Thriller! Oh, How This Does My Heart Some Good.

Why yes, that's Katherine and I.
Why yes, that is my Stats Practice Final.
Why yes, it is projected behind us for me to study...
The Varsity Theatre.
Finals Week Fall 2011.

Christmas Delight #4

Messiah Sing-A-Long.

I had never heard of such a thing. Until Katherine threatened me several weeks ago that we ABSOLUTELY HAD TO GO--NO MATTER HOW BUSY WE WERE WITH FINALS. She said that her family has been going for years and that she even owns her own copy of Handel's Messiah. So Monday night, we skipped FHE once again (such delinquents we are) and loaded up in Danger my Ranger with multiple old-copies of the Messiah "borrowed" from the BYU Music Library (we even picked up the copies after hours--Katherine has connections)and drove to the Orem Library. Where we stood and watched 4 Opera singers walk out in front of a half-orchestra and sing their solos-which were amazing-and then when we got to the Chorus parts, everybody sang and sang and sang and sang. It was simply glorious. A wonderful night indeed. I finished it off by driving home the 'scenic route' even though I didn't quite know where I was; I knew that we could see more Christmas lights on houses if we took back roads rather than State Street back to Provo. It was a fun adventure and so. much. fun.

GAH!

Lately:

-Working for the HC office part-time, which is taking all my good study time. But I've finally been able to get the hang of things; beginning to be my sarcastic self with the co-workers.

-Trying to motivate myself to not fall asleep while studying for finals. Thus making Katherine and I get off of our beds (bad place to study at 11pm at night) to get on the floor and do sit-ups.

-Trying to enjoy finals week, one of my favorite weeks during the semester because 1) you have no classes to attend 2) after each test you take, your stress level and focusing ability decreases in huge proportions 3) studying in random rooms on campus is different and more fun than the HBLL so I can use all the classroom resources (projector, sound system, smart board, lazers, white boards, talking aloud, etc) Side note: On Monday, Katherine and I studied in the Varsity Theatre for 5 hours. We had the room rented. Background music was awesome and loud! It was a party.

-2 finals down and 2 to go--less than 24 hours :/ the only hope I'm running on right now is that tomorrow at this time I'll be headed to the airport to go home

-Packing because Mont's Management is dumb and won't switch my contract from 1 to 5 so I might have to move and it's just a whole, huge mess so I'll just keep it to myself and the roommates

-I feel gross. After taking really fun Aerobics and Jogging classes everyday I haven't been eating as normal things/at normal times and I haven't gone running in a week! Bleh, bleh, bleh! And I need to do laundry. And pack. Or pack my dirty laundry...

-I can't forget to sell my books back. Then buy some Christmas goods for the family while Bookstore is on sale. And do Rocky Mountain Recap. And Visit Teach? Oh, and cleaning checks.

-OH! And then party with the roommates tonight by watching Singing In The Rain, White Christmas, and Muppet Christmas Carol (definitely, falling asleep in this one).

Well, I'm off to work my heart out. Time to see if they stars will align for me to get everything done and finished!

Christmas Delight #3

The week before Thanksgiving our Monticello Ward had Service Week. My calling right now is Service Co-Chair, so I had spent a lot of time preparing with my assistant Co-chair, Aaron. The week was amazing. Man Monday. Turtle Tuesday (roommates). Woman Wednesday. Thankful Thursday (bishopric). Friend Friday. Stranger Saturday. Serviceman Sunday. I made this awesome banner that we hung between the balconies of the boys and girls apartment building in the fishbowl. And we had sticker charts for each apartment for people to fill out. We decided that if the entire apartment did service everyday and filled out their chart, our committee would serve them before the end of the semester. I was so excited for our Service Week and made it a point to serve everyday. It was such a joy for me to see service going on everywhere throughout the week. I know a lot of apartments didn't finish their sticker chart, but it was powerful to see through the fishbowl, different visiting teachers, friends, FHE friends, home teachers all getting served by each other. The fishbowl is quite transparent, between our super small sidewalk barely separating our buildings, and the massive windows/sliding glass doors to the balconies, you can basically see what your neighbors across the way are up too, especially when people were serving each other. I love this Ward. By Stranger Saturday, I still didn't have set plans for Thanksgiving. That's when John surprised me with a ticket home to see the beloved parents. Which meant that I would miss our Social Sunday where we planned to write letters to the Serviceman. I felt really lame leaving Aaron by himself to hit off a Sunday evening Ward Social. But today, in our Committe meeting, he stopped by and gave me all the letters my Ward had wrote to the serviceman at this activity. Jim's planning on giving me an address to send to a unit in Afghanistan. I wasn't quite feeling a Sunday nap earlier today, so when the roomies were dozing, I sat myself down and began reading these letters. It didn't take very long for me to get teary-eyed and feeling my heart just begin to swell and swell.

On one side I have this really amazing and special student Ward who I love and on the other side I have a love for these random serviceman who are going to get these letters. I love America. My family has always been patriotic, probably because of the military's influence in my Dad and brother's careers, and the fact that my parents have always shown a respect to what our America's history, values, and general spirit has been. Add some country music to my childhood where I adored any patriotic songs that came from my favorite country singers and I began to also find a love for this country of mine. When John was 18 he enlisted in the National Guard and went to Boot Camp. I remember him telling me that the people you would expect [I would expect as a teenager] to be a part of the Army would be different than whom he came into contact with--the many orphaned, high-school drop outs, messed-up-pasts type of folk. Then Jim was deployed and when he got back, I've heard little bits of snid-bits of information of what it was like for him and his soldiers to be away from their homeland. Comparably similar in circumstances to LDS missions, but also extremely different in numerous ways. So I day-dreamed it up with this a semi-supposed idea of what it might possibly be like to get random letters from a random group of Molly Mormons and Peter Priesthoods, if the most of my life had been screwed over. Which might under some circumstances be a little weird to read. But reading so much gratitude, hope, and love that came from individuals in my Ward who I know and already love was so inspiring. The Spirit basically popped out of these letters that I was reading in my little apartment in Provo, Utah and touched me because I knew, they were going to touch others who needed it. They spoke of truth. Sometimes very blatant truth about the Savior or scripture or America. Ha, especially the little premie who left a Chuck Norris joke: Super herose have Chuck Norris on their PJs, but Chuck Norris has solders on his PJs.

I think the people who are veterans of war become heroic because (hopefully) the gratitude and appreciation they receive from people who have no need to necessarily give it touches them to realize that what they're doing is something important and of value for the one. It's all about giving charity to the one. Whether it's through one letter written from one person, or one soldier who puts his life out on the line for a battle buddy or another human being from a different culture, or the charity of doing the temple work for 'the one'. And of course, receiving the blessing of being the one who receives the blessings of the Atonement. I am one of the many 'ones' that the Savior was born for, lived for, then Atoned for, and died for. ALL because he understood the love for the one.

Christmas Delight #2

Several weeks ago, I came home to dinner group (one of the roommates was cooking that night) and the roommates said they had a BIG surprise for me. I was pretty excited and anxious, since everyone likes a good surprise. I was handed an envelope and I immediately knew what it was and began to exclaim, sigh, shout, rejoice, call it watch you will. . . Katherine got tickets to the 2011 First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I love going to Temple Square and I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir even more than that (I'm a MOTAB Sunday music addict) and I love even more listening to the Orchestra at Temple Square (my dream career job if I ever find myself in Utah when I'm older) accompany the Choir, and I love even more listening to our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson. Ever since I was a Freshman and won/randomly selected tickets to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with famous Brian Stokes Mitchell and we took off to drive to Salt Lake for the show and ran into traffic. It was tragic for my 18-year-0ld mind to miss the show that night. When we finally made it downtown, construction made parking out of the question and I just remember seeing the minutes switch by on the dashboard feeling more and more hollow and sad. The time passed for us to have been 'seated' and then for the show to start. We finally decided to just head back up to Provo. I silently cried the entire way home from Salt Lake from Provo. I was devastated. Every year since then I have requested tickets for me and everyone in my family to try and increase my odds to go to either the MOTAB Christmas Concert or 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional. When Katherine go the tickets, I knew she would take me. Otherwise, well...let's not go to what I would have done if she hadn't. My night was so much fun with the roommates and ward friends. We made crepes to eat on the way, drove to Sandy, took the tracks to downtown SLC, had AMAZING seats in the Conference Center, heard amazing Christmas arrangements by MOTAB with the Orchestra, and powerful messages from the First Presidency. Afterwards, we took a walk around the Square to look at the detailed lights and nativities from around the world. A cold, fun night. One of those nights where nothing could wipe the grin off my face!

Michael Buble! Cold December Night.

This song has pretty much been playing non-stop between Whitney and I. I've probably listened to it a couple hundred times by now. Unlike Justin Bieber's "Little Drummer Boy", which is horrible (we could only get through the whole song a few times) I WILL not be posting that song, but feel free to listen to it for the experience and read the lyrics if you want to know a little more about Chinchillas and have a really good laugh. It gets even more catchy the more you listen to it. This song does, NOT Justin Bieber. I'm beginning to branch out though and love Michael Buble's entire Christmas Album. Definitely a highlight to this Christmas season. Christmas wouldn't be the same without Christmas music now would it? Nope, not one bit at all!

(Especially when you're a college student who doesn't have time to take part in Christmas movies...yet!)

Blog Spoilers: Coming To Your Blogger News Feed Soon!

I'm a bit behind on my whole 30 day blog challenge. Of course, I'm tempted to play catch-up; but I've been trying to do the whole good, better, and best thing this time of the year (recommended from good'ol Pres. Dieter). I think I just might have the good vs. better thing down. Like giving up blogging for a few days to do other forms of procrastination before I really get started with stuff. Which is why I probably do not have the "best" part down. Tomorrow's the last day of classes, yay! I've been busy with the final assignments of the semester. See? I copied my Gmail To Do List below:

	Call for Seminary
	Take Jogging Exam
	Take Aerobics Exam
	Write Family Life Analysis Paper
	Stats Quiz
	Special Stats Quiz for Ex.Credit
	Student Ratings
	Seminary Paper
	Write Scripture Journal
	English Presentation

As you can probably tell, I still have a 5-paged-paper about Jesus to do by tomorrow morning for my AMAZING Intro to Seminary Teaching Class which is the BEST RELIGION CLASS EVER. I wish it was mandatory to take because I think everyone should take it. Which is why Katherine is signed up for it next semester. :D And I should be writing this paper right now. But I'm extremely tired from sleep-deprivation from getting #4 checked off and #9 checked off. I'm actually suppose to be napping right now. Instead, I'm thinking of what I would write if I had the time to blog. Since lately, I've been in a bloggy mood. Enjoy the spoilers!

	Spoilers
	Day 17 How You Hope Your Future Will Be Like
	Cold December Night
	You Have Agency!
	RIP Duke Turk (Eulogy)
	A World Without Mirrors.
	Christmas Delight #2
	Honor the Code
	It's That Time Of The Year...
	I'm In Denial--I'm A Band Nerd.
	Pictures For Mom and Bales

Something I Crave A Lot.

Would be a
hug
If you know me,
you know then that I absolutely love giving hugs
and receiving them.
I am what you would call,
a hugger
:D

Something I Never Leave The House Without. . .

I wish I could say something cool, like I never leave my house without a prayer, but I'm not that perfect yet. And the reality comes that if you know me, you know I'm notorious for leaving my cell phone or my jacket or shoes or keys or the reason for why I'm leaving my apartment when I do leave my sweet home. However, after having to train myself to pray not to break or lose anything (or forget to bring something) I have dramatically improved at remembering/handling my items with greater care. (Thank goodness).

The moral of all this is that I can't think of anything that I never leave the house without.

A TV Show I'm Currently Addicted To:

Once Upon A Time is on ABC on Sundays so I usually can catch it on Hulu or ABC.com the next day. This is the shows first season and it's a bit cheesy, but I still watch it. I love how the show classifies all fairy tale characters in our world. And Prince Charming is quite charming. . .I think it's very appropriate for young teenagers girls and their mom. Watch it. You're only 5 episodes behind!

Why Beckanisms?

I created the name of my blog title. All my life I have had people play around with my name to make nicknames--but I decided when I got a blog several years ago that I wanted to share my thoughts on anything. Thus,

Beck + -isms = Beck(an)isms

And I loved the quote, "Never suppress a general thought." It keeps following me around showing up in lessons, challenges, talks and has become a favorite. I hope to always be positive--although, I'm human. :)

Christmas Delight #1

Utah Valley Bell Choir

Free concert at the Provo Library tonight.

I have always wanted to go to watch a Bell Choir. Actually, one day to be IN a Bell Choir. I think it is so, so cool! I was ecstatic when I found out about this opportunity and it didn't let me down. Babies were everywhere. Children were really funny. Music was fun! And I got to sit on a window sill even to listen because there were no seats available. An excellent start for Christmas and my desire to do a lot of delightful things and FHE.

When My iPod (Erwin) Is On Shuffle The First 10 Songs To Play

1. The Lord's Prayer--Mormon Tabernacle Choir

2. Lullaby--Jack Johnson

3. Turn Me On--Vitamin C [I didn't even know Vitamin C was on my iPod...]

4. Ain't No Sunshine--Vocal Point

5. Upside Down--Jack Johnson

6. Vanilla Twilight--Owl City

7. King of Anything--Sara Bareilles

8. Elder L. Tom Perry--April 2011 General Conference

9. Good Life--One Republic

10. Brown Eyes--Andy Davis

What's In The Make-Up Bag?

This is dumb. But let me go and grab it...I still haven't put on my make-up yet today, so this will just get me one step closer to finishing the morning.

-2hair-bands

-2 things of eye-shadow

-eye-lash curler

-complexion-touch top thing

-old mascara

-really thick mascara

-2 eye-liners

-tweezers

-eye-lash brushes

-2 silly bandz (an alien and space ship)

My Favorite Place To Eat Would Be. . .

Yoder's Restaurant and Bakery

In Montezuma, Georgia (about 45 minutes away from Byron) there lies a ton of agriculture and a couple of blocks of land with the name "Yoder's" everywhere. A Mennonite dwelling, community, homestead, etc. Anyway, the Bakery here is to die for...mmm mmm mmm their Cherry Pie. And their food is SO GOOD.

The building you see (that looks like a Barn) is where you eat the food. There's amazing wood-work on the front porch to sit and rock with the folk. And on the left of that building, there's this side-door with a Bakery of really cheap homemade everything bakery! The semi-barn you see at the very left of the photo is this awesome Gift Shop. They sell really pretty Gazebo's out in front and inside there's homemade knick-nacks that are really cool. I would recommend it to everyone--the drive is long--but really pretty!

The Last Thing I Purchased:

They were on sale, $3.97 at WallyWorld. And since they're going to be taken off the buyer's market come the new year and released every 7 years--I decided it was an essential purchase for my future home. Maybe Santa will get me the last two to finish off the set?

Shanksgiving!

On Wednesday, the 30-day writing challenge thing said I should talk about my wedding. Not happening, since I"m unmarried and I'd rather leave the wedding dreams to reality and my mother's ears. Then yesterday was Shanksgiving! And I was suppose to put up a song that matched my mood?! Umm, probably Simple Things by Jim Brickman. An old favorite. I use to listen to on repeat when I was reallllllyyyyyy little while I bathed in my mom/dad's bathtub. Since we all know parent's bathtubs are more ideal then the 'kid's bath'. She always kept some musical-playing-device in the bathroom as she got ready and I think I was obsessed with the song. Anyway, we had a great day. When I'm home on vacation--life slows down A LOT (more details coming about the empty nesters in another post). Maybe it's the South. Or the lack of things to do, places to be, homework assignments to be written, but I usually end up sleeping, reading, watching movies, occasionally talking to the parents, following Macey around and bothering her and then starting over. It's quite refreshing anyways. But I decided that I was grateful specifically for the simple things: to be home, doing my own thing, not being too productive, helping mom in the kitchen, sleeping in, catching 5 minutes of Macey's Parade to watch Santa come, and yes, even having a holster attached to my hip with my dad making me practice dry firing the pistol, or going to spend Thanksgiving with the Peterson's. There's just a simplicity of the way of life that the men--non-nonchalantly watch football; the woman in the kitchen trying to finish the cooking, keeping things warm, breaking kitchen appliances, keeping 'ze babies out of the way, and hoping it all tastes good and no disasters really happen. And then the simplicity of toddlers. Grant and Blake are so cute. It was fun to actually spend time with them too--trying to understand Blake and do things "again, again". I loved the simple things of the quiet evening--watching Jane Eyre, the 4-hour one, upstairs with Mom 'til the late evening hours, just like old times. And then me finishing the poorly-written but decent book I was casually intrigued in reading. I'm grateful to be home.

Meet Goat Face: The Animal I Would Keep As A Pet If Macey Wasn't Around.

Edumacation:

Get one! I am.

It's the thing to do.

If you ever really want to

Hear my thoughts on the subject

Ask me in person, okay?

And I"ll tell you.

Shanks!

Notice the perfect bell curve? Can you tell I'm taking Statistics right now?

The Retired Couple And Their Dog.

I lived the retired life for a week! John gave up his precious Skymiles to send me as a peace offering to Georgia for the week of Thanksgiving because he backed out of his flight and Thanksgiving plans with my parents. I am pretty spoiled by my brothers. So I found out that I had a ticket and then left 12 hours later from Salt Lake. Thank goodness I have awesome friends who took me and picked me up from the airport. It was great surprising my Mom and Dad though! I've always wanted to surprise somebody by showing up and it was well worth their happy surprised faces to see their favorite child home! For a week! And I get to go home in 3 weeks! S.P.O.I.L.E.D.

Anyways, I immediately began noticing that things were different than when I originally left for college and left them as empty nesters.

I moved to Georgia with Mom and Dad, I spent 4 years with just me and them at the dinner table, Church, movies, FHE, scripture study, prayer. I am SO glad I convinced them to let me keep Macey my Junior year. It was so fun to be there for her puppy puppy years and then leave her to still be a stinker-pot (as Mom calls her) for my parents to adjust to life without me. And Macey has just waltzed right in to be a huge part of my parents routine. It's really quite adorable. And now--going on 3 years of me being away--I can tell that the parents have finally gotten into the routine of being around each other ALL THE TIME and doing their retired such activities/new hobbies:

-Morning walks (sometimes together) with Macey

-Macey's restlessness til Dad plays this game where he throws treats down either way of the hallway for her to go and fetch Help in the kitchen. Then her daily mid-morning nap on various rugs/parents room. Lunch time stroll through the house to see what's up and if she can see any bunny rabbits in the front yard from the windows to bark at, afternoon in the backyard soaking up the sunshine, coming in to be let out of the house without her leash to get the mail with Mom--pretty exciting for her, then off to beg for attention and play, and follows the parents around at dinner, and then off to lay in the bedroom soft carpet for evening naps.

-Mom cooks breakfast, lunch, and dinner

-Dad drives the kids to school (he's a bus driver! LOVE IT.)

-Mom reads, sews, plays the piano, cleans, Blogs (that's new)

-Dad still maintains his many hobbies which have expanded with the use of the internet and time. (hunting, maintaining his dutch ovens, guns, food storage, a form of blogging with others who believe its the end of the world (AVOW), listen to talk radio FAITHFULLY at 12 noon with every radio in the house blaring, and every Monday he's gone as a County volunteer firefighter!!! And going to the County Political Meetings and lunch meeting every Wednesday.

-Mom loves her TV Shows, which I miss watching with her in the evenings, and Dad still goes to bed quite early.

Of course when I'm home we change a few things due to us rubbing off on each other. But life slowed down A WHOLE LOT, when I was home. It felt so familiar. Funny how much life changes within a few short years but when you step back into the old lifestyle it all comes back deja vu with familiarity sensors going wild. But that's for another post.

The Best (Girl) Friends.

This question: "Whose Your Best Friend?"--I dislike. Everyone knows that you can have more than one bestie--basically. And that family and boyfriends and roommates (generally) at the time usually trump the other friends. Best friends become the "best" for different reasons. And when we're really close they move in and out of the bestie category. But I just decided to take the names that first couple of friends I am closest too right now who I am grateful to be me because they are in my life. They're the friends that I hope we stay in contact; if not, then I'll use my stalker skills to hunt them down. Rather than showing you how I remember them, I decided to show how they're all different and unique by showing you their current Facebook profile as of right now:

Emily Watts

Lovingly referred to as:

Emiline

Em wins the loyalty award because we have been friends since the beginning. Like Washington beginning. Like 1st mormon friend. We became friends through the years of awkwardness, HUGE changes (moving to Georgia and Utah for us both), and we have always stayed close. We just know each other. We're different--but we've grown so much. But I absolutely know I wouldn't have had half the experiences I have had without her. She's the one who is NOT the morning person but will wake up early to drive me to the airport or stay up all night editing my paper. Selfless, she wouldn't think it--but she is and she has taught me a lot about it. I know we'll always be friends. We can be friends at a distance or I can live right above her; we can go months without talking if we're living states away and then spend summers together--it doesn't matter--we just pick up where we left off. I love Em for her care-free, optimistic mood in life. No matter what, she's there for me. And her clothes. :)

Megan Wright

Lovingly referred to as:

Sunshine

I wouldn't have transitioned to Georgia very well, or at all, if it wasn't for Megan. I loathe this girl! (Inside joke) Megan is a sister. We shared High School together. Peach County. She is The Southern Girl who got me to talk with an accent, wear pearls, have Vera Bradly, straighten my hair, dress up every Thursday, love window-down-driving-country-music blaring, love a good tan, and we respect each other and our beliefs. Megan is Baptist; I'm Mormon. People told her she couldn't be my friend. But we proved them wrong! I know we'll be at each other's weddings and will always have that connection. After all, those years in High School learning about life, gaining independence, breaking ups, and countless sleep-overs just bond people together. It did for us.

Baylee Martz Haynie

Lovingly referred to as:

Bales

Meet Bales. Gah! I love that this was her photo (although her wedding and engagement photos are GORGEOUS). But, this photo shows Baylee. The Baylee who loves Marching Band and is madly in love with our Drum Major. We met as Freshman at BYU and spent 2 wonderful years together. She taught me how to be Relief Society President, knows way to much about a lot of boys--probably because she asks and then just listens--and I"ll recount the same story after story of boys I currently like. We bonded at 6:30am in the snow in COLLEGE. I love her so much until we became roommates and inseparable 'til she met 'ol-man-Jared, her husband. They fell madly in love and I was lucky enough to see it all happen. I think I"m one of the luckiest people alive to have lived with Baylee my Sophomore year, and spend as much time as I did during her short single years because I got see her change. She claims she's no good with change--but she's better than ANYONE I know. Which is why she's going to be such a great mother. She does everything before me, and then humbly teaches me how to do it! I HOPE beyond hope, we always stay in at least phone-call-friendship; she's a special one.

Natalie Hodges

Lovingly referred to as:

Natty

Oh, how I love Natty. Basically this picture sums her up! THE END. Haha, but seriously. Pictures speak 1,000 words. Natalie is one of the most talented, righteous, optimistic, color-yellow, best-pruners, best EFY-er's, best piccolo-sitter-next-to-at football games, and overall just a GREAT person. I'm so curious to see who she marries. She has no fear and can laugh with anyone--definitely a spiritual gift. Natalie and I met in BYUs Marching Band Freshman Year, pruned together on our work crew last year, and were roommates in Rexburg this summer at EFY. I miss her like crazy, even though I see her 3-4 times a week. I'm always down to having a good conversation with her.

Katherine Steinacker

Lovingly referred to as:

Stinker-pickle or PleaseSlapMyButt or WigWam Lover or RSP or Dragonfly or My Current Roommate or Chill Dog

She's going to hate me, but I had to save the best for last right? I LOVE Katherine (she's on the left). She's so chill that sometimes I see how long it will take her to snap at me. Usually, it's at the end of the day, right after dozing on some books, and I do something to really get her and then BAM! She yells or throws something and I'm just ecstatic inside. Immature of me, I know. But for some reason, she brings that out of me. I hope for and dread the day Katherine gets married. I love being her roommate. She's the first roomie I have ever gotten into long discussions at night with and NOT fallen asleep first. She's super chill and just a down-to-earth, realistic person. She just DOES when a thought comes in and has opinions, but doesn't get over-heated at them at all. Most of the time, she listens and tunes me out. But I absolutely love the days that she opens her mouth and then just doesn't shut it. I could listen to her forever, and she has an awesome laugh. And she loves sports like Sis. Watts (that's saying something). And I love being with her all the time. I love her clothes. And I love that I know she's doing what the Lords wants her to do--be with me.

And and and and and

I miss her!

(And you better comment Katherine, because you always stalk this blog but NEVER do!)