Beyond: So far

So far the "Beyond" of my BYU and Beyond has included:

-a make-believe week in Provo after tour where I bummed off Kelsey, saw Pentatonix live (Dalilah and Vocal Point were there too but...come on), performed in a Scandinavian festival, and pretended I was still part of the P-town life I have now left behind.

This, apparently, is a meal fit for a Viking. 

Look at these beauties at the concert! We had sweet seats. 

Pentatonix live is mind-blowing. 

-starting the Lemony Snickett series (okay so those books are awesome)
-Watching Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea and beginning the books (fyi, the books do not wrap up after Anne of Avonlea like the movie suggests. There are like 8 books. What?)
-Attending one of my favorite people's wedding/reception. Jess's wedding was perfect. Such a lovely day.

Jess and Matt Richards. 

-Finishing the Hunger Games series that I started the last summer I spent at home (I refused to read them during the school year because I'm addicted to school and every time I tried after that I couldn't get a hold of one without having to buy it. And I'm morally opposed to buying hard-back books)
-A lot of family. With my sister and her husband and three kids staying here until they can move in to their house and an informal family reunion including nearly all of my 8 siblings, their spouses, and most of the 23 grandkids, we have had some full houses. And a lot of fun.

The 4 year olds got along really well. 

The one on the left isn't ours. But that winner in the sequined tie? 100% related to me. 

-2 surgeries. Wisdom teeth removal and another surgery that...maybe I'll tell you about if you ask. Privately.

Thanks to diligent icing, there was very little swelling. And  miraculously next to no pain. 

-I sewed a dress! Something else I started the last summer I spent at home.

Promise it looks better on than it does hanging up. 

-I crocheted an afghan, something I started over Christmas vacation.

I actually still have a border to finish. But it looks like a blanket now!

-I successfully trained for (kind of ) and completed a 5k even though I'd never run over 1.5 miles consecutively before in my life. (I'm trying once again to make running a habit. We'll see)

The Plain City 4th of July 5K had exactly four times more Yorgasons than it has ever had. 

Shiree was my training buddy and the reason all participating Yorgasons were a part. 

-Prepared for a part-part-very part-time job teaching at The Dance Establishment (I grew up dancing there and I'm extremely excited. I get to teach ladies tap, a competition jazz team, a 5 year old combo, and a pointe class)
-I got my first non-Apple mp3 player. I'm very excited to finally be out of the iZone. I'm a PC girl yo.
-I have read a lot of news. I seriously love news so this is great to have time to read it. Though I sincerely miss having access to the NY Times for free on campus. I hear it's on WSU campus? Fact? Fiction?
-I have started listening to a free course I downloaded from iTunes U (Okay, so I'm not completely out of the iZone, it is borderline impossible in the mp3 world) on capitalism from Yale. NBD. It's awesome so far. I'm such a nerd, I already miss school. But that shouldn't surprise anyone.

What "beyond" has not yet included:

-Finding a full-time job in my career field. Or even part time (I would actually prefer part-time for the first year)
-Living in somewhere other than my house
-Having my own room/bed.

Sometimes I have the best day ever.

Once upon a November, I had the best day of my life. For 3 reasons.

1. Savion Glover (THE best tap dancer alive) in real life in front of my face. This number has two parts.
Part A: A workshop. Savion agreed to come and teach us a workshop. My friend Justin Kelly said it well in his Facebook status after the event when he said "Still in a stupor after one of the coolest dance lessons I have ever had the privilege to attend. How awesome is it that Savion can achieve that distinction without even teaching a single step?" 


That's right, all he did was talk. He did eventually put his tap shoes on about 45 minutes after everything started, but he barely did anything in them. He just talked. 


About time, and groove, and the pocket, melodicizing, tapping your life, reminding me that tap isn't just a dance, it isn't even just an artform, it is a way of life and a philosophy. But really. Anyway, I'm going to write more about this in its own post later on, because I have a lot to say in this post. 

Part B: Savion's concert that night. Him, two other tappers, no music, three miked platforms. Genius.



2. I was helping a professor move out of his office (which by the way, is my job, I get paid to help theater and media arts professors) and he was getting rid of some of his books. 


He turned to me at one point and said "Do you want a nice new copy of the Complete Encyclopedia of Joseph Smith's Teachings?"

Um. Why yes Eric, I would.

10 minutes later.
"What about these leather bound books the university gives me for Christmas"
Now people, I put these white boxes in the professor's mailboxes for Christmas every year and I always covet the beautiful leather bound Church books hidden inside and want to steal them from people that never pick them up. But I don't. So the good karma is coming back to me.
Yes! I want those too!

My loot ended up being, the Encyclopedia of Joseph Smith's Teachings, and leather bound copies of an LDS hymnal, The Bible, and Jesus the Christ. Especially cool because Jesus the Christ was totally on my Christmas list. Now I have it. In fancy form.

3. Whilst I was helping Eric in his office I had a missed call on my phone from my sister, which was interesting. I checked the voicemail when I was done with work and it was from my niece Ella. She looks like this  Ella and I get along pretty well. She's a lot like me, only she happens to be younger and a lot cuter than I was. Believe me.

Anydangway, she left me a long voicemail about an essay she wanted me to help her write. I figure it must be a history essay or something, until she said they were supposed to write about their hero, so she chose me.
!
I almost cried a little bit. I definitely had that "awwwwww" face on

This is an example of the "precious" face with Michelle even though it kind of looks like a disgusted face. It is very similar to the "aww" face I had except mine registered more surprise, so think this with an open mouth. Not necessarily attractive, but effective.


So there you have it. Savion Glover, free wonderful books, and my niece calling me her hero. This is a perfect Thanksgiving post. Yes?

Goodbye to the Haines

Well, my first year of college was survived, and I would like to propose in this post that can be attributed very much to the Haines family. So this is my post of thanks to them! Not only did I get to talk about life for hours and hours on end with my amazing and gorgeous sister Patti (seriously, if I can look as good as she did pregnant with Brooke I will be amazed), and get my life analyzed by Howard (as hard as it was to come up with answers to his questions, once I did I usually learned something about myself, which was very helpful), but I got to babysit the most adorable children in the world.








Dalan, this stud-muffin you see on the left, is amazing. He is probably the smartest little boy I know. He is also so full of love! I have learned a lot from him and am sorry I didn't wrestle with him as much as he always wanted me to.





Ella, is QUITE the little girl. She actually, in some strange ways taught me a lot about myself. Patti told me a few times that Ella reminded her of me when I was younger, and after awhile I could see why. Ella is headstrong and knows what she wants, and while that can be infuriating to deal with when a 4-year old just wants chocolate, that is really going to help her out when she is older and she keeps those values her parents have been teaching her. Ella is so sweet and full of love just like Dalan, even though she sometimes shows it in a different way.

And last, but certainly not least, is Brooke, the happiest baby alive. She just loves people and is so alert. Her brother and sister can make her laugh even when she's crying, and her little laugh is just so real. This whole family is just full of such love! They all love each other so much and are so ready to give love to others! I absolutely am grateful that Howard and Patti taught their kids such love and are such good examples themselves.
Thanks for the free laundry. Patti and Howard thanks for the free therapy sessions. And Ella, Dalan and Brook thanks for being such great examples of love! I love you all and hope you enjoy Kentucky as much as I'm sure it will enjoy you!

Why my Grandpa rocks

Sad to say I didn't realize how seriously awesome my Grandpa Yorgason was until he passed away. I guess I was too much of a dinky teenager to think I should care. But the older I get the more I realize how awesome this man was! Namely, he was hilarious. I never quite knew where we got our random/witty humor from but now I know. R. Milton Yorgason himself. Here are a couple of examples.
Well, we are Scandinavian (Swedish to be specific) and apparently my Grandpa saw this hat somewhere and decided he had to have it. He then showed everyone at the monthly family meeting for all the grown-ups (depending on your definition of grown-ups...) and my dad snapped a picture of it. How fabulous is that?
And now I will share possibly one of the funniest things I've ever heard of my Grandpa saying. I didn't actually get to hear it, which is too bad, but my cousin told it over the pulpit at his funeral. One of my cousins Marla lived with my Grandpa for a while after my Grandma passed away and helped him clean out the house. One on occasion for some reason something about a subscription to the Ladies' Home Journal came up, I'm not sure if someone called, came or sent something. When Marla asked my Grandpa if he wanted a subscription he said "Well...does it come with the ladies?" Who says that? My hilarious Grandpa that's who.