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)>