Plaura's Wedding, take 3!

This past weekend I went to Nauvoo... but this time I went for a sealing! I had so much fun. Pete and Laura West were sealed for time and all eternity on Saturday, December 6, 2009. Evan Ivie was the sealer. It was a beautiful ceremony. 

I posted a few pictures. Enjoy!

Organized chaos. I wouldn't have it any other way.

These are a pair of my mission shoes.... in the snow. 

This won't happen in Guatemala.

Oh, and that is one of my LOVELY mid-calf length skirts.

IM SO EXCITED. :)

Life is sort of crazy right now. I imagine that is how it will be for the rest of my life.

It is late, and I should probably go to bed... but I am sort of wired at the moment. Morgan was going to the Co-rec (or the RSC, as Purdue insists that it is now called) and I was going to be lazy and stay home... but then she mentioned sauna. I was cold, so I decided to go. I walked on the "dreadmill" -- as my mother calls it. It was decent. The televisions were playing their variety of shows. I, without thinking, chose to stand in front of the VH1 television. Let me tell you-- it is amazing what they allow on TV these days! My my my.... 

I just got back from Thanksgiving Break. It was enjoyable. I spent some time in the car with my brother. He is working on getting his license. We hope to take him over Christmas break to take the driving test. I think he will pass.

My sister and I spent a decent amount of time together... which was fun. We saw Twilight and marinated in Coke. (Out of glass bottles, naturally.) We cooked together the night before and the day of Thanksgiving. Then.... we stayed the night at my grandparents house. We woke up at the crack of dawn to run over to Kohl's and purchase some goods. I have decided Kohl's marks up their prices to mark them down. After that we went to breakfast, went back home... I crashed on the bed and my sister went out with my grandma and cousin to do a little more shopping. They're hardcore.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! My favorite-- the mashed potatoes. My dad has really turned them into an art. He uses fancy butters and whipping creams... cream cheese and chives. Ohhh man. You can feel your arteries clogging but it's worth it. In second place -- turkey and noodles. We make the noodle dough the night before and then the next day we roll them out and cut them and... oh its just so delicious. There are only leftovers in my house for 1 day. It's sort of lame... I wanted to take some back to school with me!

Friday night I went "bar hopping." I went to Pierre's and Zambucas. I preferred Zambucas. It was cleaner and classier... and the bartender gave me a free Sprite! He might have found out I was Mormon... :) haha. I have decided bars are dirty and nasty... and are for people with low self-esteems. I mean, at 9pm when no one was drunk yet... they were all standing around the dance floor. BUT! When the alcohol kicks in.... everyone starts dancing! I had a good time, by 2:30am I was totally doing Mormon style dancing... meaning.. dance moves I learned at Especially for Youth (a summer camp). Well, I learned that I don't really care for bars. They aren't a place I will frequent. But! I love to observe people.... and these two bars are just offer a different variety of people. They certainly aren't the Starbucks crowd.

Saturday was good. I went to lunch at my FAVORITE restaurant-- Mi Pueblo. MMMmmm. I ordered my usual-- tamale w/ rice!

Sunday it snowed like WHOA. (Do you remember that song? "My love it like WHOA.") I went to church at the stake center in Fort Wayne. It was fun! I got to see Ashley Noya (Lee) and her new baby. He was at that fun squishy stage. I also ran into Elder Dalling! It was fun to catch up and hear how he was doing. Then I drove home and went to The Thing at the Low's. I got to play my favorite game: Mexican Train!!!!!! It was my last time I was able to play it. The next time we have the thing we're having the Christmas party... and we pretty much just sing for 2 hours. (I LOVE THAT TOO!!!)

That was my break.... this coming week is sort of crazy. I am a little stressed about getting everything done for my mission.. and having a little time to relax. I have a million people I want to see... a bunch of activities I need to participate in and a road trip to take!

I'd lay out my Christmas break for you, but you're probably not interested. Maybe in a different post. It's time for bed anyways.

<3

Twilight Euphoria

I am a fan of Twilight. But! I am not a fan for the typical reasons.

Yes. I love the story line. The characters are lovable (though stupid at times) and its easy to read. But really... I am a fan because of the sense of unity it gives me. I LOVE walking around and seeing someone with a Twilight shirt.... or a Twilight book sticking out of their bag. This means, you can stop and say "AHHH you're a Twilight reader!!!! Jacob or Edward!?!??!"

For the record: I like both. Notwithstanding how the book ended, I think either boy would have been a good choice for her. 

I saw the Twilight movie with these lovely people. It was so fun!! We got to the theater at about 10:45pm. The movie started at 12:01am. This above picture proves my point of the unity that Twilight brings! Most of these girls don't know eachother.... one girl is from my highschool, another is a girl on the floor of my friend from highschool. 3 of the girls are  friends from church.. one is a friend from Purdue and the other is a friend's roommate. There were freshman, there were graduates. There were grad students and a girl getting ready to go on a mission. Do you get my point? Twilight is not awesome because of the story line, its awesome because it brings people together.

As far as the actual movie goes, I loved it. The acting was a little bit awful... but after the first 30 minutes I didn't notice... this movie was one of the first movies that when it ended, I didn't want it to. It went too fast!!! Bah. 

Okay. So, I am not going to write movie reviews for a living. Just know, that this is one that I think I could watch over and over again.....

ps: 50 days til Guatemala.

Radio DJ? Brain Surgeon? Cruise Director? Spanish Teacher?

What do all those things have in common? They are some of the professions I have wanted to pursue.

When I was in 6th grade, I wanted to be a radio DJ. I wrote a local radio station. I asked them if I could come in and see what was involved in producing a radio show. I was interested in it because I loved to talk on the phone, email, and listen to music. After the visit, I learned that you have to work horrible hours... and the pay is so terrible that it is a part time job for most disc jockeys. This dream lasted all the way til my freshman year of high school. I took a radio class. I was able to do sports/ news/ weather reports on the high school radio station. We had a total of -3 listeners. I had a good time, but decided I was more interested in medicine.

So. I wanted to be a doctor. At first I wanted to be a brain surgeon. I actually bought a book and started reading it and learning about the brain. Then I decided I didn't care. I wanted to cut people open and see what they looked like inside.

By this point, I was in Bio2 and we were dissecting a rat. That was the most memorable dissection of my life. I remember when we were done with all the "class work" (learning about the heart, lungs... etc-- this took like 3 weeks) we were able to spend a day and do what we wanted to our specimen. I decided I wanted to be a brain surgeon for-a-day. It was fun.... but the brain of a rat is sort of small and boring.

I decided I liked the body and I wanted to fix it. I started volunteering at the hospital. I worked here for about 2 years. I had SO much fun... but I also hated it. I was an escort. All I did was take people from their room to their car. I liked it because I was exposed to almost every department in the hospital... but hated it because some of the patients were grumpy.

We had a job shadow day at school. I decided I wanted to shadow a surgery. I went in the room and was really excited. Then they started cutting skin. (Knee replacement) I, for the first time in my life, felt that queezy-nauseous-quick get me outta here feeling. I didn't want to do anything related to medicine anymore.

Now, it is club call out time at school. My friend tells me about the "Hospitality Club." I decided to go because they give away free Pizza Hut pizza at all their meetings. I know this is standard for college-- but it is not standard in high school... at least not mine. I ended up falling in love with the idea of Hospitality. I was able to be a part of the organization of student's dinners and events. I was able to see what happened behind the scenes. I loved it. We worked directly with IPFW (Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne) and we worked with the students on their projects. This is when I decided I was going to study Hospitality and Tourism Management. (I already knew I was going to Purdue. It was sort of coincidence that Purdue was rated the #1 program in the country.)

Well, two years of studying Hospitality and I decide it is not for me. Fortunately, I discover this right before I will be taking about 2 years off school to serve a mission for my church -- quite convenient. But, this has lead me to an idea about what I want to do with school!!!

I WANT TO TEACH SPANISH! I think it will be perfect. I am going on a mission to a Spanish-speaking country. I will learn to speak like the locals. I am a Spanish Minor, so I am already part of the way there. I think I want to teach high school kids.

I realize I have about 2 years to let this set... and I may come back and decide to be a chemist (HIGHLY unlikely) but it is nice to have a little direction... a little bit of a goal... it makes me excited!

Things I wanted... but I now think are stupid/ gross

When I was between the ages of 8 and 11 (I can't remember when exactly) I DESPERATELY wanted to be in the Mary Kate and Ashley Fan Club. I got $20 for my birthday one year, and my daddy wouldn't let me mail in $7 to join the club.


When I was a freshman in college, I wanted to put a metal bar in my ear.



When I was in middle school, I wanted a gerbil. I actually WANTED to put my hands on some small, germ-infested rodent.

When I was 14, I thought high school boys were not only cute but COOL.


From 3rd-4th grade, I was in love with Leonardo DiCaprio.




~~more to come later. i need to retire.

Bugs. Parasites. Rats.

Tonight was Joni Taylor's birthday party. Me, and 5-6 married couples went over to the Taylor's house and ate some cake. We also played Apples to Apples.

Melissa Newman made some very delicious caramel. I had a fun time trying to break off a piece because they were stuck together. It made it into a game, almost. I love games.

I enjoy hanging out with married people!! There is less competition for attention. I wonder why that is....

I was able to talk to some dude.... no idea what his name is... but he served a mission in Mexico. So he was telling me about the horror and happy stories of Central Ameria...... which leads to my next few paragraphs....

When I go to Guatemala, my chances are very high that I will come into contact with a bunch of things that will scare me to death. I have decided to start preparing for this as well.

I searched on Google: How to overcome my phobia of cockroaches.

I found this response, and I decided I will do it.

What you have is a very real phobia, its called Blattodephobia. To over come any phobia it’s a matter of time and patience, but most of all baby steps. (Has anyone seen "What About Bob?!??!!?)

Start with getting hold of a picture of a cockroach, and as many times a day as you can manage look at the picture, starting with just 3 seconds and graduating up slowly over a week to 5 mins of looking at it, depending on how bad your phobia is, touching the picture might be next...again start slowly and build up the amount of time and times you touch it in a day.

Next step would be to get one of those dead ones and put it into a container (or get someone who isn’t scared of them to do it) do the same thing with that, look at it through the plastic for a short period of time and slowly build up that time till looking at it no longer worries you, after that remove the lid of the container and do the same thing, look at it for a period of time, till looking at it directly doesn’t worry you.

The final step would be to catch a live one and do the same thing, look at it through a plastic container with the lid on until it no longer scares you, then the same thing with the lid off the container. Now I know that sounds all very scary and your probably screwing up your face and saying no way I'm not doing that, but honestly, the more exposure you have to them the less your fear will become. If you continue to to go the way you are going you will end up with not only a phobia but an anxiety disorder aswell.

Remember, take it nice and slow, you will not be cured over night.


So there you have it. I WILL cure this phobia. I will not be a pansy missionary. I am going to have a good time in Guatemala... and the silly cockroaches aren't going to ruin it!!!!!!!!!!!

Guatemala.

(my information is from the CIA Factbook)


This is the glorious country I will be traveling to. I will mostly be in eastern Guatemala. Here are some important facts:

*Size: slightly smaller than Tennessee
*Climate: tropical; hot, humid in lowlands; cooler in highlands
*Natural Hazzards: numerous volcanoes in mtns, occasional violent earthquakes, hurricanes, tropical storms
*Population: 13,002,206
*Languages: Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40%
*Unemployment Rate: 3.2%
*Population below poverty line: 56.2%