Journal Entry #2 I Bleed Blue

Proof that I have always loved and will always love BYU.  What can I say I am true Blue through and through.  What can you expect from a girl who owns a BYU Barbie!?

" 1/1/97
Dear Journal (I got the J right this time)
This mornig I wocke up at 6:00 and I fell a sleep at 12:01  I thaut was cooll becuas I thaut I wacke up at 8:12.  Do you now why I thaut that
?, be-cuas ushly when you stay up late you wake up late.  Later in the after noon BYU won and can you beleave it Tyler put taw thunbs  thumbs down and he cep saying he wanted to go to the schooll.  Ps. It was in N.F.L..  And then we had a big dinner.  And then Gary came.  And then Lindsey got her own dairy and I told mom that she already has a dairy and then mom yeld at me. buy
I'm sorry for not writeing.
Alicia"

At least I made sure I spelled 'thumbs' correctly.

Lindsey got a DIARY not a DAIRY.  Though I wish she did get a dairy...except the poo water part.

Sunny Days

Chasing the clouds away.

*Disclaimer I wrote this yesterday but I didn't post it until today*

My Momma and Sister left this morning.  I am now sad and the sky started crying for me.

It did stay really sunny while they were here though which is nice!!  Yeaha.  The only time it really rained was Sunday during Church.  Woohoo because we were inside being righteous anyways. ;)

We had so much fun.  We talked a lot and we went to Sammy's to eat, and we went shopping and got the cutest things for the kids.  And we did Karaoke which was mucho fun.  Lindsey and I tried to do Life's a Dance in homage to our childhood but it was really hard to hear the melody.  But it was still fun and we all did The Shoop Shoop Song the Cher version.  Also in honor of growing up and going on road-trips where my family would always listen to three staples: the soundtrack to Mermaids (a movie with Cher, Wynona, and Christina Ricci), They Might Be Giants Flood, and Billy Joel (I think it must have been the best of).  And of course these were all on cassette.

Anyways karaoke was great fun.

And Sunday I took them along the new path that grounds redid because it looks so nice with the little stream and the little waterfalls and the ducklings.  And Sunday we made pot roast in my Crockpot and mom made Blackbean brownies that I was skeptical of at first but they are actually good.  And full of fiber so they're better for you than regular brownies and I decided have a fudgey air to them.  Anyways dinner was really good Sunday.

And Lindsey got up at 5 to drive me to work this morning, such a nice sister.  But the had to leave while I was working and now I'm sad.

Good thing Tyler and Jessica are coming this weekend and I get to see them!

Noah

I remember reading about the great flood in Noah's time.  

It's raining A LOT, or SO MUCH or EXTREME AMOUNTS OF RAIN! I think so for a desert and the annoying part is that Tom said in Portland it's all sunny and nice.  

What the heck Portland!? everyone knows it's supposed to be rainy and miserable there and sunny and nice here.

I just wrote a whole complaint but erased it.

Let me just say the sun better come out soon.

Guess what?!  My Mom and Sister Lindsey are coming tomorrow and I'm very excited (another reason it should start being sunny).  We're going to go to Sammy's, and play Scattegories and go sing Karaoke!

Ugh I just shecked the weather forcast...it's supossed to rain everyday until next THURSDAY.

I just cannot believe that Utah is a desert if it gets this much precipitation.

Why I Am the Way I Am

So after I posted yesterday I read my journal.  And I found out what made me the way I am.  Haha.  What I mean is I found the first entry of my first fight with a friend.

See popular media may have you believing that young girls can be best friends in groups of three, but that is a lie.  Two of those girls are always going to be better friends than the three of them together meaning one girl is going to be left out.  Sometimes those other two girls will get mad at the third girl and cause drama.  But they won't tell her why.  And as they get into high school it just gets worse.  Sigh

Of course girls being the way they are so young and stuff, don't understand the value of talking problems out.  Maybe even as we get older we can't see the value of such things.  I have this theory.  You know how there's this stereotype that women always want to talk about their feelings and the relationship, and men never want to.  Totally false.  Yeah Women like to talk way too much but it's mostly about nothing, things that don't really matter or that they shouldn't be talking about in the first place.  But never the important things.  We figure a man should know why I'm angry "It's obvious what you've done wrong isn't it?"  

Ladies I'm here to tell you it's not.  How do I know?  Because I've often been that person in these groups of three of friends.  The other two are mad at me and I have no idea why.  This is how I learned to just tell people what I'm thinking if they ask or if something is really bothering me.  

This also is how I learned that I don't care what people think of me.  Though that took a lot longer.  (You know what high school is a scary place)  I only care what God thinks of me.  And my family.  And sometimes the guy I like.  In that order.  But no one else really.

And not caring, as long as I believe God is happy with what I'm doing, helps me to be happy.  Because I used to worry so much about what other people thought I was very unhappy.  It's very stressful trying to please everyone.  Just be yourself.  That's why people will like you.

Anyways, that's why I'm way more chill now than I ever was before and I can be a bit more crazy at times.  But it's the life I live.  And I love it.  And I love you.

Journal Entry #1

Ok first read this!  Really I do remember those slippers and they were the most comfortable things ever.

Guess what?  I'm still friends with those guys but we don't hang out anymore.  That's sad.  Except we might soon go hiking.  And do geology because one of them loves geology too!  He told me he might transfer to BYU from UVU to do Geology and that made me happy because I love the Geology Department at BYU!  They are so great.

Today I thought I would put up an old journal post.  It's something one of my best mates Kelli used to do on occasion and I always found it quite amusing.  And I've been keeping a journal since the 2nd grade so I totally have some good entries to share.

Plus everyone always wants to read my journal so  this way you can.  

I won't change any of the spelling and since this is my first time doing this I'll give you my first ever journal entry

"                                                                                                                                                     10/10/96

Hi new Journal (btw the J is written backwards)

you woetent belivev what happenned today.  Well it all stared this morning when I heard the song of Happy Birthday.  It was my mom I asked her If, I had to go to schooll.  She said "Yes, you do.," "What," So I got up got drest aet breakfast and got everything to. gether.  I was the first one reddy.  It was a long walk but we made it  the beganing was not so well I did not get to sit on the koowch or chair.  And after reases I got all the etenchin.  So good bye.

Alicia "

I hope you had fun sounding out those words. And I hope you know that last word 'etenchin' is supposed to be 'attention.'

The Pineapple Doesn't fall Far From the Tree

Because Pineapples don't grow on trees.  Maybe you thought they did but they don't they grow weird and different.  My sister has pictures she can show you from when she went to the DOLE plantation in Hawaii.

Anyways I'm just kind of referencing that phrase because sometimes my mom writes on her blog because she is so angry about politics...basically that's what most of her posts are.  Haha and that's ok because it is something she is very passionate and vocal about.

But good thing that blogger was Out of Order last night because I was very angry, but I know I would have regretted my blog post in the morning.

I was going to name it "Lies Boys Have Told Me: Part Deux" but it would have been dumb.  Because I don't have a story, I just get really mad when I hear about dumb manipulative ways some boys treat girls.

I guess now that I have slept on it and have been working all day and the sun is shining, I will just leave some advice for boys who are thinking that maybe by being dumb and manipulative they are sparing a girls feelings, you're not.  It's better to just be 100% honest for two reasons; people will respect you more, and you won't go to Hell.  

You think I'm joking but I am not.  

People will respect and trust you more if you are 100% honest.  This means even with yourself because when you're honest with yourself than it means you can take responsibility for your actions.

They'll be like well we can trust him for an honest opinion or with this or that.  And they'll say He's a real man, because he knows what's right and what's wrong.

Ugh anyways.  

I have been working so much lately.

I am preparing some classes for the science section of their Stanford test.  I'm doing 6-8th grade.  

Remind me to never teach the 6th grade.

No they're cute little kids, but they talk a lot, and are crazy.  I made them all be quiet and told them all that they are being disrespectful when they talk over each other and interrupt me while I'm talking.  They all were like "Sorry Sorry"

And then promptly resumed what they were doing before I talked to them, which was talking as loud as they could.

I was just like "You guys are so weird."

This one kid came and told me that he received a report that I thought he was the worst kid in the class.  Which is weird because he actually raises his hand and is one of the best and I had not talked to anyone about him.  So he either made it up or somebody at that school hates that little kid.  

And today he told me I've been saying his name wrong the whole time.

Dang.  I had been pronouncing it with a German accent, because it's a German name, but apparently his parents just don't know that.

Oh well.  

Manure Wind

If you haven't been to a farm you need to go to one because they are flipping awesome.  I mean so great.

I had the opportunity to go to a farm this last weekend and seriously this was the best weekend ever.  And you know I mean that because I went down with two people I didn't know at all and one person I knew really well.  We stayed at the home of someone who had "seriously never seen [me] before this weekend."  (those are his exact words only it should say you instead of me but I think you know how those bracket things work).

Anyways if you know me then you know going to hang out with a bunch of people I really don't know is not something that I usually enjoy and actually makes me quite uncomfortable.  But you guys, this was so fun and I do not regret going at all because now I have 3 new friends, got some great bonding time with my great pal Jenny, and got to spend a fantastic weekend in sunny, warm fantastic weather.

So we went to Enterprise, Utah, home to the largest farm in Utah, and the home of Elder Holland's wife, Sister Holland.  Word.  It's quite a small town and really only Verizon and Sprint get service there.  We stayed at the home of the Holt's who own said farm.  They were so welcoming and awesome I am so grateful for them letting us stay there and eat their food.

Ok when we first got there we went to the dairy and saw all the cows.  Here's a video of some cows.  They live in these air conditioned pens, that are shaded so they don't get all hot and they get fed regularly and they wash away all their poop so they don't have to live in it.  Basically these cows are babied.  

the calf standing!

Then we went and saw the day old cows.  They were so cute.  And Big and some were still wet from being born but they stood up!  Amazing little things and soooo cute.

And then Tanner (he is the son of the farmer who owns the farm) took us on a tour of what they do with the water that washes away the poop from the cows.  We like to call it Poop Water.  Basically it was the grossest tour you could ever take and the smelliest.  But I was still enjoying myself.  I didn't take any pictures of the poop water facilities, I know you're sorely disappointed but if I showed you  everything, than you would have reason to go to the farm!

Then we went and drove a chopper!  It's like Frank from Cars!! Yeah that was super fun and exciting.

Here is Jenny driving Frank

Then we went hunting but I don't want to talk about it because it was a weird experience for me.  But afterwards we put out our empty coke cans and I shot them.  And it was good.  I like shooting just maybe not hunting so much...

Then we went back to Tanner's home to prepare dinner.  Deliciousness.  Burgers and cheesy dutch oven potatoes.  Yummy!  And while dinner cooked we played baseball. I hit a home run, which was actually just a bunt that everyone struggled to get the ball to where I was and I got home but hey a home run is a home run.

Then we ate, then we had a bonfire and roasted mallows and talked around the fire.  Then we went to bed and I was seriously so pooped I fell asleep super fast.  And I slept really well.  And I had the cutest quilt.  It had all these farm animals on different squares and then denim squares in between.  I took a picture of my favorite square.

Haha how'd he get that apple on his head?!

The next morning the boys went hunting while Jenny and I slept in a bit and then played a bit more baseball.  When the boys got back we went horseback riding!!  YAY!! And I crossed that off my list and it was so fun.   But not so scary when you get used to it and so easy too.  I rode a horse named Belle.

Everybody riding the trail.

Then we ate lunch, pork chops and rice a roni (yum), and then we took a tour of Enterprise, and the farm more.  During this tour I got to DRIVE A SEMI-TRUCK.  This actually is harder for me than you think it might be for a few reasons: I am not very fond of driving (probably because I never get to practice), I've never driven stick, I'm always extremely worried about breaking expensive things that don't belong to me because I am very poor, and I mean come on it's a semi.  But I still did it and I almost broke it because I didn't do the clutch and the gas right so the tires spun and then I drove the truck two feet and I could hear that it was time to switch gears and I was like ok I'm done.  And Tanner asked if I wanted to switch gears and I said "Nope I'm good."  SO even though I only drove it 2 feet that's probably more than you've ever driven a semi and so it def counts.

sorry it's sideways but Nathan sliding down the potato mountain.

 Then we went and saw a potato mountain.  Seriously, a mountain of potatoes.  It was huge and awesome!  I love potatoes and guess what their potatoes ship to Phoenix!  That means I've probably tasted their potatoes and I can tell you they are yummy!

Anyways I feel like we did more but This is long.  So the Moral of the story is GO TO A FARM!  It's the best!

Tom

I also need to write you a poem about my friend Tom, who is my best friend, because today is his birthday.

I told him it's funny that his birthday is on Mother's day because he wouldn't have been born without a mother.  He didn't think it was very clever.  And actually his birthday has been on mother's day before.  

Anyways.  Here is 

An Ode to Thomas: a Haiku

by Alicia M Reynolds

You are my best friend

And will be until the end

Refrigerator.

Haha that was just a joke one to make him be like "Wow thanks for that.  It was really sweet..." but then he'd be like rolling his eyes or something.  

Here's a real one, another acrostic.

THOMAS

by Alicia M Reynolds

Thomas is my best friend

Has the whitest/straightest teeth

Overshadows my hilarity with his

Makes me smile when I'm feeling blue

Always shares everything with me

Super totally awesome and smart

Dear Thomas, I love you too.  Happy Birthday.  I hope you saw a cow today and thought of a birthday card.  But really thanks for cheering me up.  I think I'll get you some furry pants for your birthday.  

So if you noticed I'm not the best at writing poetry but at least it comes from the heart right?

MOTHER

So there's a primary song about Mother's that gets kind of creepy at the end because it goes into the minor chord and it's like

"Mother I love you I love you I do."  

And if you know the song you know what I'm talking about.  You can just hear these creepy little kids singing that to their mother's and their moms running out of the house in fright. 

So because I love my Momma I will not sing her such a creepy song.  In fact I've been making up a lot of acrostic poems lately so I will make one up about my Mother who is the best mother ever.

You're insanely jealous aren't you?  I know it's hard not to be jealous of my family.

Ahem

MOTHER  
by Alicia M Reynolds

My mother is the best
Offers me praise when I do well
Tells me the truth when I need to shape up
Has a beautiful smile
Everybody is jealous that she's not their mom
Really extremely Awesome

Dear mother I love you.  happy Mother's Day.  Thanks for listening to me be crazy.  You the bomb.com, all that and a bag of chips.  Word to you (my mother). (remember how I'm a bit 90's obsessed right now? yeah...)  

I'm a 90's Girl

In a 90's world.

You KNOW you were singing the title of this post to the Barbie Girl song.  And if you weren't then I'm sorry you don't know any pop culture references...haha jk...kind of.

Anyways I've been a bit 90's obsessed lately. Sorry friends it's probably annoying that I bring up the 90's every 5 seconds and say everything reminds me of that last great decade.

But seriously the 90's rocked.  Life was so much simpler.  And I could go outside and play, in Phoenix, and I lived on 67th and Thomas which even then was pretty ghetto but if you go there now I'm pretty sure you wouldn't even let your dog outside.  Or maybe I'm making that up because I'm actually terrified of my home city.

What do you expect when my biggest fear is of gangs?!  It's why I can never return to Guatemala where I was born.

SO I wasn't born there but some people believe I was.  Yeah it's funny to me too.

But I'm getting sidetracked again.

Go figure huh...

Anyways, I think I'm thinking of the 90's a lot because I'm remembering how easy it was as a child and how I really have to grow up now because Peter Pan never came to me and took me to Never Land.  So I have to grow up.  Lame.

I mean, I'm really excited to move to Salt Lake area, every time I go there I get really excited and happy.  But at the same time, I have these visions of me starving because I need to pay rent.  And not wanting my friends to come over because my apt will be completely empty because I sold my furniture in order to have money and having to work all night and afternoon and some how fitting in working on my teacher work sample. And not making any friends because I'll only be able to go to church on Sundays and no other ward functions because I'll be working.  And then I will not ever be able to get married because I'll be too busy to think about any of that stuff. I imagine that I will be really thin though. 

Haha now my mom is all worried about me moving. 

But don't worry I know that moving there is a good idea.  You'll just have to trust me that I am not stupid and just moving there without feeling good about it.  I feel good about moving there.  Really good actually. Really super good.  And I am excited to have my own room because, no offense past roommates, but there comes a time in a girls life where she just needs to be able to have her own room and turn on the lights when ever she wants and shut the door and meditate without being interrupted.

Anyways I'm digressing again.  Or maybe I wasn't I don't know

BUT! I think I'm mostly afraid of teaching because the more time I spend in a classroom teaching the more unprepared I feel.

   I feel like I don't actually know anything, and I get distracted really easily.  But it's so fun.  

Oh dang I have to write a test...

Dang, I hate writing tests.  

Yeah the only part of teaching I like a lot is the actual teaching haha.  Sometimes if I feel inspired I enjoy writing lesson plans or making up projects or labs for the kids to do.


Ok I'm rambling.

Whispers

I wrote this whole great story about an inside joke that my friends and I have but it isn't so funny when you just read it.  And it's not like we won't tell you the story, it's just not so great to read.  So I just want to dedicate this post to my bf and roomie Shirley.  

"Happy Birthday Mike."

"Hey what are you going to do with all that pizza?"

Hahahaha  If you don't get it that's ok, Shirley will read it and laugh.  Also I hope you all watched Kid History.  because it's so hilarious!

"Hey you thtupid kids.  You weirdos.  A light is green!"

Now I hope you all were able to laugh and enjoy the moment.

Ok anyways.  It's Sunday and it started out so sunny and beautiful.  And it seemed that it may even warm up a little.

 And I had such high hopes for the weather in May.  But alas as I type this post I find that my fingers are numb with coldness and the sun is not shining so bright as it once was, but is yet hidden behind a dark cloud from whence it's warm rays cannot pierce through.  Perhaps one day, the sunlight will find it's way to this Narnian world and bring back warmth not only to my poor little fingers and toes but to the air outside and the ground.

Ok so at the end there my paragraph kind of struggled, but I am seriously so freezing I wish that the North American Plate would just move suddenly (and quite out of character) move so that Utah is at the equator.  

Anyways, but church was really good today.  I love going to church and being able to take the sacrament.  And hearing everyone's testimonies and my favorite part is singing the hymns!

I love hymns they are so awesome.  Today we sang "Because I Have Been Given Much" and I just love that song.  It motivates me to want to go out and serve more or all the time.  Because I'm like YEAH I have been given so much I am so blessed, I want to help others find that happiness and love I have found.  Anyways I'm not trying to brag or anything I am just telling you I love it and why.

I hope this has found you all in good spirits.

Cheers ~ Alicia