What an awesome semester!

I have had some of the most fun of my college career in the past few weeks - holy cow! And it's all due to my awesome friends and family. They come up with some of the most fun things to do. Here's the list - each activity is highly recommended:

• snowmobiling
• jeeping/4-wheeling which included a mud fight
• been to the hot springs twice with a party after at my place which included parachute men off the loft sadly with a few casualties, a huge foam disk war, awesome treats provided by Mom, and watching the torch lit in the Olympics Opening Ceremonies
• watched Newsies with boys who came dressed as actual Newsies and tried to do the dances
• went Skittle Bowling where each skittle color is a different crazy task, like spin around 5 times or bowl on one leg
• study parties in the library where, let's be honest, not as much studying as possible happens
• super fun group dates
• dance parties in our kitchen, which sometimes include making music videos
• Super Bowl party at my parents' house with Grandpa and Grandma Hardy and Aunt Jorji and Uncle Keith
• hot chocolate party
• gave my first hair cut ever - thank you Trevor for trusting me :)
• went to The Importance of Being Earnest, the first of our season tickets at Hale Center Theater in West Valley
• and many more are yet to come!

And now, and ode to my mother: Mom, you are the best mom I could ever ask for. You drop everything to help me out, even at a moments notice. You teach me, you laugh with me. We are best friends. You adopt all of my friends as your own children and make them always feel so welcome. They absolutely love you, but not as much as I do! Thanks for being my mummy! I love you!

Ward Talent Show

Below is a music video my roommates and I made for my ward talent show. It includes people from my ward as well as friends of our apartment. Please enjoy! And now the disclaimer - I don't own the song, we are not making this for money-making purposes. No copyright infringement intended :) The video is kinda small, so if you want to see it bigger you can use the ctrl+ trick to magnify the screen.

End of 2009, Beginning of 2010

I'm back at school with another semester underway...blargh...but here's some stuff that happened over winter break:

I saw three new movies - Invictus, Sherlock Holmes, and Avatar. And here's what I thought...Invictus was very good, though it took a while to get going. Also, I don't think we saw enough of the rugby team. It should have been more equally distributed between Mandella and rugby in my opinion. However, the message was wonderful and the movie told a story that I had never heard before. Loved that. And I love rugby :). Sherlock Holmes, the more I think about, the more I like. It was fresh and new and the characters all worked really well together. It was a little too violent for my personal taste, but I love mysteries and watching great minds solve them. Robert Downey Jr. has a wonderful appeal and I enjoyed his performance very much. I think the film could have built up better towards the climax. It felt like the climax was suddenly upon us instead of smoothly building. But I saw it when I was tired, so maybe that affected things. And now for Avatar...well, I liked it a lot. The visuals were stunning, and it didn't entirely bother me that it was a blue version of Dances With Wolves (though I generally don't like to be able to entirely predict a storyline...). I just didn't like having to wear glasses to see the world. It made me constantly aware of the fact that I was watching a fabrication. For some reason I feel like 2D films are more engaging to me. I don't by any means think that 3D is going to revolutionize filmmaking. Maybe I just need to get used to 3D and the way it looks to fully appreciate it. Though I really liked Avatar, I don't think I'll be going back to see it in theaters unless someone can convince me that I need to look deeper into the film.

The biggest things I watched over the break were Doctor Who: The End of Time Parts 1 and 2. Holy cow, what a finale to David Tennant's Doctor. I'm still in mourning. He was absolutely fabulous in every single episode he was in, and I nearly cried watching him go. He will always be my Doctor. His acting was fabulous, as was that of John Simm and Bernard Cribbins who played the Master and Wilf respectively. There was a twist at the end that totally surprised me - such wonderfully written material! Thank you Russell T. Davies! So great. And I know now that Doctor Who is now officially definitely my favorite TV show ever, closely following it Frasier (but that's another kettle of fish). Isn't wonderful entertainment just WONDERFUL?! And I can't wait for the new season of Doctor Who. Though I will immensely miss Tennant, and Matt Smith is really going to have to prove himself in my eyes, I have a marvelous feeling that it's going to be absolutely FANTASTIC:).

Now, for 2010...I also have a feeling this year is going to be great. I have a new niece coming, I'm going to London in April, there's a new season of Doctor Who, and I have season tickets to Hale Theater in West Valley - absolutely marvelous! I can't wait :)

This is a video of me being bored during finals...yup... :)

Moving Sucks

Okay, so I'm trying to be positive about my parents moving to a new house, new neighborhood, new ward, etc. It's hard for me. Really hard. When I first found out I about the move I was sad for a few days but then I got excited about the new house. I tried to think of it as a cabin or some sort of vacation getaway. That thought only lasted so long. As soon as December hit and Christmas was in the air, I began to get sad about it again. I'm liable to burst into tears at the mention of home, and my roommates are probably sick of how much I talk about moving. But it's a big deal to me. Very big. In my mom's email to my missionary brother Josh this week she was talking about how it was his first Christmas away from home this year and how challenging that would be for him. I realized that it's my first Christmas away from home too. This new house isn't my home. I know people always say that the house doesn't matter - it's the people. The people make the home. I know that's true, but the house DOES matter to me. I've been having a really hard time this week as I thought about what Christmas is going to be like this year. New house...no Josh...Christmas Eve by myself in a strange place...I don't mean to sound pessimistic or bratty, but I really am sad about all of it. I'll be fine as soon as I get used to the new house, and I am excited for the fun stuff it offers. I am very happy about how happy my parents are about it too. But every time I think about going home I realize that I don't have any friends in my new neighborhood except my cousins (which is awesome). I have to drive 20-40 minutes to hang out with anyone other than my family. I love my family, so that's not a tragedy, but still it stinks. There's no movie theater by our house. There's no Iceberg or cute neighborhoods or hills to sled down. There's no Best Buy or Spaghetti Factory or Temple 10 minutes away.

I know I'm just complaining and complaining when I don't even have a right to, so now I'm going to try to think of the positive side of the move...um...I got 7 new posters to hang in my new bedroom. I get my own loft that I can throw parachute men off of. I get to live next to my aunt and uncle and cousins (when they're there). My parents live there. I like them lots and lots. I'm sure I will love the new house. It's just going to take me a while to get to that point. They're not just houses. They are important pieces of our lives, and if we just dismiss them like they're just objects than we miss out on so many of the fabulous feelings and memories that come with them. Of course, we get all the pain that comes with the change as well. I miss my house. I will always miss it. But I'd miss my family infinitely more. So I guess I'll go wherever they are, right? That's what matters.

PS I'm sick of finals...that's why I'm blogging right now...resisting studying as much as possible ha ha.... :)

Farewell Monk

I just watched the last episode of Monk....I'll be honest and say that I almost started crying towards the end. I love that show. It reminds me of so many good times with my family, especially my brother Josh. This last summer, before he left on his mission, I would be curled up in the love sac downstairs and Josh would come put in his favorite episodes of Monk for me. I'll always remember that. It's why when people say that things like movies or TV or music or even video games are just pointless entertainment I get defensive. Many of my familial relationships have been strengthened by things like watching Monk together. It gives us more common experience, something to discuss and take pleasure in together as a family. And if it's good entertainment, it is enlightening as well and can even reveal eternal truths.

As for the last episode of Monk itself, I think it ended very well. I won't give away anything that happened, just in case someone reads this who hasn't seen it yet. But I will say that all the loose ends were nicely tied up, and I found it very satisfying. It wasn't Monk's hardest or most surprising mystery, but it was his most meaningful. And I love looking at Monk in season one and then looking at him now. His character arc was fabulously crafted. That's what I like so much about the show. Monk is a wonderful character, surrounded by a cast of more wonderful characters. And that's what makes a good show a great show - the characters. Maybe the last episode wasn't some viewers' styles, but it perfectly fit me. Thanks Mr. Monk. It was a wonderful ride. :)

I Love Frogs

I saw The Princess and the Frog last night, and I absolutely loved it! The animation was GORGEOUS. It practically glowed. It was like magic just watching the film, story aside. And I loved that it was in the style of classic, 2-D Disney animation. I miss those immensely. My eyes were delighted. The characters were tons of fun - especially Prince Naveen, Dr. Facilier (he's the bad guy - is it okay to delight in the evilness of a bad guy?), and Ray. Ray's piece of the story was surprising and touching! I loved Tiana as well. Definitely a fun new addition to the Disney Princess canon. The movie worked very well, and my roommates and I found ourselves laughing pretty much the entire time. It was way funnier than I anticipated. The overall story was mostly predictable, but was told in a fresh way that didn't make it seem to tired or predictable. The only thing I didn't love about the movie was the music. It just wasn't as fabulous as I wanted it to be. I'm not dying to go out and buy the CD like I was with Enchanted or any of the other Disney movies. Don't get me wrong, the music was fun. Just not on par with other Disney movies I think. I would definitely recommend this movie, though some of the scary voodoo images might be a little too much for little kids. But it's such pretty animation that I was more delighted than frightened, and since I have the mindset of a four-year-old, maybe little kids would be just fine. I love princesses, I love Disney when they do what they're best at, and I love frogs! :)