life so far...

This is for Kylie, just to prove that her life is more exciting than mine

Bold the items you have done:
1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre
20. Slept on a train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing for real.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Tied a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a Bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

It was my birthday. Now I am old.

I had a wonderful birthday on Friday, but now all the festivities have worn off and it is finally setting in that I am 20. Two decades old. Half-way over the hill.

It was a great birthday! My roommates decorated the apartment with notes all over and a picture of my face on the wall that creeped me out when I woke up. I got the traditional birthday orange with a candle in it from the DU newsroom, and also cake to balance out the healthiness. We went out to dinner and a movie with a bunch of friends, and then came back to eat delicious home-made cake. It was a great day!!

Tracking down criminals...1 article at a time

This week was one of my first experiences with writing "real crime" stories for The Daily Universe. While meeting with police to write the police beat this week, they mentioned that they had some footage for me. So I went in early the next morning and the lietenant gave me survelance footage of a laptop theif (there have been alot of stolen laptops on campus recently). So I got to watch the footage and feel like a real reporter, then we put it online so people can help identify the culprit.

Also this week, I learned how to count the number of hits my stories get online. So far they range from 150-750ish, depending on how exciting the story is. The surveliance video has almost 1000 hits!

http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/71056

published! kind of...

What a busy week it has been! The semester is only a week old, but I feel like I've been doing this forever. My biggest adventure is my Comms 321 class, writing for the Daily Universe. I was assigned the police beat, among other things, which has been my goal since before I even started at BYU. Today was my first experience in print, and even though my name wasn't attached to it the beat in the print version, it was quite exciting. Here is a link to the story on BYU NewsNet, which actually gives me credit for compiling and writing the blurbs.

http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/70621

Also, I will have another story printed on Monday, probably on the front page!!

Christmas at home!

I had a wonderful few weeks at home for Christmas, and experienced my first white Christmas ever. The snow was lots of fun, but a little cabin-fever inducing. I loved being with tons of family and taking a break from school. Here are some highlights from my time at home: Riding the ferry

Opening cousin Christmas presents

visiting Grandma and Grandpa Treasure

swinging with Isaac

pictures on the deck in the snow

Viva Mexico!

I am officially going to Mexico this spring! I got accepted into the study abroad yesterday! This means that I get to spend the first 3-4 weeks of spring term taking sociology and political science classes in Provo, then head down to Mexico for 3 weeks to apply what we learn about international development. We start in a medium sized city (Cuauhtémoc) and live with families and work with schools, orphanages, rehab centers for migrant workers, etc. Then we go to a smaller town and build schools, houses, and do whatever they need us to do. We spend the last week camping in the mountains and helping the incredibly rural and indigenous people with really basic things like digging irrigation trenches. The get time over the whole trip to explore and talk to people and do research for future projects about poverty.

I am so excited, but I definitely need to start refreshing my Spanish!

Home for Thanksgiving

What a relaxing week I had! It was so much fun to be home, even if I was the only sister to make it back to Washington. (I guess that shows who the favorite daughter is, the only one the parents bought a plane ticket for.) It was a wonderful week of sleeping, playing piano, trying my hand at golf and getting thoroughly embarrassed, biking, shopping, getting pampered with the cousins, and relaxing. Thanksgiving was great, and I even got to try my hand at making the stuffing all by myself, but under Mom's watchful eye. I've expanded my repertoire past cranberries to include dinner rolls, stuffing, and even cooking the hairy yams. It was fun to be back in the rain with family!

I came back and my roommates and I started decorating our apartment for Christmas right away. I just love this holiday season!
Now, its time to crack down because finals start 2 weeks from today!