Is This Real Life?

I got this email yesterday and it got me kind of excited....

That's right! I'm a GRADUATE!!! (almost)

On another note, I love my job! This week has been pretty insane for Tara and the tutoring center! Usually I have about 7 maybe 8 appointments each week, and this week I had 18 appointments! At first I was freaking out about how much I had to work, but then I realized that this is the same amount that I used to work when I was a receptionist, so I should be able to pull it off this one week. I guess I have just been a little spoiled at only working an hour or two a day, I had forgotten how to work long days! But in all honesty I really love my job, helping people finally understand the material that they have been struggling with is so great! Some students have told me that in class I guess someone asked Brother Watson why he makes it so hard, and that the tutor (me) does it so much easier. And then I guess everyone in class was saying how good I was. Basically that just made my whole week! I love that I'm actually helping people! Its so much more rewarding than answering phones! 

Plus, tutoring gets me so excited to go on my mission. I know teaching on the mish will be a little different, since not everyone is just going to be like, "YES I GET IT NOW!"But if I can get a few people to listen to the spirit and know that they know it, that would all be worth it! Sometimes I just think about the people in Indiana right now and I just get so excited at the thought that I will be there teaching them in just a few more months! Man I am so impatient!

Anyway, real life is going just great, and I could not be more happy at where I'm at! As excited as I am for the future, I am really loving life right now! These next three weeks I am determined to live it up and have as much fun as I can before I leave Rexburg forever!!! 

Patience

Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing. When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully. Patience is related to hope and faith—you must wait for the Lord’s promised blessings to be fulfilled. You need patience in your everyday experiences and relationships. You must be patient with all people, yourself included, as you work to overcome faults and weaknesses.

That paragraph was taken right out of Preach my Gospel. I may or may not be really impatient right now to go on my mission! My friend told me I needed to calm down and have more patience, and as much as I hate to admit this, I think he was right. Gosh I hope he doesn't read this post! hahaha...

In other news, the semester is coming to a quick close! I only have three more Monday's left!!! SO EXCITED!!! If I can just survive this crazy week, I think everything will go downhill. There is a test in Epi this week, which means I am tutoring A TON! Every single appointment I have is booked, and I'm thinking I need to add more appointments cuz more people have told me they need to meet with me this week. And Epi is going to end a week early because Brother Watson is leaving town, so that means I won't have to work at all during finals week, which is going to be AWESOME! I will be done with school on Wednesday, July 18th, and have two days to pack, and then on the 20th my parents will fly up and hang out with me until Graduation that night!!! What an exciting week that is going to be!!! Once again, I'm so impatient for it to come! It has been a long three years of school, and I just can't wait to have a little piece of paper proving my smartness to the world! YAY!!!

Dear Life...

Dear Life,
Have I told you lately... that I love you.... But really, you are just so good to me! I don't remember a time when I loved you more! So thanks!!!

Dear Stupid Shirt that I'm Sewing,
I have told you lately how much I dislike you! The worst thing ever was spending two hours in the lab Tuesday, just to come in Wednesday and redo everything I did on Tuesday... and then to top it off was today when I spent 40 minutes sewing on a sleeve that was inside out. That was just great, NOT!

Dear Nutrition Book,
I'm not sure why I left you home today, think of all the homework I could have gotten done if only I had brought you on campus today. Now I'm gonna have to do homework tonight at home. Yuck!

Dear July 20th,
You are a day that I have been looking forward to since, well about September 10, 2009 (My first day of school!) Everything I have been doing for the past three years leads up to you, and I just can't wait to get my cap and gown on and finally say that I'm done!!!

Dear Kiwi Loco,
Am I hearing correctly, because I'm pretty sure you have been calling my name all day... maybe I just might have to pay you a visit on my way to Wally World tonight! Or not go to Walmart and have Kiwi Loco deliver!!!

Dear Rexburg Friends,
It has just recently hit me that I'm moving away from Rexburg in a month. This tiny town in Idaho is all I've known for the past three years, and I'm really sad to be moving away from it and from you!
(Yes, that means you Crystal Kearly!)

Dear iCalendar,
I'm pretty sure you are the greatest thing that has ever entered my life. I used to write everything down in a planner and had to carry it around with me everywhere I went, and since I already do carry around my Mac everywhere I go, having my planner/calendar on my laptop has been the best thing ever!

Dear Readers,
Sorry I'm so weird...

I love to blog!

First I want to start this blog by pointing out that one of the weirdest words there is is blog... just think about it. Kinda weird. Blog.

Anyway, I know I just wrote a blog yesterday night (I said that on the trip and my dad kept laughing about this.... apparently most people say last night, but not I, I say yesterday night!) but I decided to write another one right now. Today was supposed to be a horrible day. I was anticipating the beginning of a H-E-Double Hockey Sticks week (if ya know what I mean). Missing a whole week of school is supposed to be harder than this! But I got back yesterday, caught up on some homework, and felt a little at ease when I left this morning. First thing I did today was take a test. I missed three classes of lecture, so you think I wouldn't do too hot on the test, turnes out I got an 88!!! I would say thats pretty sweet for having just gotten back from Cali! Then I went to my classes and felt pretty good about where I was. A huge assignment that I thought was going to be due today has been pushed back til Friday, which means I will probably do it Thursday! Haha, no but really, that was a huge relief, and now I have a chance to meet with my teacher and go over it before I turn it in! So thats awesome. Also Econ actually kind of made sense today! There was calculus involved and I just love calculus!!! (that wasn't sarcastic either... I'm kinda a weirdy when it comes to Calc!) Then to make the day even better, Bri and I had Costa Vida! Now I'm just kicking it in my apartment for another hour until I tutor at 5, and then FHE tonight... and then after that who knows! I'm really not that far behind in hw, and I will have to stay late tomorrow to do some sewing, but thats not too bad! I am just really happy at the way today turned out to be, and felt like the whole entire world (or all 3 of you that read this blog) should know how great of a day it was!

On a side note, the semester is coming to a close soon. Its still 5 weeks away, but I know its going to fly by! I was reading all about graduation information today and its getting me so pumped, but so sad at the same time. College has been the best three years of my life, I really don't want it to end! (I want classes to end, but college experience to not end...) Also I made a goal at the beginning of the semester that still has yet to happen. I still have 5 weeks, but I'm thinking at this point it probably won't happen, so thats kinda a sad day. But oh well... what are you gonna do! (Maybe make more realistic goals!)

To close... Blog is a weird word. Today was supposed to be bad, but it wasn't. Only 3 people read my blog. I love college but am excited to be done with classes. I didn't get something I wanted. Until next time blog world....

T

Doesn't Matter If You Win or Lose....

This past week I had the opportunity to ditch out on a week of my college classes and spend the week with my favorite family in Southern California! And let me tell you, it was very much needed! Two Fridays ago I flew home and then Saturday Keri, my mom and dad and I all drove over to the Welk Resort... which if you may remember from previous posts, is one of my favorite places in the world! I just love Escondido! Its like a home away from home, luxury style!!! But the best part of this vacation wasn't that it was in my favorite timeshare, or that the weather was fantastic, or that we went to Disneyland for three days.... the best part was being with my whole family! Kyle and Natalee came up on Sunday, we met up with Angell and Sean on Monday night, and on Wednesday Ty joined us at the parks! We haven't all been together since Christmas 2010, so it was really fun to be all together! Plus I got to spend all week being Aunt Tara, which just happens to be my favorite Tara there is! Much more fun than being Student Tara, or Tutor Tara, or just plain ol regular Tara. Being Aunt Tara is so fun! There was one morning where I was going to go to the spa and get a pedicure, but rather I watched Disney Jr. with Anika and Avery and just played with Brinley! Then when Abby came up I played with her too! My nieces are JUST SO CUTE!

That was the best week ever! The weirdest part was that now that its over, I don't know when I'm going to see some of them again. Kyle and I said our goodbye... (think of Dumb and Dumber when Lloyd hugs Mary and says, "I HATE GOODBYES") I had a strage flashback to 6 years ago when I was saying goodbye to him before his mission. Now he is saying goodbye to me for my mission... weird!

Now that I'm home I'm a little stressed with everything that needs to get done before I graduate. And then as soon as I graduate I have a ton of things to do before my mission... Its weird how fast life goes. (That was so deep)...

Anyway, some highlights from the trip and then maybe some pictures:

• While playing cards on the first day, Keri was sad because she was losing. So my mom reminds Keri... "Its doesn't matter if you win or lose..." which should have been followed by "as long as your having fun"... but in my family its followed by, "as long as you beat Tara!" So the rest of the week references were made to the new Family Motto, JUST BEAT TARA!!! Thats a self-esteem boost for sure!!!
• Wednesday night the whole family was together for the first time, and we watched the World of Colors at California Adventures. That was by far the coolest thing I have seen in my whole life!!!
• Friday we had lunch at Ariels Grotto, and the princesses came and met us before we had our meal. Kyle asked why I wasn't getting my pictures with them... I had to remind him that I was 20!
• Brian Regan DVDs! Need I say more! 
• Space Mountain x 4, Indiana Jones x 4, California Screaming x 3... and many, many more rides!

Hahahahahahahahaha

Tonight I got to go see Bill Cosby!!! Basically, it was the funniest thing I have ever seen! First thing he does is comment on how he has never had a prayer given before one of his shows, especially when there isn't even food! I don't think he thinks us mormons are very smart... Let me set up something for you in your mind.... His entire act was about men and women and how women basically control everything and men are just kinda there. He started with Adam and Eve. Sometimes he would stop talking and wait for us to finish the sentence for him, so he starts talking about a tree that Adam and Eve were asked not to eat. He goes, "And they were not to eat from the tree of...." and thats when the majority of the audience says, "LIFE." Yes, the tree of life from Lehi's dream is now in the garden of Eden... Of course Bill Cosby didn't know what the tree of life was, and he just looked at us like we were all idiots. He told everyone who said life to stay after the show and read the Bible so they knew what the tree was called! Once we got it cleared up that it was the tree of knowledge... we went on! But then he was talking about when Adam had to name everything, and when he saw his helpmeet, he named her.... and all of us yelled "EVE!" That was the wrong answer too!!! The correct answer was Women. Wow, we kinda stink as an audience! And then there was time when we thought he was pausing to let us finish the joke, but really he was just taking a while to get to the punch line (he's kinda old you know)... when everyone said the punchline before him, he told us to shut up and that he wanted to say it... then he paused again, and said the same thing we had just said! Oh man... the comedy was just fantastic! I was laughing basically nonstop for 2 hours. Even before he started talking I just looked at this old man and started to laugh! I just loved it! I wish I could re-tell all of his jokes, but there were too many and it would just not be the same... If any of you get the chance to see him live, you should do it! He is so hilarious I could hardly stand it!

In other news, tomorrow I have one tutoring appointment, and one class, and then I'm free for a whole week! CALIFORNIA HERE I COME!!! WOOT WOOT!!!!