Tin Foil and Gift Giving

Last Monday was like any other Monday night. After FHE I watched some Hulu, read a chapter out of my book then turned off the lights and crawled into bed. Little did I know that the sun's cousin would be blaring into my window and make my room as bright as day!

My room has been brighter than I use to at night with the street lights coming in. But the apartment's next door to me that are being built still are now finished, and now the outside light above the stairs is turned on.... Right. Outside. My. Window.

Meet the sun's cousin. Mi window is the 2nd one up closest to the camera, right above the gray bricks.

 My solution to the problem: tin foil. I went to WalMart and asked if they had special window darkeners for home windows like you can get for cars. But the guy I asked said they only had them for cars. So until I find something better to darken my windows, this tin foil will have to do.

 It looks weird from the outside. Hopefully no one judges my strange ways. I have been sleeping so much better in a pitch dark room, and that's all that matters to me!

My aunt came to Utah because my cousin Brianne's husband surprised Brianne with a trip to Cabo for Christmas. How sweet is that? He told her on Saturday and they left the very next day. He flew my aunt in so she could watch their kids while they went to Cabo. I was able to go to Temple Square and also meet my Grandpa Chlarson's sister, Joyce, who only lives a few miles away from me!

Shadow Beards!

Jayni and Mason in Lion House

The Christmas season is upon us. As I have gotten older, I now love giving more than receiving by far. My ward has a giving tree, and I picked an ornament and was able to buy a present for a little boy. I was glad I was able to serve someone in need!

The best thing I did this week was put together a little Christmas package for Elder Whetstone. I wasn't going to send him anything special because sending a package isn't cheap, but I found I could send a larger envelope for only $16.95! I was so excited and went right to work so I could send him his package and hope that he would get it by Christmas. I send a stripped tie I found in both our favorite blue and green colors, some snowflakes since he loves snow but won't see any until next year, eggnog taffies since eggnog is one of his favorite drinks, a couple of candy canes to be festive, some CTR rings that he could give out to the Brazilian children (he always talks about how much he loves the kids) and a photo album I put together with photos of me holding up messages I wrote on my whiteboard. That was pretty fun to do! I'm so so so excited for him to get his surprise Christmas package!

A girl I intern with named Sarah and I decided we needed to decorate our little cubicle since it's Christmastime. I had extra snowflakes from Geoff's package that were red, since I only sent him the white ones. So I brought them for us to use as decorations as well as extra candy canes I had from Geoff's package as well. I had no idea how to use the candy canes, but Sarah came up with a clever idea to hang them with paper clips... she's so smart and resourceful! Now our cubicle is all ready for the holidays!

This upcoming week is busy but should be fun!

Living in Salt Lake: Week 4 Update

I can't believe it's been a month since I moved here to Salt Lake! Pretty crazy how time flies. I have learned so much in the last month and am so grateful.

On Tuesday, I went to the concert I received free tickets for from interviewing a local band called Chasing Chance. My friend Candice came along with me and we had a really fun time! I loved loved LOVED that Parachute performed! I knew every one of their songs, except one. But once they were done we got to go out and meet them! Since there were a ton of people wanting to meet them as well, we only met the main singer, Will. It's sweet that I met the guy whose songs I think are so wonderful!

Will!

  The only downside to the concert was that when All-American Rejects performed, the lead singer would drop the f bomb every time he spoke in between songs... he said that word with other words in every sentence! We felt a little uncomfortable about that. We only stayed to listen to three songs from "Boys Like Girls" because it was 10:15ish and I needed to drive an hour back home still! I didn't get home until around 11:30 once I dropped Candice off. I was definitely tired the next day at work, but you know what? It was all worth it. Sometimes, losing sleep... no matter how much you love it... is necessary to live a little. Or a lot!

We were given so many free treats this week at work... Kneader's amazing pumpkin bread, bagels from a place called "Einstein Bagels," (which are seriously the best bagels I have ever had in my entire life, and I know a good bagel when I eat one!) and also these delicious tarts from Kneader's as well. The tarts were amazing! I had a key lime one, and it just melted in my mouth like a little slice of heaven. Free treats are awesome! And I especially enjoy not having to go and pay for lunch somewhere!

Scrumptious key lime tart.

 The first snow came down on Thursday. It had been raining Monday through Wednesday, but on Thursday the snow just came down! It was cool being in the Deseret News building and seeing all the snow come down on Salt Lake. Luckily, by the time I got home the sun had come out and it was all melted at my apartment. An hour later, however, this is what the sky looked like near my apartment:

Can you say freaky! My roommate and I were driving and half the sky was blue and half was pitch black with these low clouds just coming quickly. Within a few minutes the whole sky was dark and it started hailing. Yuck! But I have never seen the sky turn dark so quickly right in front of me. My roommate and I swear we even say a funnel forming in the sky, and we thought a tornado was going to hit down! I'm glad there wasn't a tornado and I am still alive today to write my ridiculous adventures on this blog to you. And I hope you are too :)

My boss asked me to go to a performance on Friday night called "Luz de las Naciones: Sus Promesas" which translates to "Light of the Nations: His Promise." I am going to be writing an article about my experience there. I went with my friend Kelcie and was happy to have her since she knows Spanish from her mission. The performance was in Spanish, so I had Kelcie and also translation headphones so I could hear it in English. But that performance was AMAZING! It talks about how Christ came to the Americas and different cultures told their versions of when He came. There was Hawaiian, Peru, Chile, Mexico, Native Americans, and some others. The different cultures danced and sang their traditional dances and songs. Then near the end it talked about how all these stories came together to help write the Book of Mormon. It was just awesome. The kids were adorable when they sang and danced! But all the performers were so talented. It was a very touching and moving performance. I highly recommend it to all. And don't be intimidated when you are surrounded by Latinos and look like a weirdo being one of the only ones with headphones!

Performers at the beginning.

Peru.

Chile.

Chile. I loved this part with the kids twirling the ribbon on the pole!

Mexico.

My favorite... Hawaii hula dancers!

All the performers at the end.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson sat right in front of me about 10 rows! I thought that was pretty neat. Too bad I wasn't able to meet him! He's in the picture above in the top right-hand corner :)

Those are the main highlights of my week! This upcoming week will be an exciting one... My sister is getting married and I fly home on Thursday! I can't wait!
  

Living in Salt Lake: Week 3 Update

I have survived my third week living in Salt Lake. This week has been the most eventful week so far, and probably will be the most eventful week I have in a while! There is a lot talked about in this blog post... just a fair warning :)

On Monday, we had a stake FHE dance at Wheeler Historic Barn. I loved it there! We were out in the country and the smells reminded me of home. It was a pretty cool place. If I had kids, I would totally take them there. There's cows, horses, goats, rabbits, and who knows what else. for kids to pet. They have a mini straw maze and a pumpkin patch for kiddos as well. There's a few other fun activities for families to do as well.

We were in this gorgeous barn for the dance. And since it was a stake, there were a lot of people there. My roommate and one of our friends danced every so often. The best part for me was seeing my bishop and his wife dance during a Lady Gaga song. It made me laugh so hard! My bishop, Dwight Day (doesn't that sound like a weatherman name?) and his wife are probably in their late 60's or early 70's, so seeing a cute older couple dancing to the younger generation's music was quite the site to see!

Before the dance started, I made a new friend. Isn't she just beautiful? That's what I thought, until she bit my finger on accident when I wasn't paying attention. I was already licked by her nasty cow tongue a few times!

We got a new dining room table for our apartment! It is pretty exciting. I was suppose to be picking one up on Wednesday and meeting my cousin, Derek, halfway there since he has a truck he could haul it in. But we got to the lady's house and she had sold it without informing me! So lame. I set up a time and everything to pick up the table. I felt really bad for making Derek drive there for nothing. We both drove a half hour there and back for nothing!

But the next day on Thursday, I found another table I really liked. The one I was suppose to get was wood with two wooden chairs, but this one was also wood but with 4 leather chairs! And it was only $20 bucks more than the other table. The lady was able to deliver it to us since she only lived 10 minutes away and I didn't have a truck or van to pick it up. I am in love with the table! It eventually needs a little TLC with some sanding and staining, but the little metal ball details around the edge are so cute! The leather chairs are all in good condition as well. It makes our apartment look so much better. Now we just need to fill the awkward space by our entry way with something and also get some bar stools for our kitchen counter and we're in business!

 I also bought this mini dresser to put my bedroom TV on! I plan on painting it black or white to match the rest of my bedroom furniture.

After waiting an extra week, I finally received Geoff's letter on Thursday! I normally get his letters in around 15 days counting the weekends, but this letter took 23 days! I'm just glad it got here safe and sound because I was starting to think it may have gotten lost somewhere along the way. I just need to accept that getting mail from Brazil is unpredictable. His letter was definitely worth the wait. I love the little details he puts into his letters that lets me know he is thinking of me. It makes me feel very special :)

I don't usually share personal stuff dealing with Geoff, but I have to brag a little bit! Ever since we first started dating, we would say "I love you to the moon and back" to each other. It fit with us because Geoff loves the planets and stars and would totally work for NASA if he could. Plus we both love to stargaze! But anyways he sent me this colored drawing and it just melted my heart! I thought the "love rocket" covered in hearts was a nice touch!

The best drawing ever.

Geoff and his companion are doing so great. I am so glad he is having some great experiences he can look back on someday. He truly loves being a missionary and serving the Lord. He really cares about the people he teaches and baptizes and works hard to make sure they stay active in the church. He is one busy missionary! I update his website whenever I get a letter, and you can check out the most recent updates here so you can see for yourself how busy he is!

I went to a bonfire on Friday with my roommate's friend, Megan and others from Megan's ward. We drove up to the mountains, and even though it was dark when we got there, I knew I would have to drive back up and see all fall-colored trees. I could tell it was gorgeous! The bonfire was way awesome. We made banana boats which are so good. If you've never made them, you have to during your next bonfire! It's hard to resist a chocolate and marshmallow-filled banana. Others brought a ton of food as well.

On Saturday, I went with my friends Candice and Whitney to "Fight Cancer With Color," a fundraising event held in my cousin Brianne's neighborhood. Jack Rapp is a father of four who has leukemia. I had never been to a color chalk fight before but it was a lot of fun!

Me, Candice and Whitney

Jayni and Mason! Stop growing please!

When I got back from the Fight Cancer With Color event, I saw that one of my Deseret news stories had been published online! I wrote this story last week so I have been waiting for it to be posted. I got to interview Brandon Mull, author of the popular Fablehaven series. He has two new books coming out that I read before I interviewed him. When I went to see on online, I noticed it was a top story meaning that it is one of the top 10 that is being read the most by our readers! I was pretty excited. You can read the story here.

Another story I wrote was posted online at the same time, and I found out a couple hours later that both my stories were published in the Sunday paper! That makes a total of 4 stories put in the paper and 6 online. I hope a couple of other stories I have written get put online this week.

"Top Story" on the home page!

Main story in "Family Life/ Arts & Entertainment" section.
The story on the bottom left is another one I wrote!

This past week I also interviewed an up-and-coming band called Chasing Chance. They are from Orem and will be performing with The All-American Rejects, Boys Like Girls and Parachute next Tuesday. I had so much fun interviewing them. They said they were going to send me some free tickets to their concert, which I was super excited because I am obsessed with the band Parachute! When I went to check my mailbox on Saturday, there were the tickets! I love the perks of working for Deseret News!

Concert tickets for October 23rd!

And that is a brief overview (sorry it doesn't seem brief but it really is!) my crazy busy week. I had so much fun. I wish every week would be like this one!

Living in Salt Lake: Week 2 Update

This week went by way too fast... I don't know if that is a good or bad thing!

So last week, I realized I was noticing some of the negatives of living in a big city. But there are lots of positives, too! For example, check out this amazing view I get to see and be around everyday:

The Breathtaking Mountains of Utah

I love the Utah mountains! They are especially pretty where there are trees that are red for fall scattered all over. I think this is why so many people live here. They fall in love with this view, and I don't blame them!

I also enjoy being close to everything... a mall, places to eat, etc. I don't have to travel such a long ways when I'm looking for something. So it's definitely a bonus from what I'm use to!

This past week at work wasn't as busy as my first week, thank goodness! But I did do something interesting that I feel is worth sharing. My boss asked me to go down to the Church History Library and see if I could get Brigham Young's obituary from Deseret News. He died on August 29, 1877. So I was really hoping they would have a copy of it even though it was from such an old newspaper!

After about an hour and a half, me and a few other people had searched the Internet with no luck of finding his obituary. So, our only choice was to search the microfilms. I had never seen how the microfilm machines worked, and after about a few minutes I was able to find it and was pretty proud of myself!

The Microfilm Machine

The newspaper was so old, it was pretty hard to read. And the obituary took up a whole page! I printed it, but it was even more blurry than it was on the microfilm. So I emailed a digital image to myself and hoped that would work and be readable. And luckily it was. My boss was able to read and use part of the obituary for a presentation he had to give the next day! This little assignment for me was pretty neat because Brigham Young is my great, great, great, great uncle. I think that's the right amount of "greats!" I was eager to tell my family that I found his obituary.

My little sister became a Young Woman this week, and by that I mean she turned 12, so graduates from Primary and goes to Young Womans! I still think of Kristen as this cute 4-year-old that I played with and did the silliest things with. She is only 2 inches shorter than me and will be taller than me before too long! So ridiculous. But no matter how tall she is, she will always be my Sissy!

My Birthday Present for Kristen

I wasn't planning on doing anything this weekend, but my mom reminded me that my Grammie and Grandpa Chlarson were here in Utah visiting. So I headed up to my Aunt Barbie's Saturday morning and spent all day Saturday and Sunday with my lovely family. Barbie made a delicious dinner, and Grammie made some of her rolls which made me super happy!

Oh and I also found a dining room table with a couple of chairs for only $50! My awesome cousin Derek is going to come with me to pick it up since he has a truck to haul it in. It's perfect for our apartment, just perfect!

And that is a brief update on my second week living in Utah! I am a little sad because I was suppose to be getting a letter from Geoff this week in the mail, but sadly it hasn't come yet. So hopefully it comes very very soon!

Living in Salt Lake: Week 1 Update

Oh. My. Goodness.

That is how I would describe my first week living in Salt Lake! Although I've lived in a big city before (Orlando for three months), this has definitely been a new experience for me. Mainly because in Orlando, I was in Disney World for 90% of the time I was there, and I only did a few things outside of Disney when my family came to visit and also when I saw the space shuttle, Discovery, make its last launch at Cape Canaveral.

I am getting use to the schedule of a grown-up slowly but surely. I am not a morning person, but I have been going to bed earlier ( yes, at 9:30ish... I'm so lame!) so I can get around 9ish hours of sleep. I need my sleep people! Is it sad that I love sleeping? I think so. I should be out all night enjoying the single life, but hey, maybe I will get there eventually. But since I have been going to bed earlier, I am ready to wake up and get ready before my alarm goes off at 6:30.

For example, on Wednesday I think it was, I leaned over and looked at the time on my phone, and I swear it said 6:20. So I put my glasses on, got up and started getting ready. But instead of getting in the shower right away like I normally do, I went back to my phone to turn off the alarm before it goes off. It was 5:20! Oh the life of a blind person! I have made sure to check the correct time on my phone ever since that incident. But I was wide awake at 5:20, and I couldn't go back to sleep after! So I'm grateful that I have been able to get up without a problem, because really I love sleeping past 8!

Some of the negatives I have discovered living in a big city:

The water is disgusting. I miss getting my water from a well back home! I didn't think it was bad until I realized the water gives me a bad aftertaste that is hard to get rid of. The people I tell that to think I'm crazy, but they don't know where the good water really comes from, so they are the ones that are crazy not me! My roommates and I will be investing in a water filter sooner than later that's for sure.

Traffic is the worst.  I can't stand it. Seattle is way worse though so I can't complain. Normally it would take 15 minutes from the time I leave my apartment to get to the doors of the Deseret News building. But with traffic, it takes about 30 or even more. I shouldn't complain because half an hour isn't bad at all, but I still don't like being surrounded by a bunch of cars going ridiculously slow. Luckily, my work provides TRAX passes to their employees so I decided to get one, and I have only taken TRAX once but it was the best! Now I get to work in around 20 minutes and don't have to deal with traffic. I would have had to pay $80 a month for a TRAX pass so I am grateful to be able to get it for free!

Light and sound are part of the city life. I live right next to a TRAX stop, so I sometimes hear the TRAX coming by or the railroad crossing poles coming down to allow TRAX to come through. I also hear a train blow it's whistle every so often. And the brightness outside of my window is so bright I can see every item in my room when I turn out the light at night! I need complete darkness when I sleep, so the first couple nights were hard to get use to but now I'm fine. And with my fan blowing and earplugs in place, I never hear the TRAX thank goodness. Once construction is finished at my apartment, it will be twice as bright outside so I will need to do something about that. But for now it's livable.

People are interesting. I'm so use to my small town or Rexburg bubbles, where I am surrounded by normal and LDS people. But people here are quite interesting! I try not to judge most of the time but it is really hard. I'm glad I am in an LDS bubble at work, and can't imagine what it would be like having a normal job in a big city where no one is LDS but me. That time might come someday so I am starting to accept people for who they are and mind my own business. I still walk really, really fast from my apartment to my car or vice versa when it's dark outside. Who knows what someone could do to me when I'm all alone!

Those are some things I have learned so far. I'm learning a lot, especially at work. I already wrote four articles (two on events, one on a book coming out later this month and one on an author of another book), interviewed one person and scheduled two more interviews for next week, and am reading a couple books to prepare for the interviews. I come home and have reading homework! At least the books are fun to read, even though they are long chapter books. I have to say though, seeing my name on articles I've written online or in the daily paper is so worth it! I get so excited. I will be writing a lot about events and books I'm sure, but I will also be writing articles for the Mormon Times which will be way fun.

I spent my first full weekend in Provo with my friend Candice and her friends going on a group date to a haunted house. Actually it was four haunted houses in one. Everyone got creepier and the last one was the worst for me! The part of the haunted house was a hospital, and I was told about a "lobotomy" before I even entered from this creepy chainsaw guy, and I'm already scared to death of needles. A lobotomy is some procedure where they take a needle and stick it through the corner of your eye to your brain... I think? At least that is what the chainsaw guy said to me... I was so creeped out I don't remembered half of what he said. Then we went into the hospital and the lady was like "who is here for a lobotomy?" and all my group looked at me because that is what the guy told me about outside! I was so freaked out! The whole time in the hospital was freaky, and in the other haunted houses I didn't get scared when people popped out at me or touched me, but in here I was grabbing onto my date for dear life and I swear people were popping out so unexpectedly! The worst was when we were in a dark room with white masks hanging everywhere, and so I was like "someone is wearing a white mask and it's going to start moving," but no... the person was in a black mask, came out of nowhere and grabbed my arm and I screamed bloody murder! My date laughed at me so hard, I was so mad! Well not really I can understand that I must look ridiculous being so scared. But yeah, it all started with the needles talk. Thanks a lot creepy chainsaw guy!

Oh and by the way... I stayed out until 1:30 and didn't go to bed until 3:00. HA! Hooray for living a little!

Today after watching conference, my friend Candice and I came back to my place and we met up with our friend Kelcie at the mall. Then we hung out at her place for a little bit afterwards. I hadn't seen both of them in over 2 years because they both went on missions and have recently come back! It has been great to catch up back up with them for sure.

Here are some pictures from the week! The first three are Deseret News related, I'm holding up my first two published articles. The next two are from my group date at the haunted house, and the last one is my hair in a waterfall braid that Candice did to my hair. I was in love with it!

First Day at Deseret News!

I just have to blog about my first day at Deseret News, because it's a day I never want to forget!

Today started out with filling out a bunch of paperwork, getting a security card so I can get anywhere in the building, and setting up my accounts in order to write articles and whatnot. I was even given my own personal computer to work on. An old school Macbook Pro! It still works though so it's better than nothing. I thought it was interesting that I was given a laptop that I can take home with me so I can work on writing articles in case I need to meet a deadline. My last internship I was given a laptop as well, but we were forbidden to take it out of the building. So I thought that was pretty neat!

Right away I was given some writing assignments to work on. One of them I was told to get done in an hour... talk about pressure right away! But I met the deadline, and within a half hour I received this lovely email:

I was so excited! An article I've written gets published my very first day! It had to be published asap because it talks about ticket sales that go out this Wednesday. But still! I was a happy camper seeing my name as the author's name. You can read what I wrote here!

I'll probably be blogging about stories I have written, because that's the life I'm living now! Tomorrow I get to start out the day interviewing and having breakfast with an LDS author named Tamara Johnson. She wrote a book of her true-life story called "31 Dates in 31 Days," and it's all about her experience dating 31 different men in 31 days. And guess what? She ended up marrying the very first guy she went on a date with exactly one year later? I see this story as being a future chick flick for sure! Hopefully we have a good chat and I can write a newsworthy article on her.

I still am amazed how I am where I am right now. I moved to Utah to start this new adventure of mine, not knowing what to expect at all. I had a set plan of what I wanted to do after I graduated college, but it just goes to show that the Lord's plans for you will always prevail over your own! I think I needed a reminder that the Lord loves me and is watching out for me. I should never be worried about what my future holds, because I am being watched out for and as long as I am doing what I am suppose to be doing, I will be blessed.

I'm eager to see what the rest of my internship has in store for me!