Wow it's been a while...

Tiffany, I want to hear no complaints due to lack of pictures!

Sorry it's been so long, once again. I don't have much to say. School started again. I am taking a Spanish class and an English class. The Spanish class seems to be a lot of fun. We have already watched two rated-R movies in the class so I've had to ask for alternate assignments. The teacher has been very understanding with that. I love the class because we speak Spanish the entire time. I love speaking Spanish. It is really getting me excited to go live in Mexico next semester! Speaking of Mexico, we paid the deposit, so it's officially official! Wow I can hardly contain myself some days, I just want to get down there already! In my English class, well, that's another story. I am not a huge fan of reading, but that's what this class does, we read! I bought this book that has about 1000 pages and we are going to read the whole thing--IN EIGHT WEEKS! Wow I'm gonna die. I spent quite a bit of time looking for the books on mp3 this last week. I am a much better listener. I went to Seatlle a couple of weeks ago. It was so much fun! It was a quick trip and probably a stupid thing to do on a nearly twice broken tailbone (5 hours of sitting), but it was so much fun seeing Pablo and James. Megan is such a great girl for Pablo, too. The whole ordeal just made me excited to get married. If only I had a girl for that..... After the actual sealing James and I were just able to walk around downtown Seattle for four hours. It got a little crazy, but it was fun to hang out with him again. We were still dressed from the sealing that morning except we had jackets on. imagine this, two guys, white shirts and ties. People thought we were missionaries! I didni't mind, until one guy asked me to give him some money and then said we must be Mormon missionaries because we aren't giving him anything. How sad. Unfortunetly I didn't have my camera with me, so the following are pictures from James' camera. By the way, James is the former Elder Showley, my MTC companion. Time has progressed nicely. Hard to believe October is nearly over! Onna and I went to the Halloween dance last weekend. I was Santa and she was Mrs. Clause. Unfortunetly, the other guys thought she was "Santa's helper" and still asked her to dance. Sorry Comodor, she's not just a helper! I was a little annoyed at the dance because they played five total slow songs, and the Cupid Shuffle twice. I wish they had played the Cha Cha or Electric, something that Santa could have gotten down to! Oh well, it was fun. My grandma Ensign has been in town for a while. I loved having her here. She is a vessel full of advice and information and experience. I took her back to Charlotte and we chatted the entire way. I ate Jack in the Box following that and it was such a good meal. I wish we had one closer... or maybe I really don't! Finally, the news of the week. I was awoken on Saturday with a text explaining that my beloved Abuela had passed away. It was sad. I put my head down and before having any chance of feelings to set in, my brother called me. We talked for about thirty minutes about memories that we had remembered with grandma. After our call I called Tiffany, we connected with Jen and talked for another thirty minutes. It was a lot of fun just talking it out, feeling the closeness. I cleaned the house to take my mind off of grandma and then had no desire to do any homework. I tried to do other things to take my mind off of it. I went to Adam's soccer game, went to Ethan's 3rd birthday party and then came home. Onna wrote her talk at our house and I fell asleep. Life has been good, nonetheless. I am currently in Boise, Idaho. I don't know the next time I will be here, if ever. It's fun to be around family again. We are all here and I don't know how often this will happen either. I will enjoy it while it lasts. Tonight we had the viewing for grandma and a lot of people came. It was nice to see her, she looked peaceful.

Just a catch-up

First and foremost, let me tell my wonderful sister that I love her and Happy Birthday! You are now 10 years older than me once again. Now that that's out of the way, let me get on with my week. Nothing really happened this week. I just went on with life as normal. I didn't spend a lot of time on the Wii Fit this week, but I did go the whole week without texting. What a crazy thing to do! Me, a person who sends and receives over 200 texts a day, took a week off. It was interesting to see who actually texted me from my friends. Now my family texted me for sure, but they were just trying to tempt me. Those jerks. ;-) I have, however, stayed home from work the last two days. Kyle said it was because my no texting finally caught up to me. Who knows. I didn't twitch all week! During church on Sunday I began to feel very weak and even fell asleep in Elders Quorum! The teacher threw a paper at me to wake me up. I came home and from 2pm all the way to 7am the next morning (with very short breaks) I slept! Wow! And when I did wake up I had the strongest aches in the world. My whole body ached. This scared me because body aches out of the blue mean flu. I can't have the flu. I kept sleeping. On my off day I had no aches but the strongest pain in my throat. I eventually got out around 6pm to take my final papers to school, but even that was a stretch. I wasn't feeling the best but I was determined that I would make it to work the next day. Well, at about 1:30am this morning (Tuesday) I was still up and couldn't manage to get to sleep! I think my body had so much energy that it just wouldn't allow it. I did take Tylenol PM and got to bed around 2:30. I woke at 7:10 and decided that I would miss another day of work. My throat is still KILLING me! To put it in perspective how sick I am, I didn't even see my girlfriend! In other news, my bed broke last night. I laid down in it to go to sleep and the whole thing shot up towards the feet. This isn't the first time it has happened, so I finally investigated (I mean, why not? I had so much energy!). The foot bar had fallen down so the bed was resting on only the middle and head bar. No wonder it shot forward. Well I took the bed apart only to realize that the problem was bigger than that. The Head bar was falling apart due to the added pressure probably and could be out for several days. We don't have several days though, grandma gets to town today and boy am I excited! And finally, in complete other news I wore my new white Crocs to the temple on Saturday for the first time. I got some looks, but two people said that it was a really good idea. One person (possibly jealous) said, "I would think the rubber would make your feet sweat." They were so comfortable! I've been watching a lot of baseball lately. I am really pulling for the Rays, that would be such a Cinderella story. I think that rooting for the Red Sox is dumb and those who do are as well. They have won 2 times in the last 3 years and this would be 3 out of 4. Let others have a chance for crying out loud! Sheesh! I go to Washington this Friday to see my friend Pablo get sealed to his new wife Megan. What a cool site that will be! I'm really excited to go, even if it is such a short trip and will mess me up on sleep. Hopefully there will be plenty of pictures!

Wowsers!

Wow! It's been quite some time, hasn't it? Not too much has been happening in my life lately. As far as school goes, we have three classes left before we start a new term with new classes. It's kind of crazy that we are already finishing school. My class that is supposed to get out at 10:30 we always get out at 10 or 10:10 and so that will be different with a new professor to stay the whole time. In my Social Problems class I got an A on the only paper I have written. He really likes my ideas and my paper. I was pleased with my efforts. My dad thought a little differently. He didn't agree with any of the ideas in my paper. He didn't understand the paper maybe, or just that he doesn't believe what I wrote. Oh well. In my Spanish class I'm rockin it. I love that class because we speak in Spanish. The best part is that there are no tests. They only have papers to write, and I am an okay writer so it translates pretty well. My Spanish teacher said I speak 'phenomenal' for someone who has never lived outside of the country. That was nice to hear. Most of my time has been spent on the Wii Fit. I love that thing. My mom even joined on this week and loves it too. They have agreed to letting me keep it with the big TV!

That's good news when no one else is on the TV!
Work has been a bit stressful. I heard on Monday that Sonoco was planning on cutting some temp workers (which includes me) and I was a bit worried. On Tuesday I was released at noon (which never happens) and I was a little worried the rest of the day as to whether or not I would have to start looking for a job. That afternoon my boss called and just told me to come into work as normal on Wednesday. I came in on Wednesday and it was just weird. I felt like every step I took they were watching and if I sat down for even a minute they would send me home. It was awful. Oh well. On Friday I got in a little argument with one of my co-workers. >
He asked me to help on this rush project, but only after he was done using the machine he was on. I agreed. I finished my assignment and went to do what he asked but he was still on the machine. I began doing my next assignment and was immediately yelled at that I wasn't helping out on this rush project. I then said that my co-worker said to not start until he was done and then he blew up and it was bad. I wanted to leave right then. The rest of the day was nice. I went to lunch with Heber J and then took Onna's car for a spin and washed it. It was awful! The bird poop stains were caked in. Like as if they were a part of the car. I also vacuumed the inside and changed her terrible wipers. She was appreciative. I had a doctors appointment this week to remove the planters wart on my foot. It hurt SO BAD to be injected in my heel. Afterwards the doctor pridefully said, "I think we got it." Well he must have forgotten the over ten times I have gone to him to remove it! It has a mind of its own, but it looks pretty gross! I also had a dental visit. He filled two cavities that I got while on my mission. Two in two years is pretty good if you ask me. We talked a little about Dental School and he said he would help me any way that he could. I was glad about that. The elections are getting pretty crazy. The vice-presidential debate was this week. Sarah Palin did a very good job, and Joe Biden did his normal job. Unfortunately for McCain, it might be too little too late. Say hello to the crappiest plan of all time--Socialized medicine. Kyle and MaryEllen came home this weekend. It's been good to see them, but they've been beating my Wii records! For that purpose I will not leave this house until I retake my livelihood (GLC! for those who have seen Seinfeld). Now this weekend has been fun. We have just been watching General Conference. It's so nice to hear them again. It's a good re energizer! I'm still doing my crazy Sunday schedules. Tonight, in fact, I plan on going to bed at 6:30pm and waking up around 2 or 3 to finish my homework. Good times. Well I got adventurous this week and decided to cook some frijoles de la olla (beans in a pot). Well I started last night and they be rank! They have about tripled in size, and today I plan on refrying them to get them extra good. All I can say is stay away from me when I'm done! Yuck...

Just a quickie!

I don't have a lot of time. Actually, my Spanish Professor just let us out of class a little early to come to the library to study. I am glad for this because I literally have been feeling the heat of having no wiggle room! Life has been a bit crazy. I finally purchased a Wii (or found one to buy finally) and bought a Wii Fit with that and Onna, dad, and I have been enjoying that regularly. It's so crazy to see your balance and how it should be in comparison! I am a little off balance, but not by too much. I am really liking the dance game. It reminds me of Dance Dance Revolution, but we won't tell anyone that I have done that, either! I will start with the normal topics... my mom has been away this week and life is always so much different when she isn't around to baby me. Yes, I admit to it! I have eaten out plenty of times this week and had one very poor experience with Burger King. For those of you who don't know, traditionally Burger King has been my favorite fast food location. The other night I was really craving some Burger King and it was 9:30 and Onna and I went and I pulled in, turned the car off and a Burger King worker stepped out and informed me that I could go through the drive thru. I got back in, puzzled at the time because I could have sworn that the dining room was still open. I pulled around and got my food and saw an hour chart and sure enough, it closes at 10:00! After I got my food (and I made sure I had all of it!) I asked for the number to Burger King and someone in Columbia owns all the Burger Kings in the area and I got their number and plan on calling them to get free food. I veto the Hartsville Burger King, at least. On Thursday night my Sociology teacher decided to play an R-rated movie, Fahrenheit 9/11. I removed myself from the class and emailed him, hoping he would understand. He has yet to reply. I am worried that he will be offended, nevertheless righteousness never was easy. Speaking of that, have I mentioned how much I love working in the temple? It's such a great blessing. I take all my worries and craziness of a stressed life in and I walk out refreshed and rejuvinated. I love being able to go so often. Also, in other news, I have decided not to do any homework on Sundays and have been reaping the benefits. The past two Sundays I have gone to bed early (9pm and 6pm, respectively) and have woken at 2am to do my homework. I feel like my homework gets done easier and with much less distractions (except from my girlfriend who sacrifices to keep me company at the randomest times!) Life is going well, it is very busy, but it is going well. I will add pictures later.

Governor Palin, I really do support you!

I'm as large of a supporter as anyone, but I know when something is funny, and this was simply hilarious! Enjoy to the right for a week or so.

The End of Colorado, the Beginning of Life

Well it has been quite some time since I've had the chance to update everyone on my life, so here it goes, I'll give it a shot. The Saturday I was in Denver we went to Eliches, it's a Six Flags type of theme park, it was a lot of fun. Wait, I'm forgetting something! That Saturday morning was the big day. It was the day of the much-anticipated race. I woke up and laid in bed for about 30 minutes imagining my opponent and picturing my victory. Could I do it? Or would I lose again? These thoughts continually ran through my head. As I descended the stairs all dressed and ready to go Scott asked me, "now?" "oh yeah!" I replied. We actually didn't leave right then. I had to drink my special elixir, four limes pure (with a hint of salt). Jen and Scott were amazed at my concoction. I drank it and began my journey to the park, where we would race. I arrived early and stretched a bit, chatted with the grass, took some practice runs. I noticed the grass looked a little wet. It was. My opponent and I lined up. On your marks, get set, go! We began the race, adrenaline pumping. The only thing I heard at the start of the race was "Oh shoot!" from Scott's mouth. The limes gave me an internal boost and I crossed the finish line milliseconds ahead of my brother in law. I had done it. I won the series! One would assume that this was it, right? Wrong. "Alright, rematch." I was shocked at what I was hearing! Nevertheless, I divulged. The second time, however, Scott had a trick up his sleeve. No, it wasn't Gracen this time; it was a head start. I love you brother. Now, onto Eliches. It was a lot of fun. I love roller coasters. I was glad to have gone with my much more adventurous brother over my possibly less dare devilish. The roller coasters were crazy! They were different than any other ones I had been on. The first one we climbed up about six stories and got in the coaster and it shot us right out of the gate and down a drop and through a loop and then we hit the end of it and the next thing I knew we were going backwards. It was a weird sensation that I am undecided whether or not I like. There was another one like that a little later that was just as weird. The final one we all went on as a family, it was a tubing one where is simulates white water rafting. I like these ones and have had impeccable success in not getting too wet. The success was no different here. Scott, Jen and Gracen got SOAKED, while I was left quite dry. Afterwards Jen and I went to get pedicures (shhh!). It felt pretty dang good! Afterwards I treated her family to Subway. Good times. Sunday was a good, yet hard, day. I found myself in an internal conflict. The converts I had visited on Friday weren't going to go to church and actually were questioning their beliefs again and it really began to stress me out and got me pretty much in a state of despair. I eventually went to Sacrament meeting in one of my old wards I served in. That was a good thing for me. I immediately forgot about all the despair and remembered the joy I had in that ward and all the friends I made. When sacrament meeting ended a flood of people came up and remembered me. They remembered my name even though it had been over six months since I served there. After church I drove to Superior and visited one of my favorite companions, Elder Woodhouse. I love that guy. We just sat and reminisced for about thirty minutes. I hung out with Joel and Isela that night and really enjoyed them and realized how much I love them. I love the Colorado sunsets. Those are what I miss most. Monday I returned home to South Carolina and have been on this work, school, church, girlfriend cycle ever since. It takes some good time management, but I think I'm getting better. Tomorrow Onna and I are going to Charleston to stay with Kyle and MaryEllen. I will let you know how that goes and take pictures.

McDonalds

Before I write a longer response from my vacation to Denver, I must give my props to McDonalds! They are amazing! Today I went to the Denver Airport at 6AM and didn't have time in the morning to eat breakfast. I was planning on getting breakfast at the airport, and I did. It was amazing! I got up in line at the register, told them I wanted a #7, she left to get my food, I swiped my card, she got my orange juice and gave me the reciept. How long do you think that took? 30 seconds! I was so amazed! Their customer service was impecible. I recommend the McDonalds in the DI Airport! I just wish all the other McDonalds would be as quick.

That being said, I ate the McGriddle sandwich. Did you know the bread/bun is actually a pancake?? It tasted so good. I almost got a McMuffin, but was glad that I got the McGriddle instead. go me!

Go McDonalds, you got it right this time! I'm lovin' it.