Ring out the old...

Well this Christmas break has passed like a flash of lightning and I am wondering where the time went. Tomorrow morning I will head back to Utah. Weird

The drive home was an adventure, to say the least. On a good day the drive takes 13-14 hours. This drive of death was a 20-hour adventure. We made good time until just past Pendleton. However snow in The Dalles made the driving difficult from then on. The wind was blowing, the snow was coming down and it was dark---a very bad combination. At some points i had to literally stop the car because I could not see more than 2 feet in front of me because the wind was blowing the snow. I relied on the brake lights of semis and cars in front of me to keep on the road, along with the guard rail markers and white line. The road itself wasn't too bad, until later, but I just couldn't see anything. It was very scary. We stopped several times to scrape my windshield wipers clean of the ice that accumulated on them (thank so much to Nathan for that). Once we got closer to Portland the road was covered in snow and continued so all the way home. I was very grateful that I was not alone on that drive. I don't know how I would have handled it. Nor was I expecting to drive home and arrive to a blizzard. A foot of snow in Olalla? Who flipped the crazy switch! I finally arrived home at midnight and was very glad to crash onto my bed. After Portland though I had nathan drive because my nerves were shot and i had been driving for 16 hours. But at least we got home safely.

We woke up the next morning to no power (surprise). But Daddy and I took advantage of the snow and skiied down the hill across the street. Hehehe, classic. Last week passed by in a blur of sleeping-in, movies, scrapbooking and pleasure reading. I did manage to get some sewing done this break too, which was fun.

Christmas was a quiet affair, what with it only being mom, dad and I at home. But we had fun. Grandma joined us for the festivities and we had a wonderful day together. The day after Christmas we went skiing! Oh yeah! And those skiiers out there will appreciate this. Daddy and I headed into the back country and Crystal Mountain to get some fresh powder, and did we ever! Silver Basin was gorgeous and for the first time in my life I understood the "bounce" technique to ski powder and I did it! It was awesome and so much fun! Totally worth the traverse and hike to get there. Daddy is known for his whooping and hollering in powder--I did some of my own that run. :)

This week I went into work at Avanade to help out where I could and get some compliance things out of the way. It has been a busy few days. I am going to see what my schedule will be like to see if I can handle doing some work while at school too. And tomorrow I head back to Provo, after a YSA dance for New Years tonight. But this weekend I will actually continue on to Vegas to see Bryan and also see Ben, Katie, and Emma. I barely ever get to see them so I am very excited!

It is hard to believe that 2008 is over. This year went by so quickly and a lot happened, several things different than I expected, of course. I am excited for 2009 and to see what adventures it will bring me. Happy New Year!

Now I am 4...

Okay, I am really 22. But when you add those digits together you get 4. Today is my birthday and I am officially an adult...again. But this has been one of my best birthdays yet, I think. Yes, i was in London last year, but my birthday was on a sunday so I couldn't really do much. Today has been amazing!

During the day I forced myself to be good and study and practice for my oral presentation. Rosie and Allison came over to bring me some presents, which I love. I have had so many people text and call and message me to wish me a happy birthday. It has made me feel so loved!

After I got home from class, my roommates and I went to Color Me Mine to paint some pottery. It was so much fun! We painted and talked and joked about breaking our current dishes to make room for the ones that we made tonight. My roommates are so much fun and so sweet! The refused to let me pay for my dish, so they picked up the tab on it for me. I decorated a bowl in christmas theme. We get to pick up the dishes on Friday!! Yay!!!

After Color Me Mine we came back to our apartment and ate a delicious ice cream cake that Rosie dropped off for me. It is adorable with pointe shoes on it! And it tastes so yummy! We did the traditional song and candles and and I got the first bite. Hehehe. Yay for traidional birthday things! So all in all this has been a fabulous day! yay for being 22!

My roommates and I before the cake eating yumminess!

Blowing out my candles!!!

And apparently this is how I feel about being 22. Haha!!

Masquerade and a Prophet's Hand

Last weekend, Bryan ad I went to a Masquerade Ball in Sandy. Some people just decided that they wanted to host a masquerade dance, like that seen in Phantom of the Opera. So, the broadcasted it via facebook. I was so excited about it I sent invites to my friends in the Provo/Orem area. As soon as we knew about it, Bryan said that we could go.

This was the perfect opportunity to wear the Chinese Brocade top that I have been meaning to make forever, and Mom and I finally made this summer. It is gorgeous and I was so excited about it! Bryan has this white, seventies suit that he found at DI for a steal. I of course let him wear it. It was just too funny and so much fun!

The whole night was busy. Went to the Divine Comedy show first and then came back home to get ready for the dance. Rachael had done my hair earlier in the day (thank goodness) and it looked awesome. Bryan picked me up, looking all snazzy and we took pictures and then headed to the dance. The dance was pretty well attended. It was held in a skating rink and everyone was decked out in masks. One thing that I had hoped they would do, and was so happy when they did, was play the song "masquerade" at midnight. I got to dance to the song "masquerade" Yay!!! The whole night was awesome and I had so much fun being with Bryan. :)

On Friday afternoon, I got the shake President Monson's hand! The whole first presidency, several members of the quorum of the twelve and Sister Beck and Sister Dalton were all at BYU for the dedication of the new addition of the Tanner Building. I walked out of my class on the first floor of the new addition a few minutes before 3 and learned that President Monson had just gone up the elevator that was right next to my class. I thought that I had missed my chance to see him. So i ran upstairs to the fourth floor and looked into the conference room and saw him walk in, even though I was across the skybridge from him.

I figured that I should probably listen to the dedication so I went to where the student seating was and learned that the rooms were full, but they had some small classrooms showing it. So i went into one of the those and then remembered that he would have to come back down the elevator to get to his car. So, as soon as the prayer was over I booked it out of the room and to the elevator where he would come. I was one of the first against the rope that acted as the barrier. He came down with Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf. President Monson shook my hand and several other people's hands. He was talking to us and laughing. I also shook President Uchtdorf's hand and Elder Nelson's. I wanted to call out to Sister Eyring and say that she is cousin's with my grandma, but I lost my nerve. President Eyring was inches away from me though. and Sister Dalton looked at us and told us how amazing we are. I saw Elders Perry and Holland as well. Elder Holland joked that we should be in class, since a crowd was standing there. It was so amazing to get to skake the hands of the leaders of our church They are great men and servants of God. I feel blessed that I had that opportunity. I had no idea when I woke up friday morning, that I would shake the Prophet's hand by the evening!

This just in....

So, I quit my job at Avanade for the time being. After I talked to my accounting professor yesterday, I knew that I needed to not work any more. My professor said that I need to be spending about 9-10 hours outside of class studying for accounting. Right now I managing a hurried 6, and not getting enough out of it. But with the extra 12 hours i can do those hours for accounting and more.

I was hesitant to stop working because I don't like the idea of relying solely on Mom and Dad. But Daddy especially encouraged me to not work. If i was determined too then he thought Avanade was a good deal. It is an awesome deal in fact. ut he was of the opinion that I didn't need to work. He wants me to focus on my studies and be able to have fun while I am here (which really means have time to ski while I am still here :)). Mom and Dad are willing to help me financially so that I don't have to work, for which I am so grateful.

This afternoon I called and told Nick that I needed to not work the rest of the semester, because I needed time to study more. He said that they would me miss me and hoped that he hadn't added to the stress. I assured him he hadn't, it was just the time that i needed. I then called and talked to Terry and she said that I would just be a on leave of absence. That I should report 0 hours for the next few weeks. However, i would keep my laptop and SAP credentials and I could work during Christmas and pick it back up next semester if I wanted to as well. I am so blessed. They really do like me at Avanade. I got lucky I guess.

So there you have it. I will still work the 3 hours at the Dean's Office but for now I am not working remotely for Avanade. I could feel the stress lift as it hit me that I didn't have to work anymore. Such a glorious feeling.

Yes, it is possible

So for all of you who thought that it was never possible, it is. Emily failed her first test last night. Accounting 210, generally known as the class from Satan, kicked my trash. I thought that I knew the stuff going in, I felt assured and calm. Even during the test I didn't freak out like I do when I realize that I don't know a bunch of tested information. I felt peaceful walking out, thinking i probably got a high. Well, I was wrong. I saw my score and the shock numbed me from every other feeling for a while. Then I broke down. I was frustrated and upset and don't know what I don't understand. The tears came and I allowed myself a pity party. I wasn't even going to eat dinner. Dinner group didn't bring me food and I didn't have any. But, Bryan and I have a deal that I get to win every "disagreement" except when it comes to makiing sure that I eat and him giving me his coat when I am cold. He always "wins" those. So he went and bought me fazoli's--a big platter of food that fed me dinner tonight too. He is so sweet.

So last night i was pretty unhappy and stubbornly so. I didn't want to hear positive news. I don't fail tests. It doesn't happen. First time for everything I guess, and last I hope. But today i started thinking about it and i realized that I just need to talk to my professor and use the Accounting Lab and work harder. It won't be easy, or fun necessarily, but I want to do well. It took time to not be upset over the test. I even hashed it out with fellow class mates and got more upset doing it. But the phrase "It's not how hard you fall, but what you do when you fall" came to mind. I had to get over my pity party. I will most likely cut back hours at Avanade, just one day, and use that time to pick the brains of Accounting TAs. Lame!

New School Year

Well I am finally back to BYU! Back to Provo life, classes, homework, football games and so much to do with so little time. I waited all summer to come back and just as I was leaving, I realized I wasn't quite ready to come back. It could be the fact that I don't plan on spending long periods of time at home again, like I have the past few years. Maybe I finally feel like I am "growing up".

I am happy to be back, even if I'm not sure that I will survive the semester. Accounting 210 just might be the death of me. I already had my beginning of semester freak out and am trying to not do it again. It will be a hard semester though. However I realized something. I am finally at a point in my education where I feel like i really want to learn and know the information I am being taught, rather than just get by and not remember anything. Now that I have a set direction in my schooling and my classes are gearing me towards other future goals, i want to remember the things I learn, not just cram and then forget. It is difficult trying to find a balance between homework and studying to learn. Plus trying to add in social life and fun!

One of the best parts about being back in Provo... the BYU Cougar Football!!!! I missed it while I was in London. But now I am back and loving being in the stadium! We have another game tomorrow, coming off of our 59-0 win against UCLA! Oh Baby!!!! Talk about fantastic! I sit with a large group from my ward so the whole game is a party. Constant cheering and laughing resulting hoarse voices afterwards. Yeah, BYU football is great!

And to add to all that excitement, SURPRISE! I'm dating someone. It is kind of a funny story how it all happened and while I won't get into it here, we basically say that it was by accident. I have known Bryan for two years now and we almost dated back in January. But now we are dating and things are wonderful! Ask me for details if you really want to know. I'll post some pictures of my semester adventures, as soon as I take some. :)

Perpetual Intern-hood

So, all summer I have been looking forward to the end of August because then my summer job would be done, I could go back to Utah and have fun (while studying, of course). Well... things have changed slightly in the past 48 hours. I'm still excited to go back to Utah on monday, I'm still glad that it is the end of August, but my job isn't really ending.

On Tuesday my boss Terry kind of jokingly asked if I could work remotely while I was in Utah. That got me thinking and so I asked her if we could work something out so that I could continue to work for Avanade while I am in school. She asked Nick (who is my current manager) to double check some things and it turns out that I could be used remotely. She said that as long as I can connect remotely and everything works alright, then I can continue to work. However, if it interferes with my studies then she doesn't want me to continue. They understand the value of my education.

So next week, when I get to Utah, I need to test the connection and see if i can access all the databases and files to make sure that I can work. If so, then I will have a job. If not, then I will work for the Dean's Office in the School of Education, which is all set up. I worry about having to say good-bye to the Dean's office because i wanted to go back and they are kind of counting on me. But Avanade will be less hours, felxible around my schedule and higher pay. I will be able to make room in my schedule for a dance team as well as dance classes and i will be able to drop an 8 a.m. class. We all know that that will be joyful! It seems perfect, as long as it works.

Since this has been my 3rd summer at Avanade, there have been jokes that I am the Senior Intern, and Super Senior Intern. Well, i think now I will earn the title of Perpetual Intern.

Ballroom Pictures! :)

Here are a few more pictures from my day in the glam of the ballroom world. I think I did well in covering the fact that I was sick. :)

Yeah, I was having fun! It was a great day!

Either don't be a dancer or don't be a clutz. You can't be both and have life be okay

Now I love dancing, so of course I would rather not be a clutz than a non-dancer. However being both just causes problems and leaves me with a bum foot.

History: My freshmean year of college I fell out of a tour-jete in ballet class and landed directly on top of my left big toe, like I was trying to land the jump balacing on the point. Needless to say it hurt. A lot! I had done that jump a million times so I didn't understand why I should injure myself like that. But I impacted the bones and my foot really hasn't been the same since. I started wearing a boot around to immobilize it because that is all you can do can for a toe! After a few weeks it started getting better.

I came home in May and the first weekend home I fell down the stairs, rolled over the top of my left foot/toe, adn broke the joint where the big toe meets the rest of the foot. Once again came the boot. My foot has been swollen a little ever since then and you can clearly see on the joint where it was broken--it is a more pronounced bump at that point.

You would think that two years later I would have issues with this stupid toe. Well, i thought wrong. At my ballroom competition last weekend i was walking around or dancing or something and i felt a pop on the underside of my foot, same toe joint. I remember thinking "oh, that's probably not good" but it didn't hurt then and I had a competition to get through. But my foot felt okay. It wasn't until a few days later that I noticed my toe-joint area was noticeably swollen and it was uncomfortable to walk to work this past friday morning. I didn't think a lot of it. I went in on Saturday to get one last lesson in Cha-cha before I go back to school. I explained to my teacher about my foot and she told me to not dance in my heels, but to go flat. well about 30 minutes into the lesson something in the toe area moved and i could not longer dance. it hurts to bend my toe like i am trying to walk. So I am back in the boot and need to go to the doctor to see if i caused more damage to my toe. It needs to get better soon though because I have my ballroom team auditions in three and a half weeks and I need to practice before then. I am babying it as much as I can and trying to be good, but I don't have time to be off my feet. Grrr! Yeah, being a dancer and a clutz does nothing good.

Seattle Star Ball

On Friday, Aug. 1, 2008, I had the opportunity to participate and compete in the Seattle Star Ball at the Sea-Tac Hilton. It was so much fun! I had never competed in a Ballroom Competition other than DanceSport at school, so this was a new experience and an amazing one!

Mom and I arrived at the Hilton at about 1:00 in the afternoon so that I would have enough time to get ready. I spent that time going back and forth between the ballroom and the dressing room, asking for hiar advice, plastering my head with gel that was more like paste (honest, it came out of the tube and I thought is was Elmer's glue or that paste you use in Kindergarten. Same consistency too, and I put it in my hair! Yuck!), getting my make-up done and practicing with my teacher Elliott. I competed in the Pro/Am division so I danced with my teacher for all my dances. In the afternoon I danced the waltz, tango, and foxtrot each two times. I don't remember what order my awards came in, but I received two first place awards, and four second place awards. I was a little disappointed at first to be honest. I had hoped to do a little better, but I was doing my best to keep my spirits up. No one wins their first competition out right. What would be the challenge in that? All of the students also got a statuette for participating. It is a beautiful statue of a dancing pair and it is pretty large too.

There was a break between the afternoon and evening session and then it was back to the dressing room to put on more make-up and wear the expensive yellow dress I rented, and practice more with Elliott. In the evening I competed in the closed scholarship competition. It was a multu-dance competition so I danced all three dances- waltz, tango, forxtrot- right in a row. I had a semi-final of this round so after I danced I had to wait and see if I made it to the final round. My masters coach, Natasha, said that we were in the top three from what she saw, so that gave me hope. At that point though, i was so happy and having so much fun that Finals would be great, but weren't mandatory for my enjoyment. As it turned out we did make it to finals and I was so excited. My night/day was made. We danced again in the final round and ended up placing fifth overall. I was delighted! While the money would have been nice, given to the top three, I felt perfectly content knowing that I had made it to finals. It was an awesome day! It was my first, hopefully not my last, day in the glam of the Ballroom World!

I will post more pictures when I get them, but I didn't want to wait too long. :)

Quick! More good news!

I found out yesterday that I am going to receive a half tuition scholarship for this upcoming school year. There was some drama trying to get my scholarship letter. I didn't update my addres on Route Y and by the time i noticed the letters had already been sent off, so it went to my Utah address, I think. I contacted my friend there but the girls in my apartment hadn't seen a shcolarship letter for me or it got thrown away or something. So I called the scholarship office. They refused to tell me if I got one or not over the phone, but said that duplicate letters would be sent out at the end of the month. I resigned myself to waiting. Well when I changed my address or emailed them or something, a letter was printed and sent to me so that I didn't have to wait until August to get it. Mom IMed me and told me that it was at the house and wanted to know if she should open it now. I of course said yes she could open it because I didn't want to wait until I got home. So I found out via Mom on IM that I will receive a half tuition from the school again this year. Yay!!!! That relaxes some pressure on my bank account. I feel so blessed. It has been a great few days what with the Business School Acceptance too!

And Light Shineth Down

Yay!!!! I just found out yesterday that I have been accepted into the Marriott School of Management for the Fall 2008. I wasn't expecting to hear until monday, but yesterday afternoon I had an email from the school telling me that I could check my admission status. The opening line of the email said "Thank you for applying..." so that at first made me worry. Whenever scholarships say that it is always "thank, but we aren't giving you money". But the email told me gave me a link to a website where I could check my status. I was very nervous as i waited for my computer to load the page. I started thinking what if I don't get in? What will I do now? It would hurt soo much. I was tempted to not check it until later last night because I had a dance lesson and didn't want to be distracted in a bad way. But I couldn't wait. I logged into the Marriott School site and pushed the button to check and sure enough the first word on the next page was "Congratulations!". I let out a huge breath of air in relief and happiness. I am so excited. Mom and Dad are of course happy for me, and claim that they knew all along. They said it would have been a great shock if I hadn't made it in. They are very proud of me and excited for me. I really have wonderful parents.

Of course, this means that I am going to have to have an even greater love affair with my books for the next two years, and Harold and I are going to become very familiar. But I am ready. Future is no longer uncertain in this respect. I have received a small beam of light. :)

There are some steps that I have to take before the 1st of August to officially accept my admittance and thus be fully admitted to the school. Nothing big, just a few papers to fax in. Luckily I work in an office where a fax machine is readily available. I am also probably going to have to get a new lap top. The Business school has some requirements for their students' laptops, and mine does not meet that. For what it would cost to get my lap top what it needs, I might as well get a new one. This one is over 3 years old. I don't think it was new when i got it just after i graduated high school.

In any case, I am no longer wondering what I am going to major in. Now i know! Business Marketing. In two years I will graduate with my BS in Business from the Marriott School of Management. How cool is that!!

Drum Roll Please....

As a follow up to my last post:
Answers to prayers come in differing speeds. This time I received an answer much sooner than I expected. I know I can't always expect answers to come so soon, but I am grateful that this one did. And it really is better when you actually go into prayer with a decision made and are seeking confirmation. :)

Even before I went to bed on Monday night, I knew what the answer was. However, I took the opportunity with Mom and Dad to fast on Tuesday. Jared fasted as well. In the end I knew my decision and I knew that the Lord was confirming my decision.

I am not going to serve a mission. It is not the right thing for me right now. I will be focusing on school and having fun dating. A mission could be right later on, but for now I will serve in my callings in the church and not as a full time missionary.

JR told me to update my Blog

That really is the reason that I am writing this blog today. I haven't felt like I have had anything to report recently, which is why my blog has remained the same for the past few weeks. But JR told me to update it, even if I write about having nothing to write about. And that isn't exactly true, that I have nothing to write about.

Work has picked up a bit since I last wrote, thank goodness. However I am still excited to get back to Provo. Only 9 weeks left to work. But who's counting?;)

Also, recently I have been considering a decision which could have a big impact on my life. Now before your thoughts go crazy, no I'm not thinking about getting engaged. I figure that mainly my family reads this blog so I will fill you guys in.

2 weeks ago I went to the home ward where Erin Chriswell gave her farewell talk for her mission. That same day in the branch the Sister missionaries spoke in sacrament. At that point I started to wonder if maybe I should serve a mission. It would definitely be a good, worthy thing to do. During relief society it was also mentioned that if you feel the prompting or desire to do something righteous, then go ahead and do it, the Lord isn't going to tell you "no" to something that is good and worthwhile. Thinking about it now I know that they were referring to small acts of good, but necessarily huge commitments like a mission.

I have always said that this would be the summer that I would either decide to get married (if things worked out between Derek and I) or I would decided on a mission. In truth, I never thought I would come to the point where I would need to decide if I was to go on a mission. I thought I would be married already. And really, who can blame me when you look at the examples I have grown up around. But regardless of that, I do now need to choose and make sure that it is the right thing for me in the eyes of the Lord. This isn't something I can make a choice about lightly. And while it seems like it should be an easy choice--shouldn't I want to go and serve the Lord?--there will be consequences both ways. But I know that I need to make the choice for me and then see if it is right. So that is what I plan to do.

Choices

So earlier this week I came home from work very frustrated. Several times in a fairly short amount of time I made the declaration that "I hate my job". I am tired of often havng nothing to work on so I feel like I am wasting my day and not learning anything. At first I was excited to come back to Avanade because I thought I was going to get to see a new side of the company and it was going to be a huge learning opportunity. Well it hasn't turned out that way and it has been getting more and more irritating.

I voiced my rather frustrated opinions to my Dad who said "fine, get another job." He then went on to explain that being adult sometimes sucks and adults have to stick things out that they don't like, sometimes for extended periods of time. He told me a story of my grandfather who was in a job for several years that he hated. he would fire himself every night and then rehire himself the next morning, because he had to.

While those are never things you want to hear when you are upset, i know i needed to hear it. Granted 11 more weeks is a lot shorter than a few years, thank goodness. But I also realized that I have been unhappy for a few months now with things that have been going on in my life. I went to bed fairly upset. In the morning I was still upset but I took some time on the ferry to think things through. managed to tell myself, without getting more frustrated, that I was in fact choosing to be angry and upset about this. I needed to once again learn and apply the principle of "you choose how you feel" and make it so that no matter what happens at work i can still keep a good attitude and not regreat the summer. I don't like being upset all the time and i don't want to be know as someone who is. I think of myself as a happy, cheerful person and that is not who I have been lately, so I needed to turn a corner. So i conciously made the decision to be happy at work no matter what and to work on it every day so that I am not constantly upset. The summer will pass eventually and then I will be able to go back to Provo. In the meantime I am dancing in the evenings and working towards a Ballroom competition in August.

So no more frustrated Emily because a temporary job isn't as good as it has been. Time to grow up rise above it so that I can get the most and be satisfied with what I am able to make here. :)

Tagged

Well, Katie Tagged me so I better follow through. :)

Three tags.... I have to write down 3 of each: joys, fears, goals, current obsession/projects, and random facts.

3 Joys: The Church, my family, dance

3 Fears: Getting my beautiful car totaled like my car last year, drowning (even though I can swim), convincing myself that something is right when it isn't.

3 Goals: Make it onto a BYU ballroom dance team, Find the love of my life/best friend and get married in the temple; Make the summer pleasant, even if I don't like my job so much.

3 obsessions/projects: Ballroom dance classes--Seattle Star Ball in August, Scrapbooking London, reading the Twilight books :).

3 random facts: I will be going to Utah in 6 days :), the only bone I have broken is my toe and it is because dancers are only graceful when on the stage, My neices are the cutest little girls on the planet--yes that is a fact not an opinion.

The future is uncertain

This is a momentous day! Obviously I am so busy at work that I have ample time to create a new blog this morning. Yesterday was even more productive. I shopped for shoes online! But that is not what is important, nor is it the point of this blog in general.

A few moments ago I formally submitted my application to the Marriott School of Management! Finally it is done and now I just have to wait to see if I will get in or if I will need to change my major, again. Applications aren't technically due until the 29th of June, but why wait. Maybe getting mine in early will better my chances, maybe not. In any case I received an email letting me know that it was received and that after the deadline I would be able to find out if I am accepted. Basically that means I need to wait another month and a half until mid July until I kow. But the application is in, I have done everything I can do. I just hope that it is enough. Only time will tell. So the future of my education is at the moment uncertain, but it won't be the way forever. There is an definite time when I will know one way or the other. If I don't get in I will need to choose another major, one in which I can graduate in a reasonable amount of time. Right now the plan is April of 2010. I'd prefer not to go any longer. That is already making a total of 5 years. But we'll soon see. Stay posted to find out whether or not I get in! :)

You Tube Entertainment at Work

So my work days vary in how busy I am. I have started getting used to the idea and the lack of continuous work. Rather than pine for and dream about Provo every day I look for new ways to keep myself occupied. YouTube became a favorite last year when things were slow, and this year is no exception. So many treasures to be found.

Today I have had to keep myself quiet and not let my manager in the next cube know that I am cracking up. If you ever need a laugh, I urge you to look up Brian Regan videos on YouTube. He is hilarious!! I can listen to his jokes over andover again and still laugh at them. He is such a funny guy and a really clean comedian, which i really like. Some of his lines we quote around out house and amongst my family. They never get old and we never stop laughing. So if you ever feel the need to laugh at common place things, like directions on pop tarts boxes, go listen to Brian Regan!

Chacha

Not the dance.
Once again Emily is bored at work. Talking to Jared today he told me to look into signing up to work for Chacha which is a service that you can call in or text a question and someone (like me) would search for an answer to the question and resond back to them. Apparently they pay 20 cents a question. However i wonder how ethical it would be to work for someone else while I am on Avanade's time. Granted, I'm not doing anything productive for Avanade anyway, and I am bored out of my mind. I have a few websites that i can go to without feeling like I am breaking a bunch of rules. I don't think that my playing Bejewled my first friday was really inside the "rule book". It is hard to sit at work and do nothing. Any ideas? Whether it be on the ethics or things to do while at work?

This is what I get paid for

So I am a third year finance intern at a large IT consulting company for the summer. The past two summers have been great. They have kept me busy and I was able to learn a lot. Unfortunately things are different this year. With a recent transfer to a new accounting system, everyone else is still trying to figure out what they are doing, so they can't give me really anything to work on. My levels of busy-ness fluctuate on a daily basis. On monday I basically got paid to create this blog. Then I had some things to work on. Now there isn't much for me to do again, so i a getting paid to write this new blog. My guess is that in the near future people will figure out what they are supposed to be doing, so that they will then be able to guide me and give me things to work on. In the mean time it can be very frustrating to get paid to do nothing. I feel like I am cheating. I want to have things to do, I want to work and be busy, but there isn't anything for me do, and I always ask to make sure that I'm not missing something, and to let my manager know that I have free time. Last friday I was very frustrated to the point that I told Dad on our walk to the ferry at the end of the day that if things weren't better by the end of the month i was going to quit and go back to Utah. I don't think it will come to that. Besides, i need the money that I can make here. But there is only so much I can do before I start to go nuts from idleness. I'm hoping things will improve but right now it is hard to be motivated to come to work. But I am almost 2 weeks down and this week has been better than last week. Hopefully it does just get better from here on out. It is possible that daily blogs will be created though, if I have extra time around the office.

In the past year

So I don't know if any year will be able to top the past year that I have had. In the last 12 months I have: 1) Climbed Mt Rainier with my Dad 2) Attended a study abroad in London, through BYU, and visited Paris, Italy, Norway and Scotland 3) Had 2 new neices enter the family and 4) Went skydiving. Can this year get any better? I think not!

Sky diving was the most recent adventure and it was absolutely amazing! I would go again in a heart beat. I went with 7 friends from my ward in school. My roommates Stacey and Maurie graduated in April and Stacey is now on a mission, so to celebrate we wanted to do something big--skydiving was the answer. The whole of the afternoon of April 12 was spent in Toelle, UT at the skydive utah place. It was a lot of fun because were all excited and pumped and excited for each other so the tandem instrutors liked talking to us and having us around. I was in the last plane of the day and I went up with my friends Jeff (Papa Jeff) and Jeff (Aeff), and I was the last to leave the plane. Probably the scariest part of the whole event was when you go to the door and have to put your toes over the edge of the plane. But when I got to that point i wasn't turning back. I was excited and ready to jump out of this perfectly good plane. Then the tandem instructor (mine was named Sam) rocks forward, back and then you fall out into the air. The first second that you aren't stable in the freefall was scary, but then you stable out, put your arms out like a bird and you fall. But it doesn't really feel like you are falling. There is so much wind pounding on you--but you do notice that the ground is way down below, but getting closer. We fell for about a minute and then he pulled the chute and we shot up. At this point you could actually look around. We did some spirals in the air so it felt like an intense rollercoaster--that was fun! And then we made our way to the landing field and made a perfect landing on our rear ends.

My heels skidded on the ground so dirt and grass got in my face. But i was too excited to care. It was the coolest thing ever and it was so fun to have my friends there with me. And yes, I survived. My parents had no idea when I was going to go, until I called and told them that I had landed safely. That was the best way to keep mom from freaking out. It was a blast and I highly recommend it to anyone who has the urge to go. It is so worth it! And get the video too!

I welcome myself

Hello! I figured that I may as well start a blog for myself. All of my sibilings have a blog and it seems to be the easiest way to keep everyone up to date on what is going on in each other's lives. This is a task that is becoming more difficult as we all move onward and upward. So, welcome Emily Ruth McKee to your very own blogspot, and congratulations for starting one.

"I'd like to thank the academy"...

So begins my blog.