Todd ... Jeff Probst?

Todd has asked for a 'Jeff Probst shirt' for the past couple of gift-giving events. We weren't really sure what he met, but for his 17th birthday we happened upon it! Let me just say it was really a great find! After we gave it to him, we just wanted to check how close we were to the actual Jeff Probst ....

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Pretty PERFECT huh?

Brandin' the Calves!

Today, I knew I was home. We went out to brand some of my grandpa's calves! It was a pretty good morning and we got a lot of calves branded, banded (for those that know what that is ... there are no pictures!), and ear-tagged! Its quite an adventure and I'm pretty sure one that not many people get to undertake! So I've documented the ENTIRE EXPERIENCE for you ---- PLEASE BE WARNED. As many of you know there is a Adult Content Warning to get in here, but my warning for this post is that this one may not be suitable for animal-lovers. It's a little graphic if you've never seen it before!

I've followed this little cow through the process -- I've named her May-belle!

Step 1: Divide the cows! This actually turned out to be a little bit of a challenge because my grandpa had less than medicore help -- Todd and myself --- so there was quite the learning curve. There was also a difference of opinion between the farmer of more than 50 years and my dad so that took a few minutes to correct as well!

Step 2: Load the cows into the shoot! This was mostly Todd's job, and he was kicked a couple of times by some the feisty cows! He toughed it out though, and ended up being a big help!

Step 3: Vaccinate! My dad tried to pass this job off to me, but I refused. I know that's terrible, but just the thought of sticking a needle into the cow was too much! I'm okay watching all this, but actually doing it was an ENTIRELY different thing! So I settled for filling the syringe, and made my dad do the sticking the needle in part.

Step 4: Notch off the ears. I'm not sure why this is done, but it is done. And it's gross. I did learn however that I have nail polish that EXACTLY matches cows blood... if anybody's interested! My dad did this part as well.

Step 5: Banding ... You do this to make little boy cows ... little it cows. I did not take any pictures of the de-manning of the cows however so I'll let you use your imagination!

Step 6: BRANDING! This part is pretty terrible, but necessary to make sure your cows stay your cows even if they're lost or anything. It involves taking a hot piece of metal and sticking it on the side of the cow and searing the brand onto their skin. It smells terrible, and must hurt even more. I'm not such a fan of watching, but it has to be done. Todd would hold the front leg to prevent it from kicking(?) and my dad would do the branding. The worst part is when they move around and have to be stuck a couple of times to make sure the brand is really put on.

The final product:

Step 7: FREEDOM! We release the cows to their mommas and comfort! A few were pretty dazed but little May-belle just ran as fast as she could!

A few memorable side stories. Todd was not a fan of the feisty cows. There was one cow in particular that Todd disliked. His quote about the cow: "It kicked me, it head-butted me, and then it crapped on the table." It was very funny how he said it.

My dad was angry when Todd and I accidently let a cow escape (although how we were supposed to stop it when we looked over just in time to see its little legs kick through the fence I'm not real sure). So instead of waiting till we were done with everything else he just went after the cow. He was walking real slowly up to the calf as it was nursing. Then he lunged for the cow out of NO WHERE! He grabbed for it and came up with the calf's back leg, he then preceded to drag the calf the 100 yards back to the coral. The momma cow followed almost the whole way; she seemed pretty upset. It was really sad to watch... I didn't like that part at all.

Please note the conquered cows in the background!

Over all it was a pretty good day, and I'm glad we were able to help!

I thought I would also add this, because it makes me laugh. My dad found a cowboy hat, and was wearing it .. maybe to cowboy up before our big event?

School's Out!

So.. I finished my finals and I finished my freshmen year at BYU! If I can say so myself .. it was a successful year! I'm sort of sad to be gone actually, because as soon as the sun come so did the people! I made WAY more friends the last 2 months of school than the whole beginning of the year! We had a little photo shoot the last Sunday of school! These are the some of the ladies that I've spent my year with!


These ladies right here are some of girls that I have gotten to know a lot better these last couple of months. They really the greatest girls and have been really great people to have around!

Now I'm home however, and while I LOVE IT -- I think I'm going a little stir-crazy! There is so much not to do that I don't even now what to do with myself. .. . Any ideas?

International Relations

No this isn't my newest major choice, but it is how I spent my evening! We had the honor of having General David H. Petreaus come to speak at our campus tonight.

(I chose this picture because he smiled a lot)

I can't tell you all that he talked about because to tell the truth I don't understand ALL OF THE COMPLEX issues of Central Command (which is the Middle East basically I was informed tonight), but I can tell you my impressions of David Petreaus, because honestly I'm sure that's what you all care about. :)

My defining quote from David Petreaus would have to be what he said at the beginning: "I try not to take myself seriously, but I do take my work seriously" (this is what I wrote down, but just know that I wasn't recording it or anything .. so it could be less than exact). To explain this quote he was very down to Earth about himself and his beginning remarks were complimentary to everyone on the stand (which included the Governor as well). He was also very funny about LDS culture. He then took questions from the audience and he answered them pretty well (side-stepping only a few), and in a way that was easily understandable.

I was very impressed with him over all, and I like his ideas about the war and how its going. It was a really cool experience, knowing that I was in the same room (after an hour and a half wait by the way) with a man vital to this country, and someone that actually talks to President Obama -- regularly! This is one reason I'm glad to be at BYU -- there are really a lot of opportunities here!

To end with -- Here are my favorites from his list of

Top 10 Reasons Mormons Make Good Soldiers

- They have no problems switching to army rations, they've been raised on shredded carrots and green Jell-o

- They are the most reliable designated drivers

- They never go AWOL -- they prefer the term less active

(my favorite) - They have no problem building a base, you simply need to get a cane and say with a loud voice: THIS IS THE PLACE

(there were more, but I can't remember them all...)

I'm a HERO!

It is unprecedented I know -- TWO POSTS IN TWO DAYS -- but I just had to share.

I DONATED BLOOD!

If anyone remembers, last year I tried to donate blood. I was so so so so excited all day! I practiced my squeezing motion, I drank enough, and I slept enough. I was totally prepared.

But I didn't have enough iron.

I was so disappointed, I nearly started crying no joke.

BUT MY DAYS OF BEING IRON DEFICIENT ARE APPARENTLY OVER.

I am now a spinach eater, which apparently is packed with iron! WOOHOO! So today spur of the moment I checked to see if they had a time, then they said yes. Then I filled out my questionnaire, passed all their tests, and went crazy!

Please notice the sign that says: I make a difference!

Not only did I donate blood, but I did it FAST! My time was 4:18 flat. I was told and I quote:

"4:18 is fast, especially for a girl." When I was comparing times with my guy friends afterwards --- I had them beat.. just saying...

Life Lately

I haven't updated in a while, because I've been so busy that I didn't realize I actually had fun things to blog about for a change! So here's a super fast update, on the fun things that I've been doing!

It was my sister's birthday (and since she's been such an amazing sister who's been taking care of me so much in my first year away from home -- and being my friend -- and having such a cute daughter -- and an open house -- and making me home-cooked meals that I like --- basically because she's just a generally awesome person) so I made her this charming cake. I'm becoming quite a pro at cake making in a dorm kitchenette -- if you need any tips.

I went to a dance with some lovely ladies, including Miss Stacey McKnight who is pictured above! (We didn't even match on purpose!) It was a luau in fact -- a seasonal depression luau actually. It was such a great time, because the dreary weather and homesickness are really depressing in the months of February and March.

At the dance there was a fire-dancer! It was super cool, including when he dropped his rod of fire on people TWICE -- ON ACCIDENT! (They were fine though so it was still cool!)



And finally today, on stake conference day we encouraged everyone in our ward to wear blue. I don't know how it came about but it super fun! We took hall pictures with as many people as we could find so that was fun as well!

Also one last thing I've been up to lately:


I've never lived in a big enough town to have an all waffle place in it. So I took advantage of my time in Provo, and went to Denny's at 3:00 a.m. It turned out to be closer to like ... 3:15 though because getting up was sort of a challenge (thanks stacey for waking me up! <3)>

Apartment!

It has been a long and stressful journey, but thankfully I have endured and made it through!

We started out trying to get into Regency Apartments, which we loved! But alas, Regency did not want us. We went that morning bright and early after putting all our hopes and dreams into getting in.

Stacey and Cammie excited at the Regency Lottery Drawing:

We went, and left without an apartment and without much chance of getting one.

We moved onto Plan B(etter) and we went to or called about a million places. Space was limited, so we finally finally narrowed it down with a

chart and some check marks. It was very exciting, and all that, but a very very very long process. So we went on our last apartment hunting trip today, and it was successful!

We went to a place we've

been eyeing and after a weird experience with the management and overall not excited vibe.

We went and signed at the other place we've been looking at!

AND NOW....

I am the proud new renter of #21!

These are the lovely ladies I will be living with in front of our new apartment:

And here we are with our contracts and deposit receipts.

(From left to right: Chelsea, Me, Cammie, and Stacey)