a lot and even got me a new leather jacket. :) Following our shopping spree we were pretty tired out so we came back and just vedged. Then at about 9:00 I got a sudden urge to start on my packing. lol. So, while watching Oceans 11 on tv I started tacking the pile of boxes in the back room. It went pretty well, by the time the movie was over I had probably 80% of my backing done. The last 20% includes stuff I am still using at the moment. I have several boxes of books and dvds and a whole box of shoes....I am beginning to wonder where all this stuff will go....Oh dear.

Anyway, tomorrow is my last day of work, and then I can focus entirely on leaving on Saturday. :) We shall see how that goes.

Weekend Ho!!

It is finally Friday! Only two more days of work left. :)

Today after work I am meeting my friends for dinner. It is the last time Megan and I will see Vern since we go up to college next week while she will be away in New York. It will be nice to go out to dinner with friends, we haven't done that in a while. :)

This weekend Teresa and I have spontaneously decided that we will go up and visit JonTon. So much for saving on gas...Although it is cheaper up there. Go figure. On Saturday we will head up and Jonathan and I will go to the Air Museum. Teresa and Tonia are headed to a friends house to get facials. It should be a nice weekend to just hang out. :) It should be good.

Anyway, it is a small post, but that is all I really have to say for now. :)

So last night I spent a wonderful evening babysitting. It was only for about 2 hours, but we seemed to cram a lot in. We ate dinner, played twister, watched a short cartoon, and rode bikes outside. They are all growing up so fast. I go over there now and they pretty much entertain themselves, I am beginning to think they don't need a babysitter anymore (even though the oldest is only like 7 or 8). It makes my job easier though, I just supervise from a distance....and join in when they let me.

After babysitting I went over to Megan's house to watch "Van Helsing" with the gang. This is a movie that I really had no desire to see, but watched it because everyone else was. I admit that it was a lot less scary/gruesome than I thought it was going to be. In fact I was just to the point when I might have actually said that I didn't dislike the movie when it went and ruined the ending. What I don't understand is that it is one of Andrea's favorite movies! Megan liked it, and Veronica seemed to like it (it was her 2nd time seeing it)....I personally thought it was one of the dumbest movies I had ever watched. But apparently I am in the minority.

Tonight I am going over to Megan's house again to watch the season premiere of "The O. C." This has me excited. The season finale ended with a fight and someone fired a gun! It should be a good premiere. I am slightly saddened though because I have heard reports that my Alias will be on Thurs. nights at 8 o'clock also. This means that when Alias premieres later this month I will have to choose between my shows. Oh dear. Good thing I have a vcr, at least I can record one of them for later. lol.

4 more days

It is now mid week. This is my last Wednesday working this summer. That is nice to think about. It is getting down to it, I only like a week (and a few days) left before I go back up to Seattle. I have so much to do, and yet it still seems to early to start doing just yet. Instead I run through everything in my head and make a million lists (which I proceed to put on my desk, and I know that they will get buried never to be found again). I get more anxious as each days go by. It will be nice to be off work next week (after Tuesday) and then I can actually get started on everything that is bouncing around in my head. lol. Until then I try not to think of it.

Tonight I get to babysit for the Kiffe's. I am glad that I get to do this once more before I head back up to college, I didn't think that I would be able to. Although at times they can be difficult, generally I love baby-sitting for them. :) It is because of these kids that part of me wants 4 kids of my own (the other part of me says that is crazy!). Anyway, it should be good to see them again since I haven't seen them much this summer.

Anyway, I am just killing time at work again. I have about an hour and a half left before I get to leave. The last half hour of that I actually have things to do. So, until then I am blogging and e-mailing Jonathan. :) Hope you had a good Wednesday.

Weekend Over. Whew.

This weekend was extra long and extra full. :) On Friday night my house was pretty full. Teresa had three of her friends over to spend the night and then because of lack of another venue Vern and Megan came over to my house too. Vern, Megan, and I watched movies in my room since Teresa was using the living room DVD player. It was fine though, plus I was able to watch some movies I had wanted to see for a while, so that was good. :)

Saturday Megan and I drove down to Salem for the Oregon State Fair in the afternoon. It was pretty fun. Andrea got us in for free, we didn't have to pay for parking or anything. :) That was nice of her. We just went around to all the little check points and were like "We're with the horse show. We are looking for the mini barn." Then they would point us in some direction and we would follow it. They were pretty trustworthy since we were in a Honda civic and did not look like horse people. (so for future reference if you ever need to get into a fair for free just tell them you are with the horse show.) So we hung around the fair for a couple of hours. We rode the ski-lift thing, and we ate some food, and toured the commercial building getting free samples. :) Then at about 6:30ish we were off to watch Andrea do her Miss Pinto of America thing. She handed out awards at the evening horse show. It was fun to see her all dressed up and queenly. Then after that we went at got ice-cream at the fair before driving home. I got home at about midnight or so. :) It was quite the day at the fair!

On Sunday after church Teresa and I drove down to George Fox to visit Kristen. It was a nice visit. We toured the campus, played cards, watched Friends, and went out to dinner. We met some of her friends and were able to hang out a bit. It was a very enjoyable time. It was just a quick day trip, but it was good to see Kristen in her dorm and all. I am glad that I was able to get down there before I went back up to Seattle. :)

On Monday the family went out to Grandma and Grandad's place. It was a real nice visit. :) We had a wonderful lunch (with the yummy potato dish), we picked blackberry's (or rather mom picked blackberry's while the rest of us took turns "helping"), We had fresh strawberries for dessert, and we reminisced about the old times. We even sat out on the front (er, back?) deck and played with the dog and such, which was nice since it has been a while since we have done that. :) It was a very nice trip.

Then yesterday evening I went to Andrea's place and hung out with Megan and Andrea (obviously). We watched the Season Finale of "The Closer." Which actually wasn't very season finale-ie really, it wrapped itself up very nicely. Then we continued to waste the rest of the evening playing Halo. We attempted playing the first Halo, but determined it was too old school for us and reverted back to Halo 2. :) After Megan left we branched out and played some of the other types of modes on Halo including territories, and king of the hill. Both were pretty fun. It was nice to mix things up a little.

So, despite the higher gas prices I did quite a bit of traveling this weekend. Just for your information gas prices are actually cheaper in Oregon....by 20-30 cents. Depressing but true. I am curious to know what the prices are in Seattle. I am not looking forward to paying for my gas up there. Blech.

Anyway, it is now Tuesday and I am back at work. I only have 5 more days (not counting today) of work left, so that is nice. Better get back to it for now though......

Hurray for a 3 day weekend!

The countdown has begun. Only 7 more days of work and only 15 more days until I leave for Seattle. It seems like the month of August is going a tad slower than July did. However, as each week passes it seems a little faster.

My friends and I have taken a short break from Halo. We played it on Wednesday, but haven't since then. Yesterday Megan, Vern, and I watched the last little bit of Gilmore Girls season 3. Which is good. I think I am only one season behind. I missed season 4 and started on season 5 (I think). The new season begins on Sept. 12 I believe. Tonight I think we are going to watch a few movies. We shall see how many we actually watch. It should be good though.

I am still collecting unwanted cds to decorate my wall with at college, so if you have any you should pass them on. :) I think we still need quite a few more to reach our goal. However, I think we can make it. lol. Our room should be very interesting this year.

Anyway, I guess that is all I have to say for right now. I will post more about my weekend later. It should be a good weekend, I have several things planned. :)

Tomorrow is Friday!!!

The weekend is once again almost here. :) This week has gone by pretty fast for me. The days have been filled up with work (which has surprisingly kept me fairly busy this week) and the evenings are taken up with my friends (and usually Halo). I really don't think my family will miss me much when I am officially gone because I am not really at home much anymore. lol.

Megan, Andrea, and I watched a creepy movie on TV last night. Anyone considering having an affair should watch Fatal Attraction...and some other movie with Richard Gere that Andrea was muttering about. It was sorta fun to have us all on the couch hiding behind pillows half screaming (not nearly as loud as halo causes us to sometimes do though). hee hee.

Teresa's first day went well. (I feel I should update you on here as well since she has long ago neglected and abandoned her blog.) It turns out that she has 2 different teachers than she expected, both a pleasant surprise. :) She was paranoid about her Spanish teacher, but it turns out she got a different/better one. So, yeah. Hurray for her. She is only taking 2 classes at Cornerstone this year because of Running Start. This means that officially she is done by 10:00 at Cornerstone. However, she is enjoying the fact that she can now hang around the office with Mrs. Karns, so she stays for longer than that. (Oh the memories.)

Anyway, I guess that is all I have to say for now. Everyone who is reading this and has a blog should update it *cough*Bonnie, Kristen, Tonia*cough*

mid week

Well Teresa started school today. I am slightly jealous of this fact. Although I have determined that I am not anxious for school to start I just want to be back in Seattle. lol. Not too much longer now though. Only 17 more days! I am sure it will go by too quickly....It seems odd to me that Teresa is starting Running Start this year. I remember feeling a lot older when I started, and yet looking back we were all just lame juniors. (no offense Teresa). I hope that it works out as good for her as it did for me.

I have been having rather strange dreams lately. Like last night for some reason the whole family was going to a blazers game and I had to take a separate car later, and I ended up taking a wrong exit and getting lost in some lame town. It seemed like a bigger plot line than this within the dream, however dreams always seem rather lame once you wake up. Then a couple of nights ago I had one of those dreams that you wake up from repulsed that your subconscious could even consider such a senario happening. Belch. lol.

The last couple days at work have actually turned out to be fairly busy, however today is going more slowly so far. The afternoon might pick up a little though. I still have 4 more hours left, so who knows what will happen. I gave my two weeks notice the other day. Hard to believe that in two weeks I will be done here and focused on packing up for school. I hope it goes by quickly.

We played Halo again last night. We discovered what some of the medals mean, so that makes life a little more exciting. Plus I was pretty good last night, which is always nice. Sometimes I suck it up. lol. I wish I had this game to take up to college with me, however it is probably a good thing I don't. Otherwise I would have an even harder time getting things done. Having a TV in my room is going to be distracting enough. lol. However, I do hope to find several guys to play Halo with. I don't want to become rusty. lol. :)

Anyway, this blog can only kill so much of my time here at work before I have to move on to something else. Hopefully the rest of the day will go by quickly....

Written on Monday

The weekend was pretty good. I didn't host a halo party or go to the beach, but it was still fun. :) With Mom and Dad gone, Teresa and I ruled the house. :) Not that we did much of anything. Friday night I went off and played Halo with my friends at Andrea's house. Then on Saturday Teresa and I watched several movies before I left her to go play tennis with my friends. After tennis we went over to Andrea's and played Halo. :) Then on Sunday we didn't go to church because it was just the annual business meeting. Instead we hung around. Mom and Dad came home from JonTon's at about 2:00. Sunday evening I went over to Megan's and we played Halo (I am sensing a theme) until 9:00 at which time we moved the party over to Andrea's house and continued to play Halo. ha ha. Some would say that we are addicted to Halo however I appreciate it because it is cheap entertainment. :) Thanks to Halo I haven't had to spend much money this summer to entertain myself. Which is a good thing when one doesn't have a job.

So, now I am here at work trying to once again kill time. However, I don't have my weapon of choice (a shotgun) with me at the moment so I must instead use my origami skills to help me pass the time. You see I have made origami balloon/ball things from the old calendar dates I pull off. It is a sad existence, but it is better than staring off into space attempting to look intelligent and somewhat busy. lol. However, one can only make so many origami balls before one runs out of calendar scraps. lol. I have completed my morning duties and my midmorning/afternoon duties have not arrived yet. So, instead I am typing this up through my office e-mail so it does look so blatenly obvious that I have nothing to do. hee hee.

I have heard more about my leadership conference for school that is coming up. On Saturday Sept. 17 I leave to go back up to Seattle. However, I can't check in until 6:00 at night, so that is kinda a bummer. Then from 6-8 is check in time. At 9:00 I have a meeting that everyone must go to. Then on Sunday we leave for the leadership retreat, which I guess is just one night because we come back on Monday. Then Tuesday is a training day. Then Wednesday the Freshman/new students arrive. After that we will actually have some time to breathe before classes begin on Monday. My roommate does not arrive until Friday I think. Which means that I really won't be able to set up my room very much because we have this whole plan that requires both of us to be there. :) It is kinda annoying, however I know it will all work out and I will enjoy it. It will be a busy week from the looks of things though. Oh well.

Also, if you recall I have stated that I would be updating my webpage this summer. However, I think I have decided not to revamp the whole thing. You see the program is not as easy use as one might think, and it is more complicated than I originally thought to just redo my webpage. There are aspects of the program that I like, but then again it can't do things that html can. So, I have decided to be happy with what I have. Especially since the only thing most of you go to on my webpage is my blog. Despite the other cool things I have on there. lol. So, anyway, just thought I would let you know that so you weren't sitting by the computer waiting for the new site to appear.

Anyway, I guess I have bored you all enough with my hum drum life, however it has passed at least a good 15 minutes of my time here at work. :) Hope you all are doing well.

Catch Up

I thought I would bring you up to date on my life since I haven't blogged in a while. I am now done house-sitting which is nice because I can once again go back to having basically no responsibilities. :) Plus I can be more consistent (maybe) blogging because I will have a computer again. :) Hurray for that!

Last weekend was really great. I was able to spend time with friends. It was a fulfilling weekend. On Saturday I was able to hang out with some of my friends and go see a movie and then afterwards we went to Megan's and played Halo. Great fun. Then on Sunday after church Teresa and I went over to hang out with Kristen all day before she is left for school on Wednesday (as I have previously mentioned). We watched 2 movies, played a some card and board games, and went down to Willow Grove were we played with a frisbee, a beach ball, and my kite. :) It was a very fun day. :)

After all that fun I went back to 'my house' to settle in for the night. It is there that I discovered a weird reality....most of the shows on Nick at Nite now are one that I remember. This is a little bizarre to me. lol. Oh well, it will only get worse I guess. They are showing shows like Full House,The Cosby show, Roseanne, Family Matters....it is just wrong....not that I don't enjoy it...Teresa and I got Boy Meets World Season 1 from netflix and so I am watching shows from my childhood....oh dear.

Since then I have been working in the day and hanging out with friends during the evening, while balancing my responsibilities at 'my house.' It has worked out alright. We are all getting pretty good at Halo. :) Although there is a hierarchy. Andrea is probably the best and then Megan and I are pretty even. Veronica is good, but is out of practice because she has been busier than the rest of us this summer. :) It is always great fun for the four of us to get together and kill one another. hee hee. Plus I feel like it has increased my knowledge of weaponry (including the alien variety lol).

I don't really have any plans for this weekend. I am most likely hanging out with friends again. Mom and Dad will be out of the house so maybe I will host a halo party or something. There is also some talk of going to the beach. We shall see. Anyway, hope that this has brought you up to date. Sorry I have been so delinquent. ttfn.

Weekend!

Finally the weekend is here. The week has gone by quickly considering how slow each day has seemed to be. I don't really have any weekend plans. I am just gonna hang out and take it easy. I will probably call up some of my friends and see what they are up to, hopefully we can catch a movie or something. :) Either way I don't have to be back at work until Monday! Hurray for that. :)

I am still house-sitting, so I will likely be watching random cable TV this weekend. Although so far there hasn't been anything really exciting on. Oh well. One would think with all of those channels there would be something, and yet there really isn't...What's up with that? I think it is a conspiracy personally. Big Brother is trying to get us out to exercise or something....or is subliminally planting things in our heads through the mind-numbing television shows. I'm pretty sure it is one of those. :)

Work today is going slow. It is almost my lunch break, which will be good. However, when I get back I will once again have nothing to do for another 4 hours...well 3.5 hours I guess.....when do I get to go back to SPU?

Yeah...so....hope you all have a good weekend.

Another day at work. I have reached midweek though, so it is almost over. :) It is about 12:30 and I have absolutely nothing to do....except answer phones, which are only ringing sporadically today (thank God!). However, this leaves me with nothing to do but twiddle my thumbs for the next 4.5 hours. That is going to get old. Seriously, why are all of my jobs like this? I always end up finishing my tasks and then having nothing else to do. One would think that there would be things that needed to be done, but alas they do not come to me. lol. Or if they do they take all of like 5 minutes and I am once again stuck in the same position as before. I keep telling myself one of these days I will be the person who has a little peon running around doing things for me, but I am beginning to doubt that this will ever be the case. lol.

Anyway, so that is what my day is like today. I don't really have anything going on tonight. Teresa and I will just most likely hang out at 'my house' and watch TV. lol. Good times. :) ....Actually I take that back, Teresa will be going to youth group tonight, which leave me to hang out with Jake all by myself and watch TV. hmph.

Oh well, guess I should try and track down another 5 minute job.....

It already feels like it should be later in the week. How sad. Yesterday went by really fast, where as today is once again at normal speed. Tonight I start house-sitting for one of my mom's co-workers. I will be doing that until next Thursday. It will be nice to get away from my house for a while and have cable. lol. Plus I am really close to home still so I can always stop by and eat real food. :) It should be good. They have 1 dog that I am taking care of. His name is Jake. I don't think he is any one particular breed. He's alright though, sorta on the large side though. :) Anyway, I guess I should get back to work even though I have absolutely nothing to do for the next 2. 5 hours....oh well, I am sure they will find something for me to do.

no title. (take that!)

Well, the weekend is over. It is a sad reality. I would really like the weekend to be longer than a few days. Oh well. It was back to work today. It seemed to go really fast, which was nice. :)

I am house-sitting for my mom's co-worker this week so I will not be at home as much. However, she lives right accross the alley, so I won't be too far away. lol. It should be good though.

I am going to go over to Megan's now. So, that is all for now. Sorry my blog posts aren't more exciting, but once I get back to school I will probably have more to say. :) ttfn.

Well it is Friday already. It is hard to believe that the week has past already. I spend most of my week wishing it were Friday, so when it actually is, that is nice. :) I don't really have anything planned for this weekend though. I am house-sitting for Diane/Jacob for a night, but other than that....

I have spent the last few days working and hanging out with family and friends. My family and I have been watching our Netflix together, which has been nice. I really am in love with Netflix and will be really sad when I go away to college and don't get them anymore. :( I went over to Diane/Jacobs on Wednesday and hung out with a whole group of people. We played Halo of course, which is always fun. Then on Thursday Kristen came over and hung out. Only about 2 more weeks until she goes back to school. I wish it were me....sorta.

Anyway, I don't really have anything more to say. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Busy, busy, busy

It has been a while since I last blogged. I just thought I would update you all. I have been busy with work and fun activities. I participated in the annual Terry/Taylor garage sales again. I was able to pick up some things. I got a Trisha Yearwood CD, a lamp for my college desk, a cool kite, and a few shirts. I thought it went pretty well. :)

On Sunday we went out to Grandma and Grandads to celebrate Jonathan's birthday (finally the festival is over!). It was a nice time out there with everyone. I even got to fly my new kite!

Today was back to work. Although Friday was a horrible day, today went much better. I just hope the rest of the week continues to go well. We shall see. blech!

Yeah, so that is my life really. I am now off to hang out with some of my friends because I haven't seen them in a while. It should be good. ttfn

People

I am sure you are all wondering what I have been up to. Especially as that is the main reason you all check this blog. :) Well...I have been keeping myself busy with the help of my new job and my friends.

I started working for Wilcox and Flegel on Monday. I am working 7 hours a day. It is going well, I am picking up on things, which is nice. I still do not feel completely confident...but it has only been 2 days. lol. It is sorta nice to have a reason to get up in the morning, but it does eat away at the day. hee hee.

My friends and I have been keeping busy. We went down to the outlet stores in Woodburn on Saturday. That was fun...I got a new pair of pants. We also have been continuing to play halo on a semi nightly basis. :) I am sorry to say that I am not sure I am getting all that much better. I thought I was until we had a bigger group to play against...and the girls and I did poorly. lol. However, I have not given up hope, if all else fails I will just have to get a 'private tutor' at spu. hee hee.

Anyway, that is mainly what I have been up to. The summer is passing quickly and before long I will be off again to Seattle.....

Harry Potter of the devil?

These quotes taken from the newest Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Just thought I would post them so you could see that at least there is some value in the Harry Potter books, even if they miss the whole truth...

"...It will take uncommon skill and power to kill a wizard like Voldemort even without his Horcruxes."

"But I haven't got uncommon skill and power," said Harry, before he could stop himself."

"Yes you have," said Dumbledore firmly. "You have a power Voldemort has never had. You can--"

"I know!" said Harry impatiently. "I can love!" It was only with difficulty that he stopped himself from adding, "Big deal!"

"Yes Harry you can love," said Dumbledore, who looked as though he knew perfectly well what Harry had just refrained from saying. "Which, given everything that has happened to you, is a great and remarkable thing. You are still too young to understand how unusual you are, Harry."

"So, when the prophecy says that I'll have 'power the Dark Lord knows not,' it just means--love?" asked Harry, feeling a little let down.

"Yes--just love." said Dumbledore......

"You are protected, in short, by your ability to love!" said Dumbledore loudly. "The only protection that can possibly work against the lure of power like Voldemort's!"
____________________________________________________________________________________
I don't know, I just found this passage to be interesting. I thought that those of you who have never read Harry Potter and are skeptical about its content might like to see that overall it is a book about good verses evil....and as we see in the passage love conquers all...the book does seem to miss the fact that God is love etc, etc. However that is not really the point of Harry Potter now is it....I am not really sure if I am making much of a case here or even much of a point, but anyway....there ya go.

yep....

Well my family is back from vacation. We had a wonderful time camping in the San Juan Islands. It was good to get away for a while. I am sure that between the 3 family blogs there will soon be pictures and a more detailed description of our summer holiday. However this post is merely to inform you all that I am back.

The other big news of my life is that I did actually manage to get a job! I will be working the front desk at Wilcox and Flagel on Industrial way. I am helping to fill in the holes as one of their employees has been in the hospital. It looks like I will have the job until I go back to school, which is nice. The situation allows me to meet their needs as well as them meeting mine. :) So, I am glad about that. However it sorta means that as of Monday my summer vacation is over. lol.

Anyway, I think I will continue to waste away hours of my remaining summer vacation reading the newest Harry Potter book. hee hee.

On vacation. Will post once I have returned....hopefully with pictures! :)

The Festival of Laura

Well this years festival was probably one of the best. It started on Saturday morning when I was surprised by my friends and drug to breakfast with my family. :) It was a great combination of people with both some of my friends and family present. I had a lot of fun with everyone and had way too much to eat. lol. I have never been surprised for my birthday, so it was nice. I had a few hints that something was going on, but did not expect what I got. :) It was very nice. I always enjoy family gets togethers and they are even better when I am the guest of honor. hee hee.


Stuffy's II picture 

So, that was Saturday. Then on Sunday my friends took me out to eat at Olive Garden. I had a wonderful time there as well. Endless amounts of laughter at the expense of everyone. hee hee. Plus the bonus of great food without having to pay for it. ;) I love it! For my birthday my friends gave me a present that I had requested about a year ago. I never actually expected them to get a hold of one, but they came through. :) They gave me a full size cardboard cut out of an army officer from the recruiters office. He is in dress uniform and looks very sharp. :) They named him Brian and his name tag says O'Connell...so he is Brian O'Connell. I do not really know his rank or anything because I am not that knowledgeable. He is not really put together yet because I thought it would be easier if to transport him to Seattle if I left him in half...I must say I enjoy having him in my room though. Wilson however really dislikes him. He is often found growling at him from the doorway. It is quite humorous. :)


Brian O'Connell 


Brian up close 

My festival was a great success I would say. I guess technically it is not over yet since I have not yet celebrated with JonTon...Long live the Festival of Laura!

I will soon blog about all the wonderful events of the "Laura Festival" that was my birthday. However, right now I am in a really bad mood and therefore would not do a very good job of detailing the events. Sorry.

Meh!

Well another day has passed. One day closer to turning 20. I am not sure if I am totally ready for Monday. Nothing will really change I suppose, but to me 20 sounds old. No longer a teenager. I am more than ready to give up the teens, but I am really not ready to be in my 20's. It really seems weird to me. There is really no good way to describe it...Oh well.

I am really not in the mood to blog. Nothing is coming out right....better go to bed I guess.

6 days til my b-day!

It has been a while since I have posted on my blog. I would like to say I have been to busy, but that is not completely true. I really am not doing much with my summer. It has consisted mostly of me hanging around the house. However, I have had a couple of babysitting jobs, and I go out a lot in the evenings to be with my friends. This weekend I am house-sitting, which will be good.

Still no luck with a summer job though. I am beginning to really give up hope. It is aggravating though because technically I could probably go out and find a job someplace, it just wouldn't be one I would want/enjoy. It is an interesting balance between the need for money and my pride. I have issues because I graduate from college this next year and I would like to build up my skills and resume. So far my resume looks really good. I don't really want to have to put on my resume that after having all these great looking jobs I then went to work fast food or something. I really don't know what to do. Every time I do get a lead on a job it never seems to work out.

Anyway, now that I have fully depressed you and myself I think I will go back to wasting my summer....meh.

Fixed

Ah ha! I fixed it. Hurray for me. Now I can feel motivated to blog again without fear of it becoming all messed up and people refusing to read it because of its formatting! lol.