I have been so busy having fun this week that I have not written on my blog for a few days! So, I guess it's about time I catch up. I'm kind of late getting to bed tonight. In fact, when I post this blog, it might even list the date as Saturday, March 15--because it is past midnight--but to me it is still Friday, March 14 because I haven't gone to bed yet. This has been such a fun week!!!!! I am excited to see Greg when I head back to Illinois tomorrow, but I must say, it is very hard to leave home!! My family and I have a lot of fun together, and Camden, Riley, and Sidney are very good at making me smile. Up there in the top picture, you will see Riley (holding "Lammy"), Gramma Taylor, Camden, and Tiffy last Saturday morning after the super fun sleepover. We all still look a little sleepy, but we shore had a great time. In the next picture, you will see Sidney coloring up a storm when the Barretts came over to our house on Sunday evening. The way she crinkles her nose when she smiles is sooooooo cute! Next you will see another cute (but more hairy) baby--one of Grandpa T. and Grandma Cathy's baby goats! Mom, Dad, Rich, and I went over to the T's house on Monday for Family Home Evening, and we got to see the four baby goats who are totally adorable. They were running and jumping all over the place. And finally you will see the picture of Mom and me at Camp Floyd State Park out in Fairfield when we went to meet with the director there about internship possibilities. You can even see my new hairdo in the picture!
Now that you've seen the recap in pictures, here is a more detailed account of the past few days:
On Monday, before we went to FHE at the T's house, Mom let me attend her monthly club luncheon that, this month, was held at the Chef's Table on State Street in Orem. I had never eaten there before, but it is a great place! It has a very nice view out over Provo, and the food there is delicious. I had some really, really, really great Tuscan tomato soup and a delightful steak salad. After going to lunch, we went downtown in Provo and checked out some possible wedding luncheon sites.
On Tuesday, I had to go to the eye doctor for my yearly checkup. Mom went with me, and we made it there on time for my 9:30 a.m. appointment. The eye doctor place had just gotten a new computer system which seemed to have mysteriously done away with all of their old information, so I had to re-fill-out paperwork that they had recorded in their old system. That took me until about 10:00, and then we sat down to wait. We waited and waited, and then when people who came in after us started getting called back to the doc's office, we started to get a little concerned. We asked some people what the deal was, but they said that Dr. Parson was just busy. But, when it got to be 11:00, and with a room full of impatient patients, Mom and I threatened to leave and reschedule my appointment for May. Luckily at that point one of the nurses went looking for my paperwork, and somehow it had been lost in some black hole. They finally found it and took me back to get checked. Everything looked good with my eyes, so Mom and I were in and out of the examination room in about 10 minutes. It's a good thing after waiting an hour and a half! After the eye doctor, we met our good friend Yevon Romney at Brick Oven for a belated birthday lunch. Since I couldn't see very well all afternoon (my eyes were still dilated), I took a little nap. Then, I went and got my hair cut and highlighted--so it is now my favorite blonde color and is a much more spring-ish length. It is a nice change, and it helps me feel like spring is near (even if the weather in Illinois probably won't go along with it). Then while Mom and Dad were at the MTC, I hung out at the house and did some homework.
On Wednesday morning, Mom and I headed over to Camp Floyd State Park to meet with the director there about internship possibilities. He had originally offered me a six-month paid position there, but when we showed up that morning, he said that he was doing some figuring, and he realized that he could only pay me for 20 hrs/week for four months. Grrrrrr. We were a little upset, but as it has turned out, I think it is all for the better. So I will plan on coming home from school in mid-May, then I'll start work at Camp Floyd in June. I'll get to work with kids doing Civil War educational programs, which should be very, very fun. I love Camp Floyd because it's Utah's only real connection with the Civil War, so it combines my two favorite types of history: Mormon and Civil War! My new plan, thanks to the change of plans at Camp Floyd, is to work there for four months, then have Greg come out here in October, at which time we'll get married, and then we'll head back to Illinois, where I will complete the last two required months of work for my internship. Nobody in Illinois wanted to offer me a paid internship for six months, but a couple of places have said they could handle me for two months, so I think that this plan will work out great. Besides, it will be fun to get married in October instead of waiting until December! Also on Wednesday, Mom and I met Greg's mom for dinner at Bajio over in Pleasant Grove, which was very fun. We had a good time chatting and catching up on everything. She'll be moving down to Arizona this weekend to start a new job and be with Greg's dad (who was already in AZ for employment purposes), which she is very excited about.
On Thursday, I got up early and rode with Dad to BYU. It made me feel very nostalgic to be there on campus, and it made me terribly homesick, or I guess you could say schoolsick. I really miss going to school there. It's so pretty surrounded by mountains, and it's comforting to know that you're surrounded by people who share similar beliefs to you--not crazy people like there are at EIU :-) I went to BYU to do some research for the paper I'm writing for Dr. Small's architecture class, and so I got to spend four whole hours at THE MOST WONDERFUL PLACE ON EARTH: the Harold B. Lee Library! I absolutely love that place, and I could seriously live there if they would let me. I've missed spending time amongst its moving shelves, floors and floors of wonderful books, and miles of shelves of periodicals. It was quite heavenly to get to do research there again, and I accomplished quite a lot. I think my paper will turn out splendidly thanks to my BYU research time. After the library, I went and visited one of my favorite BYU professors of all time: Dr. Rugh! We had a lot of fun catching up and planning for when she comes out to EIU next month to be our distinguished guest speaker at the opening of our exhibit. Then, I met Mom over at Jamba Juice, and we went and visited with the BYU catering people about wedding luncheon possibilities. Spring break has been a good time to shop around a bit for the best wedding luncheon deals. Then . . . Mom and I had the best lunch ever! We went to J-Dogs just off of campus and had one of the legendary Polish dogs that Sarah has always raved about. It was as good as she said it would be. I had mine with kraut and "special sauce," and it was sooooo delicious. Mom and I then took Rich to work over in American Fork, and then we drove around looking for old pioneer houses that I could take pictures of for the architecture paper. We found a lot of cool ones, and it was fun to drive around looking for them. Then we went to the Holy Cow Boutique in Pleasant Grove and found some fun things. Mom and I love boutiques! We even ran into one of the receptionist ladies from the eye doctor's office, and she was a little embarrassed to see us after they had lost my charts. We told her that it wasn't her fault :-) That evening Mom, Dad, and I went over to the Barrett's for dinner, which was very, very fun! Lindy made some divine buckwheat crepes and a tasty squash salad, topped off by coconut cream pie. The girls kept us all laughing, and we had a lot of fun running around the house and playing with pretend food.
And finally, today I got some things done around the house, then Mom and I ran a few errands. I had taken my engagement ring to the jeweler's to get resized because it was a tad big, so today I picked it up, and it fits perfectly! Who knew that I wore a size 4.5 ring? Maybe my fingers have gotten skinnier due to the stresses of grad. school. Then the Barretts came over to our house for dinner, and once again we had a lot of fun. Sidney was quite talkative tonight, and she liked doing whatever Camden and Riley were doing. She loves being a big girl! It made me sad to tell them goodbye tonight--even though I know I'll see them in two months. It's still hard though because they are so ridiculously CUTE! I miss them when I'm away, but luckily we can talk on the phone. It will also be sad to say bye to Mom, Dad, and Rich in the morning when I leave, but I guess that after coming this far with school, I must carry on, so I shall. I can be happy thinking that in exactly two months from tomorrow, Greg and I get to go to a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, AND Mom will be flying to St. Louis to then drive back to Utah with me! So, more good times are surely in store.
Just when you thought that the Chicago River could not possibly become more polluted than it is, St. Patrick's Day weekend comes along, and they dump a whole bunch of green dye into the water! Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to witness the event myself today, but today was the big day when the Chicago River was turned green. St. Patty's Day is not until Monday, but Chicago celebrated it today with a parade and all. I flew into the Windy City at about 12:45 p.m., and by that time most of the festivities were over, so thankfully it wasn't too crazy as I took the CTA train into the city. I did pass a number of odd-looking individuals who had obviously been enjoying some Irish beverages and were sporting some pretty crazy St. Pat's gear. I didn't realize what a big deal St. Pat's Day is in Chicago, but they really do dye the river green, and at Union Station they were selling green Chicago Cubs jerseys and "Chicago St. Patrick's Day 08" t-shirts. If only I'd known, I would have flown in earlier (just kidding)!
