New Year and GRADUATION

I can't believe it is a new year. 2008 was an eventful year for me, some happy, some not so happy,--so, I thought I'd look back at a few of the milestones/experiences of the past years, in no particular order:

I spent my LAST year at BYU-Idaho.
I had 14 roommates (Don't ask) one of which was my awesome sister Molly!
I hit my one year mark of being home from my mission.
I got to spend the summer in Palmyra and as a part of that I ....
Went to the Sacred grove several times a week.
Visited Niagara Falls
Visited The 1000 Islands
Went to Lake Ontario
Went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant
PLUS LOTS LOTS MORE! (See old posts!)
Mourned the passing of my beloved Grandma. (I still miss you Grandma)
Visited my Mission!
Played on a Volleyball team until....
I got hurt playing walleyball in walleyball class (it is still not completely better--sad I didn't finish my season)
Got one new Niece and found out that I have either a niece or a nephew coming in 2009!
And last but not least--I GRADUATED FROM BYU-Idaho with a Bachelors of Science degree in English Literature!

PICTURE MEMORIES

So...maybe you have heard the awesome news. Maybe you haven't...so let me tell you. I am Graduating. As of Friday, December 12, 2008, I am a graduate of BYU-Idaho. My degree--English literature (no, you cannot criticize my blog based on that.) And I have a minor in History. No I will not tell you what my GPA is, but I will take you on a photo tour of my last six years--minus my mission as that should be like four posts on its own. Here are pictures of just my time at school. Above are my "graduation" pictures. Can you tell how excited I am?!! Next we have the semesters following my mission. What fun I had with these roommates! And my old companions who came to visit!



















Next we have my roommates right before the summer before my mission--and our "jungle" themed living room (ok, so all we could afford is that one plant...it was still cool).















In my first year in "the Burg" I learned quickly the term "cold." and "Ice". But it wasn't all bad. I we had lots of fun sledding and the like. And Halloween was a great time!













The rest of the picture are all my time at SVU--I can't believe it's been six years! Time sure has flown!

Photo Tag

Post the 4th picture in your 4th file folder with a brief description.
This is me with my MTC Friends, Werner and Self. I think this was about a month or two after the mission. We always had to take our pictures in this order--its tradition. OH! I miss these girls! NOW, I tag Melissa and anyone else who may read this!

I've said it before...I am a drama queen.

49 days. 49 days till graduation.

Paybacks part one

Adventures with fire extinguishers

Every once in awhile, in the midst of my predictable life, something crazy happens to shake things up a bit. Tonight, one of those things happened. We were all at home enjoying some peace and quite--a typical Sunday evening--when a knock came at our door. When my roommate opened the door, she was greeted by a cloud of powder. It smelled and tasted like baking soda--and it burned as we breathed it in. I turns out, one of the guys next door thought it would be funny to get us with his fire extinguisher. Our stairs and our livin room had quite the dusting of white powder. I just now realized how stupid I was for not getting pictures--but this is not the end...there will be paybacks.

On a side note--we had our first snow of the season yesterday--lasting through today. So far its staying off the ground, but winter is in the air.


Dang it.

My boring life

Well as you all can see, updating my blog since I started school has not been a high priority for me. Thought I know you are all dying for cool stories, posts, pics, etc., let me feel you in on a small detail. My life is pretty much the same every day. Typical day in the Life of a Byers: 6:00--alarm rings, I hit snooze a couple of times before forcing myself out of bed. Shower, eat etc. before rushing to my first class at 7:45 (Yes, that is the time my class starts. Yes, I know I am crazy for taking a 7:45 class every day. No, I don't recommend it to anyone!) Then, I am in class or at work for the rest of the morning until about 3 or 3:30 (depending on the day). Next stop--the homework train. Yeah, the fun part of school, where I stress out about projects papers and assignments. If there is any time left over, its usually spent playing volleyball--we just started a team for intermurals--or just trying to have a little fun, but since it is Rexburg, this usually just includes hanging out with friends. My favorite class is wallyball--yeah! But my favorite real class is my Robert Frost class. I love his poetry--and I am memorizing one of his poems to recite in class next week (wish me luck). My Volleyball team has its first game tonight--we haven't even practiced together, so we'll see how that goes. We had to scramble last night to find another player because two of the guys who are on our team can't make it and we have to have at least two guys on the court. We had one other one, but had to find one more. So what did we do? Called on our home teacher! So...tonight we dominate...we hope.
Well, there you have it. An update on my exciting life. It probably sounds boring to you...but I love it. Plus it is taking me step by step closer to GRADUATION on Dec 12th. Then...for all who are wondering...I am still working on what comes next. I will let you know when I know. But in the meantime...if you know anyone who is looking to hire an girl with an BS in English, let me know!

Don't worry, I am a drama queen

Today is October 5th. For many of you, its just another day. For me, I will always link today to my mission. Yes, three years ago today, I entered the MTC and started the most amazing adventure of my life. That is a day I will never forget. I remember sitting in my room at the MTC after saying goodbye to my family and wondering what I had got myself into. (I also remember that I didn't sleep much that night for the same reason) I also met some of the best friends I could ever ask for today. I can't believe that time has flown so quickly. I have now been home longer then I was on my mission. Yet, not a day goes by when something doesn't remind me of Ohio. So, for all you who may be reading this, thanks for indulging me in my reminiscing.

I love school!

I haven't posted for a while, 'cuz honestly, my life isn't as exciting when I don't have cool pictures to share. But I am back at school and loving my classes. (so far anyway...its only been three days!) I keep busy...though I am only taking 9 credits of "hard" classes and 5 credits of fun classes. I am really writing because I want to start the official count down to graduation...as of today we are 93 days till I put on the cap and gown!

Here are some pictures I took the other day when I walked up to the Erie Canal. The Canal parallels Palmyra Main Street. It was a beautiful day, and the park was a blast! Yes that is me sitting on the

Each month the moon and the sun find themselves on the opposite sides of the earth. This results in what we call a full moon. This occurance is often linked with the pschological therory known as the luner effect in which it is believed that the behavior of human beings is effected by the different phases of the moon. A full moon is often linked to insomia, insanity--you know lunatics...and other similar behaviors. I never used to put much stock into these theory's....there is no proof to back it up. But now...I wonder if there isn't some truth to it. Yesterday just so happened to be a full moon. And for the past few days, mayham has insued here at the Palmyra Inn. People were acting crazy...(employees and guests alike.) rooms were double booked, important messages lost into nothingness. What else are we to assume then it was the effec of the moon and the sun alligning on opposite sides of the earth?

That's Blood Light.

Sumer brings with it exciting sports like frisbee, soccer, baseball, and softball. Theres nothing like playing in the freshly cut grass behind the stake center, talking trash and taking a softball to the face. For this, I turn to my favorite comedian, Brian Regan. "They call it SOFT-ball. Makes it sound like it harmless, y'know. You ever take a line shot to the face with a softball? You don't go, "Hey! That's downy soft! That was like a big ball of cotton! Hey, don't worry about that.that's blood light! We're playin' softball! We're all gonna float around like angels!" Blood light. ha. Let me tell you from personal experience, it is not fun to take a softball to the face, despite the delightful sounding nature of the game. But hey, if you win in the end, whats a little blood. There is something about Softball/ baseball that always reminds me of Brian Regan. So for the pure intent to give you all a smile, let me share a little more with you. Switching gears from baseball...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ogZo9YreQ4



I recomend Brian Regan to anyone who is in need of a good laugh. This is from his "Brian Regan Live" CD.

Tonight is my first 12am-7am shift, and I have to tell you, its very exciting. (please note the subtle use of sarcasm.) I am pretty much here just in case. I can sleep in the office--on the very comfortable roll away bed. (again....sarcasm.) and wait for either the phone to ring or someone to buzz the intercom. wow...I can't stand the fast paced night life. But As I am sitting her blogging...there is a very impressive lightening show taking place. As you all probably know...I am not one to admire lightening. But this storm is one that would make anyone stop and watch for awhile. (which I will do...from the safety of the indoors.) The sky is actually turning a bluish purple color. A very Vivid and bright color. I am jsut amazed. I am also wondering how I keep finding myself living in areas that have these types of storms on a regular basis....maybe I need to move to...I don't know...where don't they have lightening storms?

Hanging out at/in NIAGARA FALLS

I finally made it up to Niagara Falls on Monday. What an amazing day. I loved it so much I wanted to share my day with you. We started out at about 10 am. Emily, Holly An-Hoa and I started off the trip with some exciting car photos. Aren't we so cute? (Don't answer that). Once we got there, the hard part was deciding what we wanted to do. We found a great deal that included the Cave of the Winds, the Maid of the Mist, the aquarium, and a discovery museum. So off we went to start our day!

First, we head over to the lookout near Cave of the winds to see the falls. Wow, are they incredible or what? We had some time to snap a few photos before heading to Cave of the Winds.

Cave of the winds is this fun walk where you get to go up right by the American Falls and get soaking wet. The water is pounding on you. We got some pictures, but right up by the waterfalls, it was too wet to pull the cameras out. So, here are the before and after pics. Can you tell how wet we are? The best part was the ponchos and shoes they give you to help keep you dry.

On the way up to the top of Cave of the winds, we got an elevator all to ourselves. Actually this happened all day. WE never waited in line long, and the weather was perfect while we were wet, when we went to do some of the inside stuff...it clouded over like it might rain. Could we have asked for a better day? I think not!

On to Maid of the Mist. We took a boat out to see the falls. We again got pretty wet, and we got cool blue ponchos. Can you see the beautiful falls behind us? I'll post some just scenic pics after this to give a full effect.

We also got some neat pictures from the observation deck. Fun, but don't look down. YIKES!





Now it was time for a nice walk over to the museum and aquarium. We walked under the rainbow bridge, and we couldn't resist the picture in the arches. The walk was eventful (see previous post) and beautiful. WE learned some neat stuff about the falls at the museum, and I got motion sickness watching there movie on the panoramic screen. I don't have any pictures of the museum because I ran out of space on my camera, but here are a couple from the aquarium. P.S. it was kind of dark so the flash made this a hard picture to see, but that shark made me jump! The Aquarium made for some awesome photo oops.

After the museum, we headed over to Canada. This was my first time ever crossing an international boundary. We walked over the Rainbow Bridge and her I am standing on the CANADIAN side of the border. We had to show ID and my birth certificate. It was awesome.

Canada also proved some photo oops as we walked the street and visited the Hershey store. Anyone who wants to buy me a kiss that big would have my everlasting gratitude!

As sad as it was to see the day end, eventually it was time to head back to Palmyra (I had to work) so we hoped on the Trolley and headed back to the car. It was a great day!

A word of advice

Don't try to do cool tricks when your a Byers. Need I say more?

Of Waterfalls and Castles

New York has some amazing sites! More than I ever knew. And in the last two weeks I have seen some incredible things, both man made and heaven made. On Monday the 21st we headed down to Grimes Glen, at the base of Canandaigua lake.The day started out rainy and wet, but stopped long enough for us to enjoy the waterfalls. This is an amazing hike. First, we headed down the trail, that starts off by this very safe looking bridge.

Eventually we left behind the dirt trail to follow the trail of the Naples creek. We arrived at the first waterfall and climbed up on the rocks. The water was very brisk and the rocks slippery, but we all managed to survive! We continued our hike to the next water fall, where we used ropes to get to the top. The ropes were on right side (the dirt hill) by the waterfall. I did not take my camera up there due to my fear of dropping it in the water. But it was an AMAZING view, and included a natural water slide.Back at the bottom of the waterfall, we enjoyed playing in the water. If you can't tell, the water was FREEZING!!! But soon, it was time to head home. The clouds were starting to get dark, and we did not want to get stuck in a down pour. Holly and I stop to take advantage of a beautiful photo op at the bridge. An-Hoa almost died taking this picture. Thanks for the sacrifice! It turned out beautiful!

This past Monday, July 28th, We headed up to Alexandria Bay to visit 1000 Islands, NY. Yes, this is where the Dressing got its name, and origin. We hopped on a tour boat that took us up the St. Lawrence River (one of the few rivers that runs in a northerly direction). I am taking this picture, thus am not in it, but these are my co-workers that I went with. I took over 60 pictures, so here is a sampling of them.

On the river we passed by the sister lighthouse. I love lighthouses, so I thought I would include this picture. Here there are actually three islands (the sisters) There are over 1000 islands in the st. Lawrence river (thus the name) and in order to be considered a island, they must be above water so many days out of the year (I forgot exactly) and must be 3 sq ft, and be able to sustain 2 trees. This is more then you wanted to know...but I find it fascinating!

After about a forty-five minute river tour, we reach our first stop. Dark Island. It is home of the Singer Castle. (Singer as in the sewing machine). It was incredible! We could only take pictures out side, but inside I found my dream library!

I knocked, but alas, no Prince Charming came out to whisk me away on his white horse. Dang.

Our last stop, Boldt Castle on Heart Island. I did not go inside, but the grounds and the architecture blew me away!Ok, I think I have made this post long enough, so I will sign off! If you are still reading this, Thanks for enduring my longwindedness.