Holiday Festivities!

funny shtuff

OK...so tonight I am peacefully studying for finals in my room when I hear some sort of struggle going on in the family room. I proceed to find out that we are locked INSIDE our apartment. HAHA something happened to our door, and we could not get out! It was pretty funny. After getting pretty excited after coming up with the excuses we could tell our teachers for not being able to take finals, Kara managed to be our handy woman (and that she is) and we were able to escape. We are up on the fourth floor of our apartment and were contemplating calling the fire dept. I called out our window for help, but I'm pretty sure no one took me seriously... Right now we have a make shift door knob made of duct tape and string... 

SChoooool.

Finals make me realize that it pays off to have good study habits the whole semester. I always feel like during finals I am amazing at somehow spending every second of free time at the library...but I guess that is a result of not doing that earlier in the semester. I have 4 finals all together, one this Friday and the rest are next week. I am fighting the urge to leave them all until the last day, because I know deep down I will keep telling myself I have all week to study and then I wont ever do it! haha My dad was telling me about some guy he knows that has a "Lean" (a type of manufacturing strategy)  way of studying, where you study in the same place, for the same amount of time, every day. It's like you review every subject every day in the same order, for the same amount of time, and supposedly he has like amazing results from it...Next semester I think I will try that out....haha we will have to work something out so that I can fit it around my snowboarding schedule though...

new do for a new season

Daegan Ronald Miller 

As there is a new season of WINTER, I decided to go for a new look. The blonde bob!! It's suuuper short and suuuper blonde, but I like it It's usually the opposite, it seems like everyone always goes darker in the winter, but I like wearing beenies with this haeir cut for some weir reason... haha Yes, so there, you have it. The bob. On another note, my brother and his wife Amy have just adopted a beautiful baby boy. His name is Daegen Ronald Miller, and he is a babe. He has blonde curly hair, just like my bro! HE is such a little miracle, we are all so thrilled for Brock and Amy! They took him home from the hospital on Thursday, and they are all doing great! This semester is winding down to dinals, and we'll just say it is going to be a busy week or so!

If you have time... See Ghost Town. Its about a guy who dies for 9 minutes in a surgery, and somehow is brought back to life. After he comes back he realizes he can see ghosts... It's really funny.. but even more funny, was the guy who I was with who totally screamed at a part when someone gets hit by a bus.... totally not even scary and no one else screamed, but my date.. ohhhh yes 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! 

It was a great Thanksgiving spent at home. Soooo much to be grateful for! I still have a hard time calling Logan "home" but it is always fun to be up at my parents' place. Eventhough I made about four trips to Hollywood video, there was plenty of catching up done with my brothers and sisters, cousins, and parents. There was constant cooking, eating, chaos, screaming, barking, and anything else you can think of! Haha but it was so nice to just relax and be home with family. All of my sibs were home, and it's not too often that happens! 

Movies watched while home (ranked in order of liking....) 

1.) TWILIGHT (AMAZING. I LOVE EDWARD) 

2.) ELF (of course!)  

3.) The Bucket List 

4.) Rumor Has It 

5.) Get Smart 

6.) Nacho Libre 

7.)  Rocky 

8.) Barbie and the Nutcracker (with the nieces haha) 

Intense Family "Discussions" involving: 

1.) Politics

2.) Current Events 

3.) The Gospel 

4.) Real Estate 

5.) Recipe Battles 

6.) Sibling Favoring

7.) My bro's recent sinus surgery 

check it out.. Poor Dery! He had the surgery the day before Thanksgiving and was totally out of it like the whole week! He had a deviated septum. He went to President Hinkley's Dr! I was some what jealous....I wouldn't mind losing my appetite the week with the most fattening foods present in mass amounts at every meal?... haha no he was in a lot of pain, but hopefully he will be able to breathe better soon!

A few pics I captured when I was home 

my Dad is going through his mid-life-crisis... trucks, horses etc.. haha

makes for a cool pic though

UTAH JAZZ GAME--but not a Jazz Fan by any means...

 UTAH JAZZ vs. PHEONIX SUNS

Me and my friend Bryce with 

our amazing 

 Steve Nash t-shirts! 

FHE GROUP

My calling in my ward right now is an FHE Mom, well actually it has been my calling for about the past three years of college! haha I must need to practice my nurturing or something, because it seems to follow me everywhere I go! We've done some fun things this semester, from service, to scavenger hunts, to game nights with hot chocolate and cookies, to Utah Jazz games! Last night we went to the game and sat front row! not really, actually the third to last row! haha! but it was still so much fun! My buddy Bryce is a little obsessed with the Suns, and he wanted it to rub off on me so he insisted he buy be this blingin' Bright Orange steve Nash shirt! It was an XL, down to my knees, but it made for an interesting evening! Every person that passed us just stared us down like we had some disease, haha and we got some very interesting comments by drunkards AFTER the Suns lost. I love our FHE group and I love Steve Nash! hahah

LIFE updates.

Provo is seriously starting to get so cold! We now officially have the heat on all the time, and I'm constantly drinking herbal tea whenever I'm home, just to keep myself from dying! My hair has been "fall-itized" by going just a few shades darker. I like it. I turned in my application to the teaching program last week so I will know in about a month! I'm also currently applying for  a study abroad in Madrid Spain this April, so hopefully things will play out as they should. I think that living in Spain would really help my fluency a lot, and that's what I need if I'm going to teach it! I'll keep the blog posted on progress! 

ZUUUUMBAA!!!!

I have started going to these classes at 24 Hour Fitness called "Zumba" and I am in love with them! haha I never was part of any organized dance crew, or whatever they are called, but I go and have a blast in the back row! The instructor has a rockin' bod, so it's inspiration to keep going! I'm sure she is glad I come because it is probably entertaining for her to watch me struggle! haha It is seriously so fun though! If your looking for a good workout I would totally 

recommend it! It's a lot Latin dancing combined with a bunch of Cardio stuff, it definately has you sweating at the end of it, and your feel tight everywhere! There is a little bit of Merengue, Salsa, Reggaeton, Hip-Hop, and just me making up my own thing, and it has you moving for a whole hour. Half of the time I am just shakin' it, and trying to figure out what's going on, haha but it's so fun and seriously like a super good workout! It's very good for like sculpting your muscles, and burning fat, you do tons of core stuff, and a lot of arms... yeaaaa. It's definately a party, and it's my new obsession! I never was a cheerleader, dancer, or anything like that, and i have never been into like Latin dancing haha but I don't even care. You have to start somewhere right? I feel a special connection with it-- I am in Spanish classes like all day long where I am totally frustrated because they are so hard and technical and feel so distant from the culture, being immersed in all the grammar, that I need a little something to bring it to my heart and remind me how much I love it! Zumba fo' Life! 

joys of fall

One of the many joys of fall semester is spending numerous hours studying. I have decided that I don't like spending weekends at the library. Today was the first time I went to the library all day on a Saturday, AND all night! It was rediculous... I guess you just have to do it every once in a while. It wasn't all bad I guess, I finally left at about 9:30 pm, with a new friend I made at a table across from me. We even went to the creamery in our sweat pants after. Who would have thought I would leave that never-ending day with a cute little friend taking me for ice-cream huh? How cute. Provo life.  Even though my new boyfriend (the HBL library) keeps me super occupied with things to stress about, I have still been excited about this fall weather! Not exactly the weather, but the wonderful Fall wardrobe that comes along with it! Boots, scarfs, p-coats.... :) ahhh I love it.

Another bonus that the fall brings is college football, go Cougs! --and, very entertaining intramural flag football games. Another, my roommate got a pumpkin pie yesterday! I need to go out and get a pumpkin spice candle for my room, and make like an apple crisp or something, just to make it the most "Fally" it can be... Fall is rad!! Provo is getting beautiful with the mountains so close, and all the trees changing colors. I'm trying to take advantage of it before the snow comes! I love that we have 4 distinct seasons here. I appreciate the variety. I enjoy the change. 

My 1st experience with the "Dawgs"

So today I had one of those "firsts." A Provo hot-spot. The J-Dawgs. I can't believe I have been in Provo almost a year, and today was my first time! I have to say, yes, it did measure up to the talk of the town, having said that, I don't think it was anything   "out of this world"... can I say that and wake up tomorrow?... I guess the first thing is that I wasn't brave enough to go with the Polish dog, I stuck with beef. Then as far as toppings go, I have to say I was a little timid. Pickles and the special sauce. The special sauce was everything I could have dreamed it would have been, but I just couldnt get myself to branch out and do all the other stuff. I definately will be willing to give it a second chance and be a little daring, branch out. The guy I was with was an avid dawger. He downed two polishs' with the works (banana peppers, sourkraut, onions, pickles, AND the special sauce) Next time is going to be better. I did have a good first impression, I just think I need to give a little more of my all next time.  It was a little weird to see a guy selling stuff out of his car behind the J-Dawgs stand though, I wasn't quiiite sure what that was all about..

 

Texting is lame

something I have come to have a truly love hate relationship with is text messaging. Nine times out of ten I would rather talk to someone on the phone, or even better, maybe even talk face to face! I sound like an old person who is a technology hater. no no, Im not a hater, trust me. but really it's not that I don't understand the how to its more like i can never understand the actual textING that takes place. Some of my frustrations include: not being able to pick up on emotions, sarcasm, humor, flirting, anger, intentions, and the list goes on... Seriously though. I dare say there is even a separate language to texting, and we all know there is validity in this statement. For example, to " :) " or not to " :) " The smiley face definately carries a certain amount of flirtatiousness...but not everyone thinks that.  Another is, to " ... " or not to " ... "  This is like leading the other person to complete your thoughts, or fill in the rest as they would interpret it, if you will... Ohh these are just a of the few intricasies of the texting language that can make it so complicated.  Then you get into a whole other game of the "whens" to text. So do I have to wait to send the "I had a lot of fun with you" text after you hang out, or will they be totally cool with a text right after the FIRST initial hangout...? Really it is a very complicated and twisted thing. I have even known some to get into "textual relationships" --where people can text like 300 + texts a day, and then somehow find nothing to say in real life! haha. I am fine with texting. I just think some people can get a little out of touch as a result of it. 

Megan's "Giggle Box"

So my roommate Megan has been on this two day streak of laughing at everything for no apparent reason! haha Yesterday we went out to dinner at this restaurant and we were talking about the new addition to the business building on BYU's campus. Our one room mate Alicia was saying she loves the Tanner building because of all the big private study rooms they have...Megan explained she loved that building because of all of the flags diplayed throughout the building...I proceeded to say that I love that building because there are always a billion smart/good-looking BYU Business/Accounting boys there... valid reason? I think so! For some reason or another, Megan was laughing that I said that, for probably like 30 minutes! haha then every minor thing that happened after that was so funny to her! She told us that because your "giggle box" is right next to your bladder, that is why you always have to pee when you laugh hard....I have yet to ask Dr. OZ about this so called "giggle box" because I'm not sure how legitimate I believe it to be, but she is convinced it is there, and it is up and running. Anyways, it made me laugh because she is just this little think that gets turned on, and it really is quite contagious. Laughing is good! I love to laugh! Don't get me wrong, I've just never "had my 'giggle box' turned on."... haha and I honestly can hardly handle even typing the words "giggle" and "box" in the same sentence and maintain my composure ! haha I sorta feel like I'm five saying it....this picture of my niece Callista is about the closest thing to making me laugh that hard! She's such a cute lil' Pip!

Uggs N' Hot Cocoa :)

The first flakes have fallen! Today I got a glimpse of the next like 6 months in Provo. I'm getting my season pass for snowboarding this week and I'm so excited ! Yay!!! This will be my second year snowboarding. I was a skier my whole life and then last year I made the switch and I LOVE boarding so much more!!! I wish I would have made the switch earlier in my life! I didn't realize what I have been missing out on!  I think because I have wakeboarded a lot I caught on after like one run. My brother in-law started up a snowboarding company a couple years ago and so I got hookups with a board and all of my equipment so al I have to do is just GO this year. Im suuuuper stoked, it's supposed to be a snowy year this year. It's sweet to be so close to so many awesome parks though! I grew up in Denver and have been around snow my entire life, but I still hate being cold! Something about cold weather makes me want to just snuggle up in a blanket, turn up the heat full blast, and do nothing! Haha I totally inherit it from my Mom. I'm ALWAYS cold! My mom would sit on the wood floors directly on top of the heating vent, and let the hot air poof up her floral nightgown and read the newspaper or talk on the phone haha I totally cant wait to reach the age where it's cute for me to wear nightgowns again. It's fine when your like five, then there is a gap where you cant, and then you reach like 45 and its totally cool again. I think I want to close that gap, and bring back nightgowns...? I like em'.. they're cute and I wanna say like playful? haha anyways. My week was also made complete with a trip to Chipoltle with my bro :) This week I made chocolate chip cookies a total of like 3X, and they got better and better each time. I am mastering this new recipe that I got, and they are so good!  I have never been good at baking, like ever,so I keep making them to  prove to my roommates that I CAN bake something! I only burnt one batch out of like 7 the whole week! 

happy I made it through 7th grade

 So.... its been the start of a fresh Fall Semester at BYU and I am loving every minute! My classes are awesome this semester! My favorite class is definately my Secondary Education Observation class. This past week we went to a Junior High, which was shockingly much more entertaining than I thought. Just on a side note though, I remember being much more akward in 7th grade than most of these kids seemed to be! Besides the point though, ANYWAYS... To give you a little inside scoop to the kind of school I was at, about 70% of the kids were on Gov. paid lunches, and the textbooks were from 95'. Ya. Pretty ghetto.... Despite the demographics, the kids themselves were very entertaining, and super cute kids! Anyways-- Mr. Sigafus was the teacher that was allowing us to observe. aka "Siggy"... This guy may be considered to be "un-professional" by other teachers, but I thought he was an exceptional teacher who really inspired me, and most importantly, he really inspired his students! He taught German 1 and German 2/3. What did I learn as an observer you might ask? I mastered the singing of the German Alphabet... AND actually found myself singin

g it a few times on campus this week!  the tune of it goes to "I'm a little Teapot." Rather annoying, but I'm pretty sure that was one of his objectives! I remembered it!!  He definately had an extremely laid back classroom, which created an atmosphere where kids were more comfortable speaking in German. A personal favorite of mine which proved to be very effective was the stapler remover that he referred to as the "coolness remover" which he would chase kids around with who were "too cool" to participate. This class where we observe 4 hours every day, is making the reality of me becoming a teacher very exciting!  I have about three semesters of classes left, and then I will do my student teaching. I feel like teaching a foreign language is the best because you can actually see the kids progress of learning, as they go from absolutely zero understanding, to opening up a whole new window of opportunity  for them.  Personally I would never want to teach kids Math, or heaven forbid teach them English! English is so ugly. I strive every day to speak English and sound the least bit "American" as I can. ANYWAYS... I am learning so much in this class! It's incredible!! I think it will be the funnest job in the world to teach those punk  high school kids!! Yea i know "funnest" isn't a word, but that's another reason why I would NEVER teach English :)

"Gene" Inheritances and "Gean" Inheritances....

 I work in a chiropractic office. My title is the "new patient coordinator" fancy huh? ya, I know. When a new patient comes in, I am responsible for making their first visit, a memorable one. An overall good first visit, will determine if they come back for a second visit or not. Filling out paperwork is something that everyone dreads when they go to the Dr., so something I do is I fill out all the paperwork for them.... blue ink only... The Dr. may or may not be OCD about things like that. I cannot blame him, because I am the same way about a lot of small things like that. I am pretty sure this syndrome of organization and perfectionism is a gift from my Mom. I grew up knowing exactly where the "popcorn" "fruitsnacks" and "pencils" were, because of small pieces of masking tape with labels identifying exactly where they were. I am a certainly a mold of my mom in many ways. I got made fun of by a few of my friends last semester when I had some plastic bins in my room with the following labels (which by the way were cutely made on the computer with cutout cologes on them from magazines...) "panties" "bras" "white t-shirts"  "colored t-shirts" "jeans"  "shorts" etc. I saw NO problem with this. It in fact made my mornings very easy, and quite efficient when it came to quickly putting away laundry and putting together outfits (a dreaded task by most normal girls) A few of my friends called me out on this excessive labeling syndrome and made some what of a joke about it, and I began to realize how much Monica Gean and Margo Gean DO have in common besides just the genes... My Mom is also a great cook! One of my goals for the new year was to lear how to cook. There are several factors that have helped encourage this goal, but my main being my discovery of this company called "Fancy Aprons" who has provided me with a darling apron to cook in :) I have come to LOVE cooking, and trying new recipes! In fact, just yesterday I made a killer meat-loaf, and I must say i never was a huge meat-loaf kind of person ( neither the food NOR the band..) but there was something about that meat-loaf that has permanently swayed my previous views of meat-loaf. On the  other hand, one thing I did NOT inherit from my Mom, is my driving skills. I recently received a letter in the mail saying due to an accumulation of points (which shall remain un-known to you readers)  my driving privlages have been "denied"for one month. (I'll have you know this is 4 tickets in 4 years! not THAT bad!!) I am plotting to steal my Dads horse and buggy (a product of his mid-life crisis)and drive THAT to work...I have also thought of maybe taking the bicicleta to work. however, the fact that I wear pencil skirts and heels every day, makes the task seem quite daunting... 

A turn of events...

I woke up yesterday not knowing I was apparently very absent minded. Once again my roomates woke up to the familiar Jamaican tune  "Calypso" on my Blackberry phone, while I remained in a deep sleep. The jingle only enhances my dreams of being on some Carribean excursion,  for about 45 minutes more minutes. I still have yet to learn how to wake up to an alarm clock the first time it goes off. Anyways, so i woke up and got ready for work and headed out the door, my Slim Fast in hand, just as every other morning. I got to work and was all confused because the lights were all off in the office! I really started getting confused at this point, so I checked my phone and proceeded to find that it was indeed a THURSDAY, and the office is only open in the afternoons on Thursday. Ok, so it was alright I figured I would just go home and make the most of this day that I had started out on the right.... well, sort of wrong foot. I then fell asleep reading a book and slep until 2:30 pm. What a use of precious free time! So then I wake up thinking I have to go to work at 3pm (eventhough I never work in the afternoons...) and rush out the door to go to work. Upon my arrival to my work, I begin to be questioned by my co-workers what on earth I am doing by voluntarily coming to work?? Wow. All I can say is hopefully that 6 1/2 hour siesta will make up for the rest of the week. However, my eventful Thursday did not stop there. Because I was so well rested I went to the gym to release all of the endorfins  (if they are produced when you sleep, that I am not sure of...) that had been biulding up during my "slumber party" I had all day.  to top off this stellar day of events occured on the way home from the gym. I was waiting at the red light to turn right and my car (in neutral) creeped forward and gave a little "good game tap" if you will... to the gorgeous little silver Audi in front of me. Well, if anyone can top a day that AWESOME, I would love to hear about it... ahhh life :)