merry christmas 2008!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

For many years the Mesa Arizona Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had exhibits on the temple grounds during the Easter season. This year, there was also a 'Reflections of Christ' photography exhibit in the Visitor's Center. The photographer was given permission to photograph Pageant cast members for the exhibit. They traveled to various locations in Arizona that the photographer felt looked like the places in Israel where the events took place and recreated the scenes. The photographer worked with a few other individuals to put together a 5 minute slideshow which includes every image from the exhibit set to the hymn 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.'
Remember when you're watching the video that the photographs are real, they aren't paintings. Incredible!

Cozy, cozy

Life is good at Christmas time. This is the best Christmas present ever. I haven't been counting down the days until Christmas, anxious to open my presents. I'm enjoying each moment with my friends and family, enjoying the decorations, snow, movies, hot chocolate etc. so much more. All of the sudden, Christmas Day is almost here.

I've already been spoiled by Nick and his family with gifts. I love his family. I got a pair of aloe socks, a pair of socks from American Eagle, lotion, and a book from his grandma at their family Christmas party.

Nick already made me cd with my favorite songs, and a fleece blanket that he picked out the fabric himself and cut and tied the edges too. What a guy.

I'm at my grandma's now, and I fall asleep to the glowing Christmas tree and fire right next to me, wrapped in the blanket from Nick. It is very cozy.

I got to sing in the Messiah. 3 generations from the Limburg family got to sing in it. My grandma has let me lick the brownie bowl, snitch from her delicious cheeseballs, lick the frosting beaters, and eat homemade gingerbread that was extra from the gingerbread house we're making tonight. I'm stuffed to the rafters. She tried to give me hot chocolate too. I said no, because I would pop. I've been helping make the cheeseballs and deliver them to the neighbors, and practicing the duet I'm playing with my aunt Micaela at the family Christmas party on Chrismas Eve, and helping with the 3 little grandkids all day.

I'm going Christmas shopping tomorrow at the best mall in the world, and I get to see my first cousin once removed, Mariah at the Christmas party!!!

I hope your Christmas is just as cozy as mine.

Yay for Happy Day

Ooooh I'm in a good mood. I got an "A" in my college psychology class. I was so stressed to find out what my grade was today. I worked so stinking hard. And now I don't have to do the 5-page paper for extra credit like most of the other kids in my class. I got two of my finals back from Chemistry and American Literature and I got A's on both of those too. So my final grade will be an "A". And I'm done with my finals, and also my Christmas choir concert. So I was feeling rather jolly today.

And the fact that Christmas is almost here, I will be in Utah in 3 days, and I get to skip the last day and a half of school has me in good spirits. No more stressing over psych, no more studying all day after school, just packing up and getting giddy inside.

The only thing that dampered my mood was the last presentation in psych. (I did mine on Schizophrenia), this girl did hers on abortion. She was against it, just like me. But she had to show very very very graphic pictures of partial birth abortions. Like bloody babies in garbage cans. Um, let's just say I started silently crying and had to close my eyes. I'm already against it. This was not what I needed.
I didn't even know partial birth abortion existed until I knew Obama was for it. Just hearing about it made me cry and want to throw up. So just imagine what these pictures did to me. What is it with me and crying lately?!

But I tried to forget about it and it worked. Yay for the rest of my happy day.

Super Lexi

Yes. My very stressful week is finally over.

• I had final exams all week,
  
• a horrible cold,
• a 15 minute professional presentation on schizophrenia in my psychology class,
• taking care of the house while my mom is gone,
• and the ACT...

let me tell you. My brain is so stuffed full of information, it feels like a rock it's so hard. I could probably hurt somebody with it. So I've been studying and trying to take care of the house from the second I get home until I went to bed.

I went to take the ACT in Q-town, (I took Tashi with me) and stayed over at the Rodenberg's. Gloria and Mike always make sure we're comfortable. It's so cozy at their house. I watched "A Nativity Story" for the first time and I LOVED IT. I went to bed early, but of course I couldn't sleep from the stress of the next morning and had horrible dreams when I did fall asleep. The test was okay. There was a pregnant girl in my class, which seemed like an oxymoron to me.

And when I came home after the ACT, the house looked like...I don't want to use a word this horrible to describe it. Mia and Noah were still running around in their pajamas even though it was 2:30 in the afternoon. And they smelled bad. My dad was in the basement stressed out about the food storage shelves he was building. They were falling apart. So Tashi helped him for 3 hours (and they were successful), and I locked Mia and Noah in their bedrooms until they were spotless. I had to bathe them too. My original plan was to just clean the kitchen. But I did 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the living room, family room, the inside of the car, and finally the kitchen (keeping track of what Mia and Noah were doing at the same time). I felt like a mom. I was actually sweating from running around. It took me 3 hours. Then we finally realized that it was 5 pm, and the ward Christmas party started at 5:30. We didn't have a dessert, so we took the cake Rick gave me on Thursday. I didn't have time to shower. Loveliness.

After the party, Sarah came over, and we watched "It's a Wonderful Life" with our dad. It's a family tradition every Christmas. It's not Christmas without it. I cried at the end - the first time since age 4, since I've been watching it. I AM turning into my mom!!! Oh no!!!

brisingr

I was borrowing this book from a friend. And I just finished it today...I am in awe. I am not a fantasy freak. But I really do love these books. The ending in each one always blows you away. I love the movie too, but it doesn't do the books justice (of course). Lots of people say that his ideas aren't original and it's a mix of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and other fantasy stories. But I say, as long as he's a good writer, who cares? You get sucked into these books, and can't put them down. I had to read the last 2 chapters in homeroom today even though I had a semester exam I needed to study for the next period. And the 2nd book ended on a sad note, and this book did too, to some degree, but the happy news cancels it out for me. I'd been waiting 3 books to find out this happy news. I was the only person who thought that it was true. And from the ending of the 2nd book, it didn't look like it was going to happen. But it did! (I know that doesn't really make sense, but I can't even give the slightest thing away). They're very long, but worth the read. The middle always gets a little boring, but it's worth it because the ending is...ahhhhh!
I totally recommend this series. I'm totally excited for the final book (#4!!!)
Has anybody else read it?

Let it Snow!!!

We got out of school early today!!! I cannot describe my happiness.

I had a horrible cold on Monday. I almost didn't make it home alive. I did my homework and went to bed really early. My dad even came in during the night and turned off my alarm clock so I would sleep longer and not go to seminary. I really didn't want to go to school today, but our semester exams are coming right up and we're reviewing for them and finishing up projects. So I had to go. I almost wanted my parents to come get me after 3rd period, because then all my important classes would be done with. But my dad is taking my mom to the airport 3 hours away. So that was not a possibility.

Our class was scribbling away on our study guides in 3rd period American History, when an office aid brought a note in. Our teacher gasped while she was reading. I thought somebody had died haha. She told us that we were getting out of school in 30 minutes and were to go straight to our next class. This certain teacher hates plans her lessons weeks in advance and hates it when things get in the way. So our study guides are homework now...but at least I'm not in school anymore!!! We were only in our 4th period class for a few minutes before they said the N-town kids needed to leave right then. It was only raining, so we didn't understand why we were getting out, but we didn't care as long as we got to go home!!!

But then the ice hit halfway home. Now I know what they mean when it doesn't really snow in Illinois, it just gets really icy. It's a really really wet snow that you can't play in because it's just slush, (and it never snows enough to play in anyways). But it starts freezing and turns into ice immediately. Icicles were already forming on my car and Eli had to hack at the ice on the windshield so hard. We all stepped into a pile of slush and piled in the Subaru. As I was stopping to turn onto a road, I was tapping my brakes, but we started sliding and couldn't stop. A car was coming at us from the side, and we were about to get t-boned. The car barely stopped in time, and as we turned onto the road, we fishtailed. I drove at 10 miles an hour the whole way home.

I got Mia safely home too. Okay, I'm starting to talk like a mom...
But now mutual is canceled too. I have so much time to work on homework. And school might even be canceled tomorrow!!!

freshmen

I am not going writing a hate blog. (Which has actually become the inside joke among the teenagers in this little town - "I'm going to write a hateblog about you!". I am more upset about myself for this one. I would sit in the front half of the bus every day to and from school.

And then, all of the sudden, one day, he pulled the people who sat in the very back 4 rows of the bus and made them sit in the front 4 rows and pushed everybody back. Supposedly there was a big gash cut open in the back of the seat in one of the last rows. Our bus driver was screaming at us because this was brand new bus, and that was vandalism. And they probably had a knife which was illegal too. He said it would cost $500 to fix the seat. And he could keep a better eye on the people who had been sitting in the back while until they found the culprit. He went on and on, and I was going to be late for work. I barely made it in time.

Those people kept sitting in the front, and our bus driver kept telling us to tell him or the principal who did it, even if they had been threatened. And who ever knew but wasn't telling, was a accomplice too. And if somebody didn't tell soon, he would assign seats randomly for the whole bus. This was getting more and more annoying and upsetting for me. Because it had nothing to do with me. I had no idea in the world who did it, but I was still getting punished for it. People finally started telling.

Yesterday, they brought it down to 2 people, both of them freshman boys. But neither of them will confess. So he assigned us seats. And if we aren't sitting in those exact seats, we can get punished. This shouldn't be happening to me. I'm a junior. If school wasn't 30 miles away, I would drive everyday, but I don't want to pay my parents the money for gas either.

So...I get stuck on a bus with way immature freshmen who swear and talk about the grossest stuff. Seriously that's all they can talk about. Every other word is vulgar. When they were sitting on the back of the bus, you couldn't hear them. But when they were in the front, they were all you could hear unless you were having a conversation with someone sitting next to you, for some reason. And now they're spread out evenly throughout the bus because of assigned seats, so you'll be able to hear them no matter what. They don't get punished for the language.

I know everyone says freshman ruin the upper-classmen's lives because they're immature, but this is not an exaggeration. Why are all my freedoms on the already annoying bus being taken away even though I'm innocent and have been obeying all the rules. Those kids just shouldn't be allowed to ride the bus anymore. And seriously, once it's down to 2 people, why wouldn't you just confess? It's not just going to be let go. Why are people so messed up in this world? I just want to discipline those children until they grow up and start acting like normal human beings. I'm sorry. But it isn't fair for the whole bus to be punished for something they didn't do.

Date!!!

played lazer tag...
I went on a quad date over Thanksgiving break. I had so much fun.

We went to a pizza place...

celebrated Joseph's birthday, bought him some shoes...

and watched Spiderman 1

Random, surprise, group dates are always really fun