4th of July

I figured the 4th of July weekend would be a good time to finally post something, especially since a lot has happened since April. I decided to attend NYU to get an M.A. in Cinema Studies (I want to teach film at the university level), and I'll be heading out near the end of August. I was able to find an apartment, and now I just need to finalize some paperwork and I'm good to go. I'm really looking forward to it, but it will be sad to leave behind so many good friends here at BYU. I figure I better do a better job of keeping up with this blog and trying to get access to all of my friends' blogs.

Aside from getting things ready for grad school, I also saw Pixar's latest movie "Up" with a TON of friends. We had almost thirty people go to the midnight showing, and we took up almost two whole rows. I was surprised at the depth of the storytelling, especially in the first ten minutes of the movie.

And this past week, I went to visit my sister and her family. I had a blast playing with my nieces and nephew. I am flat out impressed by my amazing sister, her husband (one of the hardest-working and humblest people I know), and their awesome kids.

Just to give you an idea: My 13-year-old niece won a speech contest and presented her essay/speech at the town's 4th of July celebration. You can read her speech at my sister's blog. my 12-year-old niece cooked the meals for the entire week (breakfast, lunch, and dinner EVERY DAY--and they were great meals too!); my 10-year-old niece is the fashion guru in her family, and even her mom (my sister) asks her for fashion advice...and she loaded up the dishwasher after every meal, which can be quite the task with twelve people around the house; my 8-year-old niece helped clear the table after every meal; my 6-year-old niece set the table before every meal, including putting on a clean tablecloth and setting out plates, forks, knives, napkins, and chairs for everyone; my 4-year-old niece is a computer whiz kid: she can navigate the internet, search for videos on YouTube (...High School Musical), and she knows how to access the games section of the LDS Church Website (it's a part of "The Friend" in case you're wondering).

And then there's my 2-year-old nephew (yes, he has six older sisters...poor guy). He gets the milk out of the fridge and puts it on the table for each meal (considering it weighs about as much as he does...), he can ride a Razor Scooter by himself, and he loves being tickled. At one point, I would act like I was asleep while he would "sneak up" on me, waiting to be tickled again. "Sneaking up" usually meant running up and stopping just inches from my face, or climbing up onto the couch to do a spread-eagle dive. One time he ran a little too fast and didn't stop in time--his forehead slammed right into my nose. Lights exploded in my head, and I frantically checked for blood (he hit HARD). My nephew grabbed his head, wobbled around, laid down on the ground and said, "Let's not do that again, okay?" He's only two and he already has numerous scars on his face from various accidents, but what a funny kid...

My 6-year-old niece and her tie-dyed shirt

Me trying to be "artistic"...

The 6-year-old complaining about the sun being in her eyes

My 2-year-old nephew--he was making mud in a flower pot, and I think this is the point where he was trying to decide if he was in trouble or not

My 4-year-old niece having fun with some sparklers

My nephew twirling a sparkler

The 10-year-old getting her hair done--you can't tell from this picture, but my sister styled all of her girls' hair into different patterns. This niece had a giant star braided out of red ribbon and curled into her hair (or something like that...I can't really describe it, and I can't seem to find a picture of it...)

My 13-year-old niece giving her speech. Don't forget to read it here.