Marisa- Oct 2

October 2, 2012

Sorry I’ve had a couple crazy days, so this update is a little late, but better late than never! This past week was pretty normal as far as classes and everything. I did have a midterm for Spanish and got 92%! Today I took my first test in the testing center (for American Heritage :P ) and I got 90%! I’m so happy! I’m really learning a lot in my classes and I really love all my teachers. And more importantly, I’m getting closer and closer to being done with American Heritage haha. I just found out that I’ll be able to sign up for classes for next semester on Halloween, so I’ve already planned out kind of a loose schedule of classes I want to take. I’m really hoping I can get into Polynesian or Irish dance! Most of the other classes are just extensions of classes I’m taking now. It’s crazy to think that I’m almost halfway done with my first semester of college already. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Well, our football team played Hawaii last week and creamed them. They actually had 2 players in the first 8 minutes of play that had to be taken out in an ambulance. If the first one could have waited, they could have carpooled! Haha, anyway, that game was really fun because Grandma and Grandpa Hart were in town and let Jared and me sit by them! It was great to see them! On Saturday they took us to lunch and dinner and shopping. It was a pretty fun day and it was awesome to spend time with them since we haven’t seen them for a while!

On Saturday night I had to go to “Rec Night”, which is like a big dance night for anyone involved in folk dance (I had to go for my folk dance class). It was actually really fun, and Jared was there with me so I didn’t feel totally alone :) Because it was a special rec night, I got to see the International Folk Dance Ensemble (the best team in our school) perform, and it was incredible. I wish I could dance like that!

So that was a really fun night, but I was pretty exhausted the next morning. Unfortunately I had a ton of meetings and things to go to on Sunday so I didn’t get to take a nap :( , but I will probably survive.

Adjusting to living on my own really hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. I’ve actually been eating really well, in fact I have way too much food squished into the fridge and freezer haha. I guess that’s better than the other way around… My roommates are still awesome and we all get along so well! They are all so fun to be around. I definitely am very blessed to have them. As I’ve met other girls I have become more and more grateful for the roommates I have haha. We actually have a really fun FHE group, even though there are only 4 weird guys, but they are pretty funny and like to hang out with us, so we’ll take it.

Well I think that’s about it. This coming weekend I’m going to the Utah State game and then I’ll be going to Conference on Saturday morning and watching the rest at my roommates house. I’m really excited because I’ve never been to Conference live! It should be pretty awesome. Hope everyone is doing well!

Can you play football while jumping on a trampoline?

Another busy yet somewhat uneventful week. We always have a ton going on and are surprised that it will be October this week!!

Bob proved once again that he is an awesome dad!! He was out with the kids a ton playing and one day he was jumping on the trampoline with Alayna, throwing the football while jumping. It was such an adorable sight.

Sorry the blogs have been so small and short lately. I have a hard time keeping up with everything while working full time as well as doing school courses and working out to train for the upcoming races. I covet sleep, therefore it takes precedence. I finish most of my class up this week and then I will hopefully have more time.

The Uneventful Week

The Uneventful Week

Its not often we get a pretty uneventful week, but I will take it! We have all gotten back into the swing of things with seminary, school, and work.

We did get a practice 5k in. I’ve been working out every day but no one else has. So, we went to the track and it was freezing! Almost literally! We all survived, and since no one died I figured we are in better shape than I thought. Merrit came too and ran the whole things in socks!

(see Kayla in the back?)

Alayna came running through the house with a king-size sheet flying like a cape behind her. When I asked her what she doing she said, “Mom! I’m creating memories!” Then Tyler saw and said, “Oh my gosh!!! I used to love doing that!!!” Pretty soon they were both running around the house with giant sheets attached. I loved it!

Bob and I had a fun date yesterday. I LOVE being able to do that! 

Marisa- Sept 23

September 23, 2012

What did Marisa do this week? Nothing too exciting really… On Monday our FHE went up the canyon and had a little barbeque, which was really fun. On Tuesday Missy and Clark and family came down from Salt Lake to take Jared and me to dinner, which was really fun. It was great to see them. Also, on Tuesday I tried one of Jamba Juice’s secret flavors for the first time: white gummy bear. It was really, really good and actually tasted like a white gummy bear! If you haven’t tried any secret flavors, you should look up the secret menu online and try some. It’s pretty cool :)

Wednesday I got to meet up with my Spanish “study buddy” for the first time. She’s from Bolivia, and basically we just get together and practice speaking each other’s languages, so I get practice speaking Spanish and she gets practice with English. It’s pretty cool. Thursday was just a hectic day of homework-doing, which wasn’t really fun :P Friday was also pretty busy, and I got to go to BYU’s International Cinema to see a movie about Mexican and Central American immigrants trying to get to the United States. It was really sad but it was great to watch a movie in Spanish!

Yesterday my roommates and I were busy cleaning and catching up on homework and sleep. 4 of my roommates had dates last night and I, this must be surprising, didn’t haha. I know this will happen eventually. I can’t go the whole year without getting a single date, right? Right? Haha oh well. This morning I was able to be part of the Brigham City Temple Dedication, which was really cool.

It’s been pretty interesting to see people I know from back home. For a lot of my roommates it’s totally normal to see people to know because they’re from Provo, but not many of us Iowan’s make the trek all the way out here for school. This week though, I met up with Spencer Mitchell for the first time in several years and got to kind of catch up with him, which was cool. I also saw (elder) Cody Bringham this morning but didn’t get to talk to him. I’ve also seen quite a few kids from our stake on campus, which is always fun.

(Marisa studying and roomate on netflix)

I’m sad to report our football team isn’t doing so hot right now, but I’ll be there to support them next week against Hawaii! We should hopefully win that one… fingers crossed…Anyway, life is good and I’m really enjoying college. I feel like this University was made for me. It’s everything I want and need all in one fun little Mormon bubble. I’m kind of craving chocolate covered cinnamon bears right now…if any of you come through Provo, make sure to stop by the BYU bookstore and try some of those. They are so good…I hope all is going well back home and with all my family! :)

Sweet Rolls, Practicum, and the busyness of it all!

The week: I made more sweet rolls, because I love them. Odd that no one in my house does.

Tyler was busy practicing OPUS, showchoir choreography camp, and school work. Kayla worked (and had to miss a fun stake activity because she couldn’t find anyone to cover for her) and had tons of homework.

Alayna had OPUS practice, running club, STOMP, and homework. She also made a really cool painting at Activity Days this week. They had to paint their testimony and she did the beautiful painting of the stable where Jesus was born.

We got our AMAZING family pictures by Brandi which are posted on facebook and I will post here soon. They turned out great!

Saturday: We did a family bike ride around the neighborhood. Trying to get in shape before the Color Run. We cleaned the house, made 9 jars of homemade salsa, picked a gallon of raspberries, did the laundry, etc. It was a long day but we got tons done. Bob even fixed the dying dryer with a $7 part. Its nice to have it up and running.

Practicum: Well, I survived my 3 days of Practicum at Linn Grove. I worked with 2 great women in their library and I had an AMAZING time. I realized how much I actually liked the elementary school.

My integration lesson was slightly short of a massive disaster. Teaching 2^nd graders technology when the computers are wigging is like herding cats. I completed the lesson, they liked me and the marshmallow snowmen I made them, but that was it. I’m pretty sure it scared the teacher that I am actually in a Masters program because I don’t think she was too impressed. At least its done.

We are praying VERY hard that a position will open for me in the coming year!!

Then, I had to head back to normal work Thursday. Since I cant find the words to describe how I feel about work the past month, I shall share a meme that sums it up beautifully!

Marisa 9-16-12

September 16, 2012

All my classes are really enjoyable and I’m learning so much. I have great teachers that really know what they’re talking about. I’m starting to make friends in my classes and I’m somehow keeping on top of all the work. The only bad thing right now is that I have no idea what any of my grades are in any of my classes. The University is beta testing a new online grade book program thing, which in theory is really cool, but it won’t allow us to see our grades at all. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to see how I’m actually doing! We turned in our first essay for American Heritage (outer darkness) last week and got them back this week. Turns out I did better than the average! But the average score was 5/10…I’m happy though. I’m going to survive this class. I had to write a paper last night completely in French, so we’ll see how that one turns out.

On Wednesday night for my guitar class I got to go out to dinner to this place called Guru’s where my guitar teacher and his band was performing (this place has amazing sweet potato fries for anyone who comes through Provo), and we get extra credit for going. It was awesome!

On Friday we had an adult session of Stake Conference, which is weird because we’re all adults and we all have to go, but it went for 2 hours straight on a Friday night and it was a little hard to get through. The talks were great but I was falling asleep a little bit. It’s actually kind of amazing how I’m pretty much sleeping in every day compared to high school, but I’m still soooo tired. Oh well. I guess I’m not as young as I used to be ;) We have regional conference, though, today and Dallin H. Oaks is going to be presiding, which I’m really excited about. It may not be a big deal for all these Utahns, but it’s kind of really awesome for me :D

Yesterday our stake took a huge trip to Brigham City (about 2 hours away) to go to the open house of the new temple. It was a really long trip both ways in a really stuffy bus, but it was worth it. When we got there, the line was huge and part of the time we were stuck out in the hot sun, but once we got inside it was really nice. It was beautiful. Next Sunday they are going to broadcast the dedication in our Marriott so we can all kind of attend. I already have my ticket, but I still need to find a white handkerchief…I might just end up using a tissue or something haha.

I’ve had a lot of creamery ice cream this week, so hopefully I won’t get that freshman 15 haha. Oh I also went shopping this week with a roommate and it was super stressful! None of us have a car, so we had to rent a car from hertz, which we only get for an hour, and we didn’t think about how much traffic there would be around the time we reserved, so we had to rush there, run around the store, and then rush back. I got a bunch of stuff I needed, though, so it’s all good haha.

I didn’t get to watch the game last night against Utah, but I heard all about it. Very very sad indeed :( Still no dates yet, but I think we are inviting a room of guys over for a Sunday dinner tonight, so maybe soon…? As you can see, this will be the most important part of my update every week haha. I love you all!

Angels Among Us

Angels Among Us

I think sometimes the phrase, “When it rains, it pours”, really is a true statement. Sometimes it seems to pour, and pour, and pour and you find yourself praying for a drought. The thing I learned this week was that there really, truly, are angels among us.

I’ve had a couple of super tough weeks due to the harshness of others as well as other things that combined to make it “pour”. Alayna must have picked up on the fact that I was going through a tough time, because every night she has set up a “personal station” for me where we watch favorite shows together while she rubs my back and shoulders and rubs my feet with a special lotion she has created. How sweet that she not only noticed, but realized she could help in some small way, which was HUGE for me.

Today, she and Tyler ran to Aldi’s to grab something for lunch and she bought me flowers with the money she earned this week. I was so incredibly touched!

This week at work was brutal in more ways than one. We have no AC and of course, they wouldn’t cancel school (like Des Moines did). The library has no cross breeze. It felt like an oven and the air was so heavy. I spent every day literally dripping wet and trust me, on days like that, don’t wear clothes that show sweat! The worst day it was about 90 degrees in the actual library and I felt like I was literally melting. A kid who is a regular during 2^nd period, came in and had bought me 2 ice cold root beers!! I wanted to break down crying. I was so grateful! (He asked me last week as a joke what my favorite soda was. He is sneaky). Then, that afternoon, another boy came in and said, “Do you like Dark Chocolate?” Duh! “Have you heard of a candy called Reisens?” Heck, yes! “Well, I went to Wal-Mart this morning and got some for you.” Again, I got all misty-eyed. How did those 2 boys know I needed that so much?

I went to take a nap one day, when I woke up, Bob had done all the dishes! He also took me on a fun date for dinner.

I have a tough week ahead. Mon/Tues/Wed are my practicum as full days at Linn Grove Elementary. I am SOOOOO excited and I even get to eat lunch with Alayna every day! It also means I can knock out 2 of the 5 modules for my Master’s class, which has been a nightmare.

Also, our dryer broke. Figures right? Had to jump on along with everything else. Bob spent some time on it and thinks he figured out the problem, so he ordered a part and hopefully it’ll work.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I thought going down to 3 kids would make life less busy. It didn’t work.

Marisa! We miss you!!

Alayna: She started the school running club this week. I am excited to have a new running buddy. We are doing the Color Run the 1^st weekend of October and possibly doing the Turkey Trot in November. She has had OPUS and orchestra rehearsals and then joined the Art club as well. She loves being so involved and I think its great.   She also lost 2 teeth on the same day at school.

Tyler: Tyler has been very busy with showchoir. Last week it was 10 hours of rehearsal. Although he complains about how tired and sore he is, he seems to really enjoy it! He also joined SODA club. His new obsession is the Nook I am piloting. He has been like a reading machine. Its funny, because I keep trying the Nook, but I would so much rather have an actual book in my hands. I guess I am still a little old school.

Kayla: She has been busy working quite a bit, and has tons of homework. She has been preparing for the ACT too. She LOVES her graphic design class and thinks this could be a possible career path. She went on a fun backyard campout with friends last night and had a lot of fun.

I have also been very impressed with something she has done so quietly that I am not sure anyone has noticed. She has a friend who recently joined the church and other than her older sister who is going on a mission, she is the only member in her family. She is also too young to drive. Kayla picks her up every Sunday, she sits with our family, and she takes her home. She takes her home from seminary each day too. Talk about an angel….

Blankets: We also started making the receiving blankets for my parents to take on their humanitarian mission to Ghana in January!  We hope to make enough to fill a suitcase we can send with them.  It’s not every day our family gets a cool opportunity like this so we are very excited!

Well, I guess that’s it for the week at the Hart household. I’ll sum it all up by this quote I saw on Pinterest this week: “Don’t forget in the dark what you learned in the light”.