A Favorite Friend

Each Christmas, we make scrapbook pages for my grandparents. While looking for pictures to scrapbook this year, I found these.

They were taken last summer, when I was spending one day a week "working" at my grandparents house. My Mom took these as we were taking one of our many breaks, feasting upon Murray Burgers and ice cream.

Growing up, there were a couple summers when I spent almost an equal amount of time at my grandparents house as my own. I found out a year or so ago that my Dad had actually begun restricting the time I spent at their house, due to my siblings accusations that I was "Nana's and Pa's favorite grand-kid."

My Grandpa Holfeltz, whom we call "Pa", has played an important part in my life. To say he's my grandpa, teacher, or friend, doesn't begin to describe what he means to me.

Don't do it, Cason.

Today I scored the highest on a test I have EVER scored in my whole BYU career. It even gave me the rotating "Congratulations" and "Fantastic." (I realize that the picture isn't the best evidence, but it says it, I PROMISE.)

Pride washed over me as I blinked hard thrice at the screen, took out my phone, and proceeded to take a picture. Just then, a fellow whom we'll call EWM, comes out of nowhere and brings it to everybody in the testing center lobby's attention: "Natalie, are you taking a picture of the screen?"

YES! You got a problem with it? You would too if you ever scored that high on a test!

In fact, if he had tried to stop me, my moment of glory may have instantly morphed into a moment of triumphant outrage and resulted in a knuckle sandwich. (For the record, I didn't actually exclaim or carry out any of that, but merely replied "Yes.")

And not to be a debbie downer, but I feel the need to point out that there are bound be some gross miskeys that WILL result in a little broken NJP heart. Oh well, c'est la vie. It was fun while it lasted. Regardless of my final grades, finals are OVER and that deserves some celebration. Let the games begin.

Hopefully they won't begin with Cason actually ralphing on the carpeting like the noises he's currently making are foreshadowing. No matter, I'm just glad to be home.

How long how long will I slide....

How long do you think you could go wearing the same outfit without anybody noticing?
Well, I found this one red shirt while I was at home last Saturday. It looked comfy, so I added a pair of blue shorts, and it became my outfit for the day. That evening, jeans replaced the shorts, and the official new outfit was born.


Sunday. Revert to Saturdays outfit. That's just what you do.
Monday. I was having my daily outfit crisis and running late to class. Red shirt to the rescue! That evening, I returned home for Thanksgiving Break. As I walked in the door, one of my sisters noticed. Question answered.
Tuesday. I woke up, felt too lazy to search for an outfit, and once again surrendered to the red shirt. I was just going to see my family, right? Wrong. Some kids that had complemented me on my red shirt the previous day showed up at my house around 9:00 pm. A conversation about me needing more clothes ensued.

So. Whatddya say? Should I wear this shirt again tomorrow? The next day? The entire Thanksgiving Break? Try and stop me, I dare you.

Actually, writing this causes me to reflect on people in my life and the frequency with which I see them. And how intensely they care about my hygiene.
If I lived alone in a big city, how long would it take people to notice?
How often would I change my shirt if I really only changed it when it was dirty?
How long does it take others to notice your repeat outfits?
Does any of this matter? I think not.
Would I make a good vagrant? I think yes.

my thoughts, their thoughts....

Whilst googlereadering today, I ran into two things that I identified with one thousand percent. They were words straight from my brain, but somebody else took the time to write them down. One came from my brother's blog and one came from Tristan's blog, whose blog I enjoy thanks to Readers "browse" function.

Here's the one from Rob's:
"The death, corruption, and bitterness woven throughout...remind me that this world has had a lot of problems... Humans (not just Nephites, Lamanites, or terrorists) are capable of doing horrible things to each other.

How desperately we all need the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

This is something that has constantly been on my mind for the past couple years, (thus the reason I'm so excited for my mission) but was brought to the forefront of my mind last night, when I went and saw Water at BYU International Cinema. Click on the Water link, it will make you want to watch the movie, which you should also do.

And on a happier note, Tristan's...
"I am so overly infatuated with my friends [and family], their loves, my life, my loves, the candles, the flames, the new dynamics...all of it."

Friends and family, I don't know if you knew this, but I have always been a bit over infatuated with you guys. In a good way.
Love you,
Nat

Summerhays Music

I just made some applesauce cookies. As I finished making the cookies, I scooped myself a nice spoonful of batter. Mmmm....the taste took me right back to the approximate age range of 11 to 17, when I would bake the same 3 items on a regular basis, applesauce cookies being one of them. When the quality of my day regularly correlated with the quality and quantity of my piano practicing. When I lived for playing outside, whether it was with whatever team I was currently on or with the kids (always younger than me) at the park. When, if allowed, I would go wherever Rob, my idolized older brother, went, and did whatever he did. When Flannigan was my bff. When I would roller blade as often as I could conceal from my parents, for I refused to wear a helmet, and if they caught me too many times not wearing a helmet, my rollerblades would go to the DI - permanently.
Ok, enough nostalgia. Now, what do I plan to do with these cookies? Well, I'll tell ya. Tomorrow is my favorite twins sisters birthdays! Shout out to Megan and Sarah! The coolest now 16 year olds on the planet. Yes, I will take a couple to them. I will also take some up to Jen and Rob and see if I can't inspire some nostalgia in them as well. It will be fun to have an excuse to seek out my now both idolized siblings on BYU's beautiful fall color smattered campus. I will also give some to my roommates, in hopes of many compliments and requests for a copy of the recipe. Maybe I should even bring a couple extras for some strangers. Yes, tomorrow will be a good day.