New Blog!

Well, for any who still follow this blog, I have started a new one! I am going to New Zealand tomorrow and to keep track of my goings on while I'm there I have started a blog specifically for those adventures! If anyone would like to follow it the address is http://misslundgoestonz.blogspot.com/ please feel free to follow my adventures and let me know how you are doing while I am gone!

Today

I know many of you probably were beginning to think I had forgotten that I have a blog...mostly this semester has just been so crazy I haven't had time to post much in a long time. I'll try to update a bit over the break, but today I feel the need to share my great belief in prayer. This morning as I drove out of Provo, I realized I hadn't prayed before I left so as I drove I didn't bow my head or close my eyes (I mean I was driving), I just spoke/cried my prayer to my Heavenly Father. It was one of the first out loud prayers I had had in a while...living with roommates makes it a little hard to have prayer out loud sometimes. It was really special for me. One of the big things that I asked him was that I would have safety as I drove home today...it was my first really long drive, and it was a little daunting since I was doing it alone. Most of the drive was very uneventful. I made it to Kingman, and I was making good time; I called my Daddy to tell him where I was and just give him an idea of when I'd be home. Then I got back on the road and looked forward to getting home within a few hours. Unfortunately that is not what happened, fortunately the Lord was still watching out for me and He was protecting me. Not too far out of Kingman, I got in an accident. I have no idea how exactly it started, people that stopped to help me said it looked like I had lost the front driver's side tire and then I lost control, that does sound like what could have happened considering how quickly I lost control. I was eastbound and as I lost control my car went through the median, a few more tires went flat and then I went flying through the westbound lanes. At one point I literally saw a semi coming straight for me and I was convinced that I was going to die. Luckily for me the Lord had different plans and he got me safely across to the shoulder on the other side, completely out of traffic, and completely untouched by any other cars. He also sent some really helpful people to call the police, help calm me down, make sure I was ok and talk to me while I tried not to have a panic attack. I really don't know what happened...it all came so fast that I don't know, the only thing I do know tonight is that my prayer was answered today. I may not have made it home with no accident, but the most important thing is that I will make it home with no harm. I am completely ok, a bit sore, and still really shaken, but I know that I would not have survived today if it weren't for the Lord and his love and awareness of me and my needs. I already owe Him everything, but today I truly owe him my life. (you may think it is curious that I am writing this all right now...considering that I am still pretty shaken, but I'm waiting for my parents to get to the hotel I am at and I can't really sleep as much as I would like to and pretend this is all just a bad dream, but I thought maybe writing my thoughts out might help me sleep...or at least feel a little better.) Bottom line, I'm ok; my car not so much...I don't know the exact damage yet or if it is even fixable (cross your fingers) but I do know that all four tires were flat by the time I came to a stop, there's some damage to the front of the car, some broken lights, and who knows what else, but that is not the most important thing right now so I guess I should stop worrying too much about that and just be grateful that I am alive.

Family in July

In July of this year we were lucky enough as a family to be able to get together in Utah at Kiersty and Seth's house in Lehi. It was a fun filled few days of family time and it was so nice to have no one getting sick and getting the rest of us sick, like it was at Christmas!! I just am reminded of how blessed I am to have my family each time that we get together! It was a fun few days but it went way to fast! Here are some pictures from our very fun time as a family!

 Me and my favorite little man at the zoo with the giant gorilla!

  Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Kalli and Steve were very excited to try out the Segways while in the gardens and they had quite a fun time with them.

Andrew loved the Noah's Ark part of the gardens where there was water he could play in and get sprayed by...it was really fun!

 I just love this little guy! Even when he is making a funny face...actually especially when he is making a funny face!

  Pretty sure I have a picture very similar to this from about a year ago...the baby was just a little smaller, and the car seat was a bit different, but same concept...he really loves those toes!

 Our traditional circle picture

 

My mom, my sisters and I right before Mom and Megan had to leave on Sunday

 Andrew joined us

 Saying bye was really difficult for me this time...well every time, but especially cause I'm not 100% sure when I'll see him next...plus he is growing up so dang fast!

The end of an era...

I began a post about Harry Potter a while ago after going to the midnight showing. Since then I have been to see it again and it is just as good the second time as it was the first time. I know it has been a while since it came out but I still feel that it deserves a post...so here goes! I will try to make it quick but I make no guarantees because I am a bit crazy for Harry Potter! First off I need to say J.K. Rowling is basically a hero of mine for creating a world and a story that is so engaging that even many kids who didn't enjoy reading were on edge waiting for the next installment to be released. With the release of the final movie in sight there was a sense of sadness almost, at the realization that the excitement and the waiting were coming to an end, but I could not wait to see how they finished such an epic story. In anticipation I went out and purchased a special edition of Empire magazine, they did a special tribute to Harry Potter which included a supplement of around 40 pages which had interviews with the main cast, supporting cast, directors, and other people connected to the entire Harry Potter movie series. There were pictures from each of the movies, as well as pictures of the main cast as they are now, as well as some of their feelings on being a part of something so big and so special. Alan Rickman, already one of my favorite people connected to the movies wrote a letter for the magazine which I find lovely...it is included here...

"I have just returned from the dubbing studio where I spoke into a microphone for absolutely the last time as Severus Snape. On the screen were some flashback shots of Daniel, Emma and Rupert from ten years ago. They were 12. I have also recently returned from New York, and while I was there, I saw Daniel singing and dancing (brilliantly) on Broadway. A lifetime seems to have passed in minutes.
Three children have become adults since a phone call with Jo Rowling, containing one small clue, persuaded me that there was more to Snape than an unchanging costume, and that even though only three of the books were out at that time, she held the entire massive but delicate narrative in the surest of hands.

It is an ancient need to be told stories. But the story needs a great storyteller. Thanks for all of it, Jo."

Now for some of my favorite characters...or at least ones that I feel deserve mentioning...

Severus Snape...one of the most wonderfully written (in my opinion) characters ever, definitely the most well written character of the Harry Potter books. Plus, I love Alan Rickman!

Another character that I love is Professor Minerva McGonagall; I was very excited in this movie to get to see her a little bit more as her role was bigger. Professor McGonagall is a teacher who cares a great deal about her students, she is willing to give her life to protect them, and she shows a lot of love for those that she teaches and leads, but she also doesn't take any crap from her students. Basically McGonagall is very much like the teacher that I want to become someday.

(also pictured above Mrs. Weasley! Love her!)

Now for these three...not always the best actors/actress, but overall they did well. I loved them all in this movie and I was thoroughly impressed by how much they have improved since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Daniel, Emma and Rupert it was fun to grow up with y'all! Thanks for the hard work in bringing some of the most memorable characters of my generation to life!

Next, Neville! He was such a great character in this book/movie and Matt Lewis played it wonderfully! I always thought Neville was a great character, but until now I didn't realized that underneath all the Neville awkwardness...

This was hiding! Neville has now taken a place on our wall along with the picture we already had of Snape!

And finally a brief thought on Narcissa Malfoy. For the midnight showing I chose to go as Narcissa because we found a perfect jacket at DI plus my friend was going as Bellatrix so it worked out well. Narcissa doesn't have much of a role until the sixth book. I think before that the extent of what you know about her is that she looks as though she just sniffed poo. Throughout the night I tried to perfect that look but it was more difficult than I thought it would be! Being the bad person was kind of fun...although I guess Narcissa isn't a completely bad person, at least not like her sister Bellatrix. Narcissa was one who married into Lord Voldemort's followers but when it really counted what mattered most was her family and she was willing to do anything, to protect her family.

So our group had Professor Trelawney (Marissa), Bellatrix Lestrange (Brianon), Narcissa Malfoy (me), and the golden snitch (Jenae). Emily Walter, Emily Mortensen, Nick WIllis (Jenae's fiance) and Chase Jackson (a random kid from our ward who claimed the extra ticket we had) also came along but they didn't get to be in our cool people pictures because they didn't dress up!

I couldn't work on my face during this picture because I couldn't help but smile when I stood in front of Snape!

Brianon and I waiting in the theater, still trying to perfect my "poo under the nose" look!

Brianon and I with Bellatrix

The whole costume at the end of the night...the only thing that could have worked better was the hair...I put colored spray in it to get the two colored effect...unfortunately the color did not set very well and it got all over...my face, my hands, my clothes and the black was not easy to cover up or get off of my face and it got difficult to keep my face from looking like I had just come from cleaning a chimney! It was a lot of fun though and I would totally do it again if I could find a better way to fix my hair! (although I'm not quite sure what I would do it for again...maybe Halloween?)

Well, not really that short, but I tried and it really could have been much longer, but I spared you the long cheesy goodbye to HP... Well to echo Alan Rickman "Thanks for all of it, Jo" you really were a master storyteller and I'm so glad I got to grow up with such wonderful characters and imagine such fantastical places!

The last of the catch up!

Our stake was recently formed so in order to allow us to meet new people and have some fun. They bought hundreds of J-Dawgs, they had a bouncy thing, climbing wall, games, and they invited Comedy Sports to come as well. It was a pretty fun activity and they really put a lot of time and effort into making it a fun experience for the members of the stake.

Jenae and I at the activity

Jenae, me, and Emily

A true moment of roommate bonding

So the comedy sports guys were a pretty entertaining point of the day/night. At one point they asked for a volunteer who would like to have a song sung to them/written about them. I very quickly volunteered because the song part of Who's Line is it Anyway is my absolute favorite part and I wanted an experience like that! I got up to the front and the Ref (who was also the actor from the movie Midway to Heaven) asked me some questions to get some information to help with the song improv. I mentioned in response to one question that I enjoyed singing, dancing and musicals. He asked what musicals were my favorite and I said Wicked and Les Miserables. Unfortunately I didn't get a video of the song being sung to me but a few things I remember about it are that one guy told me that that he'd be my king and I'd be his queen, he'd be my Marius and I'd be his Eponine...for those of you who know the story of Les Mis that's not the greatest combination...but it got quite a laugh! Then another of the guys singing sang part of Defying Gravity to me, well at least about how we could defy gravity together! It was a really funny song, and I was probably beet red but mostly because I was laughing so hard!

One thing that we semi started at the beginning of the summer was an exercise night. The first night consisted of us doing a little Sweatin' to the Oldies with Richard Simmons. My apartment doesn't joke around about the 80s so we decided to dress up in order to participate! So much fun!

The Manti Pageant happens every year down at the Manti temple...it covers a little bit of everything, from Book of Mormon times, to Joseph Smith's life, to the travels of the pioneers. I have never been to the Manti pageant before but this year a group from my ward decided to travel to Manti to join in on the fun! And of course what would a trip like this be without some photos to document it...

Some of the guys that went with us, don't ask me why Rob has a red vine in his nose...I don't really know!

The Manti Temple at night, the pageant was about to start.

Me, Brianon, Kristina, and Emily

Emily and I waiting for the pageant to start

So Brianon told me about a month ago all about this edition of Empire Magazine that came with a supplement that was all about Harry Potter...being the Harry Potter fan that I am when I saw it at Barnes and Noble right before the Manti Pageant trip began I had to buy it! The next day I believe all of my roommates and Brianon had also bought the magazine and all of us enjoyed it thoroughly...I'll post more about that later.

Me, Brianon, and Emily

Brianon is the Relief Society president in my ward and since the year started we have become really great friends. We hang out together a lot and I think she is a pretty amazing person! I'm really lucky to have met her and become such good friends with her this year!

Emily, Rob, JD, and I just trying to be patient!

Other going ons

Some other events...the last post was getting too long!

We had a relief society sleep over at the bishop's house, with all of the wives of the bishopric there getting to know us better and there to make us a delicious breakfast in the morning. Those three women are some of the most amazing women that I know and they give so much time, effort and love to our ward all the time. They amaze me! Some pictures from that night of the crazy girls that were hanging around!

Julieanne, Emily, Emily and Me being our normal selves!

Most of the girls of our FHE group

Me and Marissa...I love my roommate!!

We went on The Great Provo Adventure, according to one of our friends...which basically consisted of going in this tunnel and getting freezing cold and falling really hard on my butt! Lots of fun, let me tell you, that's why I look so crazy and scary in this picture.

And this picture...it was a long day, it was really wet and cold and I looked like a mess, but it was an interesting night!

This is a picture from my drama class winter semester. We did a little play called Bartholomew and the Oobleck. I was the fog...or mist or something like that, something with the weather. The other girls in this picture were snow, rain, sky and sunshine. It was kind of a silly show, but it was fun and we had a good time with it. The class was one of my favorites because we just had a good time together and really had time to get to know each other. Thanks to Sister Aston for making that class such a fun one!
Geoffrey is a small stuffed animal that belongs to our friend Clint. He is short fat and looks like Goofy...Clint is really attached to him and as an apartment we made a plot to kidnap him...

See the above board for said plan...

We created a ransom note, and took pictures of him in "harmful" situations, or compromising situations and created an album that we then left on Clint's doorstep with the ransom note and an ultimatum. A few other pictures are below this which were included in the album. Also below is the ransom note...

"April 2011

To those who cherish the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of Geoffrey “Delilah” “Voluptuous-Bottom” Calder, son of Clinton “Liquid Force” “Keiki Matai” Calder and nephew of Tyler “Filth” “Come ‘ere!”Hills:

Despite popular belief, Geoffrey has not been kept in safe hands. In actuality, the aforementioned plush, of polyurethane sponge foam materials, has been held prisoner at 466 Sumac Lane, Provo UT, 84604, United States of America, North America, Western Hemisphere, Planet Earth, Milky Way Galaxy.

The captors request the ransom (a list of items is located below) to be deposited in the inner bush of Zimbabwe by the end of the day, however if this request is deemed unreasonable, the goodies may be left in the 1994 white Nissan Maxima parked in front of the stairs at the address stated above by 23:58:19 on Wednesday, the 20th of April, of this, the 2011th, year of our Lord.

The list of items contains the following:

3 rolls of toilet paper
1 pair of scissors
1 ironing board pad
1 goldfish pal for a lonely fish
Mr. January, in person
1 4-pack of lip balm (preferably unused)
1 (or more) lock(s) of Jimmer’s hair, still wet with his sweat
1 box of Otter Pops

If our request is fulfilled, the prisoner will be delivered safely within 24 hours. However, if the Provo or Utah County police force becomes involved and/or the ransom items are not received in a timely manner, Geoffrey will never be seen again (unless you happen across a black synthetically-made Disney product, with a lime green hat, at the bottom of the Provo River).

If you wish to see Geoffrey again, all commands must be followed with the utmost accuracy and precision.

Signed,

ENUJ, ANAID, ELLIMAC, ELOCIN

This is the fine print. Measure your eyesight with this test: A E I O U sometimes Y

YOUR TIME STARTS NOW."

Marissa and the "G" Dish as it is fondly known in our apartment. Other pictures included Geoffrey being used as a basketball, a footrest, a pillow, being put into the oven, and being thrown in the dryer...unfortunately Clint did not follow through with the ransom and we felt too bad actually throwing Geoffrey into the Provo River so we returned him unharmed after receiving a few cookies...It was pretty entertaining though!

If you couldn't guess from how much time we put into the Geoffrey plan we get a little bored around our house sometimes...one night we got so bored that we pulled our all these wigs that Marissa found and decided to become different people for a little bit. After we took these pictures we found a few more and decided to knock on random doors and show off our new looks. I went as Snow White, Marissa was a lovely Joe Dirt, Emily Walter was an Asian, and Emily Mortensen was a pink haired rocker. We got some really great laughs and it definitely made our night a little more exciting!

I've worked with Julie since my Sophomore year of college over at the Cougareat. She is one of the sweetest girls that I know and when I found out she was getting married I was so excited for her and I was even more excited that she was having a reception here where I could go to it.

She made a very beautiful bride!

Amber, another girl I work with went with me to the reception so it was just a fun filled Cougareat party!

Alyssa's farewell was at the end of May because she and her brother Reese had a joint farewell and he was leaving about three weeks before her. I talked Jenae (my roommate) into driving to Idaho with me. She met her fiance in Twin Falls and then they continued on to Boise where he lives. This was great because it allowed me to go to Alyssa's farewell without having to pay for all of the gas. Going back to Twin for a few days was really nice, it was fun to run into some old friends, see some familiar places.

The Falls were beautiful, probably thanks to all the moisture that has been falling this year, but I just wanted to stay there as long as I could because it looked so amazing, they were so full and so loud and the mist was blowing so much that we could feel the mist before walking down the stairs to the observation deck.

Shoshone Falls is definitely one of my absolute favorite places on this earth, I love them so much!

Probably one of the very best friends a girl could ask for! This is from after Alyssa's talk was over so don't mind the mussed up make up...that's what happens when you cry a lot!! She is going to be a great missionary...well I guess technically she is already on her way to becoming a great missionary since she's been gone for a few weeks now (I got my first letter from her a few days ago)

While I was up in Twin I had to take the time to go see some influential people from my teenage years, one of those people was Rebecca Smith. (and Bishop Smith and Lauren) Rebecca was my Mia Maid adviser, she was released the same day that I moved to Laurels so she is the only young women's leader that I had for two full years. She has been there for me through a lot but it had been like 5 years since I last saw her so it was really good to see her! I visited with her while she planted some flowers and I went with her to church on Sunday for Sunday school and Relief Society. While I was over visiting her I also got to go over to her back door neighbor's house and visit another of my old leaders, Debbie Buttars. Debbie is an amazing lady and I was so excited to see her. She has been battling cancer for a few years and if anyone can beat it I have faith that Debbie can. While at church the next day I ran into numerous other people who have had an impact on my life including Diane Long, Jenna Johnson, and Brenda Traveller among others. It was really great to see all of them even if it was only for a few minutes.
So Jessica and Amy...pictured above...were two of my FHE sisters from my freshman year. We had some really great times together that year and in the times since then. One Monday night I got an invite from Amy to go to see The King's Speech at the dollar theater with them, Jess's husband and some other people because Jess and her husband would be moving in like a week and a half or so to Texas for school. Because I love them, and because I really wanted to see that movie anyway I agreed to join them and it was so great to see them even though it is probably one of the last times I'll see Jess in a long time if not forever. Why do we have to grow up again?
Katie Soh was in my ward from January until the end of April when they changed wards around and redid our boundaries a little bit. Even though she wasn't in our ward anymore we still hung out sometimes and she is a pretty amazing girl! She left a few weeks ago to go home for a bit before leaving for her mission. I'm just glad I got to know her while I did and hopefully when she gets back we can be friends again because she is a really great person!!

Ri came for a visit to Utah a few weeks ago...she was really busy but she did take a little time and came to visit me to go to church with me and then stop by Ellen's for a few minutes after. It was so good to see her and be reminded of why I love my cousins so very much!!

Susan and I have been friends since 6th grade when I moved into the same ward as her. Since then we have been in choir together, cheerleading, young women's, and college for a semester, although I didn't get to see her too often then. But her older brother got married last week and the reception was just about half an hour up the road so I decided to make the trip in hopes of seeing her and seeing a few familiar faces among the other family members. I was not disappointed! It was so much fun to visit with her, meet her husband of almost a year, catch up on the last few years, and reminisce on all of the fun memories that we have together. Definitely worth the half hour trip! It was also nice to run into her parents, some other people who had an influence on me in my teenage years!

Now, I'm still not completely caught up, but I'm much closer...so more to come very soon!