Halloween Weekend

I have to admit, Halloween has never been my favorite holiday. Ever since I stopped trick-or-treating, it has gone downhill. Maybe it's the pressure that everyone feels to go to a really great Halloween party or win a prize for the best costume or maybe it's the fact that I no longer get a pillow case full of chocolate to indulge in; whatever it is, I love Halloween because it's a holiday, but it's definitely no Thanksgiving or Christmas. This year, however, was one of the best Halloweens I can remember having in a long time. I've been getting into the Halloween spirit for the past couple of weeks and have loved all of the activities that have helped get me excited for the holiday. It started out last weekend carving pumpkins and going on a ghost tour of Salt Lake with Bennett, a second round of carving pumpkins for FHE, a ward Halloween party, a Murder Mystery Dinner with my family, and Halloween movies scattered throughout. I fully enjoyed every aspect of Halloween this year and it wasn't one bit overrated.

Megan and I dressed up as the classic ghost for our ward Halloween party on Thursday. It is my new favorite costume: cheap, easy, and when at a dance party it allows you to do whatever crazy dance moves your heart desires and no one can see you. It can get a little hot under there, so when you need a breather, it can transform into a myriad of other costumes, some of my favorites include: a nun, a burka, a toga, or a super hero's cape.

Me and Bennett at our Murder Mystery Dinner

aka

Timothy, the chauffeur and Krista, the artist

Both innocent.

It was a perfect Halloween weekend. And now it's back to school. Back to work. Back to Provo. Back to five days of phone dates.

Until next weekend.

Installment One: The Episodes of a Cookie Crusade

• This evening a fellow comrade made cookies for FHE. They were the cookies of the gods. Despite their flakey, buttery perfection, after the close of the evenings festivities we had nearly two dozen cookies remaining in our kitchen. The fellow comrade and maker of the cookies, DaLynn, went against Megan and I's persuasion and invited her crush over to share and partake of the bountiful blessings overflowing from our oven. Within 30 seconds, there was a ominous sounding knock on our door. We hesitantly cracked the door open and he kicked it in, causing Megan to sprawl on the floor. Without a thought he stepped over her broken body and into the kitchen. He demanded the cookies, M&M's, ice cream and three cans of Betty Crocker frosting for his own selfish desires and to satisfy his own FHE families cravings. In fear for my own safety, for I had seen the proof of his violent temper in the remains of my dear cousin and friend, Megan, I quickly complied to his every command and assembled the items he forcefully required. DaLynn swooned in the background crying, "Please take everything you want and more, even my heart, my dearest love." In my desperate helplessness, I looked frantically around the room and from the corner of my eye I beheld a flutter of tail feathers and a haunting melody filled my ears. As Megan received life into her frail body, the Phoenix had disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Megan had been reborn. She stood up in majesty of power with a strength that not even pure evil in the form of an innocent crush could overcome. She spake in a commanding voice, "Leave thou the cookies on the counter and touch not the tubes of frosting nor ice cream, surrender the M&M's and BE GONE FROM HERE, NEVER TO RETURN." DaLynn wept in the background (for though she was a very bright girl she had been understandably deceived by his handsome physique). With a single glance, telepathic waves were exchanged and Megan and I swooped in on the unsuspecting fellow. During a fearsome battle that ensued, which caused disarray in the kitchen, we fought with every strength and fiber in our beings. For we knew for which purposes and food items we were fighting for. Spatulas were used. Pots were used. Panini makers were used. All manner of kitchen utensils and appliances were employed to win the battle. The armed conflict raged for many hours. I stopped for but a moment to wipe the blood and sweat out of my eyes and I found myself alone with Megan in the kitchen. The culprit had escaped in the din with a plate of cookies and one tube of Betty Crocker frosting!!!!! We mourned the loss of our fallen comrades and howled like inconsolable ravenous wolves at our misfortune. We took stock of the battlefield and surveyed our standings. The casualties: two dozen sugar cookies. 1 tube of vanilla Betty Crocker frosting. The survivors: Megan. Stacie. Half empty carton of vanilla ice cream. Half a bag of M&M's. 2 cans of chocolate Betty Crocker frosting. Despite our casualties, we had come out victorious. Currently we are plotting our revenge....Until next week. To be continued.

Written and directed by Stacie Hymas and Megan Child

The battle that ensued:

I'm a Mormon

My sister told me about this website.

It is so good.

I love watching tear-jerking movies about fellow mormons around the world.

Check it out.

But beware, time seems to slip away once you enter this website.

http://www.mormon.org/people/

Top 10 Favorite Things About Summer

I've moved home for an eight week summer. I don't have a job. I'm not going to school. In other words, I'm making zero contribution to society. Sometimes having such a low quality of life stresses me out, but then I remind myself that probably never again in my life will it be okay to do absolutely nothing. So why not enjoy it while I can? I have three weeks in counting until my summer of laziness is over and I start my job in Provo-until then I will be basking in my top ten favorite things about this summer (in no particular order):

TEN: Lemonade Stands

The other day my mom and I drove past a lemonade stand and the two boys waved us over so furiously we couldn't resist. There was a shoddy cardboard sign that read, "Lemonade 25 cents" in little boy handwriting and we had the best customer service I've had in a long time. Watching them took me back to my own lemonade stand days with my cousin Alyssa. I would go to her house in Bountiful and we'd spend the morning making chocolate chip cookies from scratch, mixing lemonade powder into a gallon or two of water, and creating posters advertising what we were selling. We'd load up our goods into the car, drive to the corner of Bountiful Boulevard and set up shop. They were hot days. They were long days. And our arms were always sore the next day from waving cars and runners down. Sometimes we'd even recruit Braden, the brave cousin, to dance in the middle of the street with a poster in hopes that a compassionate soul would stop for us. At lunchtime my aunt would bring us each a can of cold spaghetti-oh's to help get us through the next few hours; and there was something magic about those spaghetti-oh's that somehow gave us the energy and determination to make it. At the end of the day she would drive back down, pack our supplies into the trunk of her car and we would run full speed into Alyssa's room to count our earnings on her bed and divide it into two. As I reminisced about my lemonade and cookie stands I realized that nothing made me happier on those days than when a car would stop to add a little change to our money jar. And so although the lemonade is usually less than mediocre, it's worth 25 cents and 30 seconds to stop to make a kid happy and contribute to keeping lemonade stands in business for years to come. Long live lemonade stands-the day they cease to exist will be a sure warning sign of the end of the world.

NINE: Outdoor Movies

Especially the ones shown on the lawn at the Capital on Thursday nights. I've decided that even the worst movies can be considered decent if they are shown outside on a projector. Including Legally Blonde 2.

EIGHT: Swimming

I've learned that there are more important things than getting sun-kissed skin and have never had as much fun swimming as I have the past few weeks while playing in the pool rather than laying out. Who would have thought that one little tennis ball could provide endless hours of entertainment in a pool?

SEVEN: Firework Shows

Add a few sparklers to dance around the street with after the show and the package is complete.

SIX: BBQ's

There's nothing quite like a good burger and juicy watermelon followed by chatting with family and friends on the patio on a cool summer night.

FIVE: Bike Rides

Whether it's an early morning ride along the Legacy Highway bike path or a quick ride around the town when the sun is setting with my dad, bike rides just do it for me.

FOUR: My Home Ward

As much as I love BYU student wards, being back in my home ward is so refreshing. Everyone has known and loved me since I can remember and are genuinely interested in my life. I don't have to meet new people every week and answer questions like where I'm from, what my major is, and what year in school I am. It's so enjoyable going to church with familiar faces instead of strangers.

THREE: Family Parties

Laughing for hours, playing made up games, eating tasty food and taking 45 minutes to say goodbye. How about a family party every night?

TWO: Having time to do anything I want during the day

Reading for hours, embellishing shirts, making a scrapbook of all my Jerusalem pictures, watching Gilmore Girls (my guilty pleasure), etc, etc, etc.

ONE: Family Vacations

From Boston to Sun Valley-but then again my entire summer has felt like a vacation...

Boston

Well, I just got home from my family vacation to Boston and surrounding areas and loved it! Here are a few photos of the trip day by day:

Day One:

My first encounter with a street in Northern Boston. So perfect.

Our first night we went to a little Italian restaurant that was delicious. Ethan scarfed down his fettucini alfredo so fast that our waiter brought him a second plate of it on the house, which he ate equally as fast.

Day Two:

Toured Boston both by a magic vehicle that went on land and water as well as walking through the historic sites by foot.

Favorite quote of the trip: we overheard a lady telling her daughter the story of Paul Revere hanging the lanterns when we were visiting the Old North Church. She said, "It was something like 'one if by sea, two if by air'" Oh sweetheart, I don't think the British had airplanes in the late 1700's. I'm pretty sure it was 'one if by land, two if by sea.' Good effort though. Some people just don't think through things logically before they say them.

The Old North Church had these pews with doors and walls. We decided that we would like our church to adopt this seating method...we could lay down and give massages during church and no one would be able to see. Awesome!

Day Three:

A tour of Harvard Campus

And a visit to Fenway Park with shopping to follow

Day Four:

We spent the day visiting the historic sites in Lexington and Concord. We saw all the graves of famous authors like Hawthorne, Emerson and Thoreau and a picnic at Walden Pond.

A Red Sox game at Fenway...unfortunately we lost.

Day Five:

We spent the day at Plymouth Plantation and met up with some cousins doing the same vacation as us and then drove to Cape Cod for the night.

Day Six:

We rode bikes all around Nantucket Island and spent the day at the beach. It was the most perfect and quaint Island and little town.

Nantucket

Day Seven:

Went to the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. We realized that we were nerdy for posing with imaginary rackets in mid-swing as soon as the picture was over.

And finally we met up with Kennedy who is nannying in Newport for the summer and toured the old Vanderbilt mansion with her.

The trip was so fun and couldn't have been more perfect. I fell in love with Boston, New England and the East Coast in general.

Clean Up Time

Today I had cleaning checks. I came very ill prepared to Provo and have zero cleaning supplies, which resulted in me having to be rather creative in order to successfully pass:

• The toilet was scrubbed down with shampoo
• The tables were dusted with a dirty t-shirt
• The kitchen floor was swept with a post-it note
• The porch was swept with a credit card application we received in the mail today

I was pleased with myself and my creativity until I got to “sweeping” the porch. Believe it or not, it was highly degrading. Especially when the neighbors next door were sweeping with a real, full grown broom and the guy across the street took out his trash and stifled a giggle when he passed me. I think buying real cleaning supplies in the fall would be a wise investment.

I promise I'm almost 20 years old

This afternoon as I was walking from the library to the Wilk I noticed from the swarm of youth that EFY sessions have begun. The campus is being overrun by giddy youth full of the excitement of a week away from home, the potential of finding a new crush, and being spiritually uplifted. It was a bit of a nostalgic walk as I thought back to my own EFY days, nearly five years ago. As I got into the building, I pushed my way through the horde of kids wearing colored wristbands and found the elevator, which was being so proficiently guarded by an EFY counselor, probably my same age. As I reached for the button that would bring me the elevator, the mentioned counselor stopped me in my tracks:

"Sorry, all EFY kids need to use the stairs," she said authoritatively with a finger pointing me to the other side of the building.

"Uh, I'm actually a student," I reply while awkwardly pointing to my empty wrist, not sporting a colorful band, for evidence.

She offers a half-hearted apology, "Oh, sorry, you're fine then, go ahead."

"Thanks," I mutter, overly annoyed, probably more than I should be.

I've been dealing with this problem my entire life. Once, while on a vacation to the east, we made friends with a school teacher. She told me that she loved guessing how old kids were and that she prided herself of the fact that she was so good at it. She said she was almost never wrong. She gave it a shot and guessed that I was going into 4th grade. I was going into 8th. Just last year on my 19th birthday my grandma told me that I looked like I was 14 years old. Ouch. My mom keeps telling me that someday I'll appreciate it, that I'll be grateful that I look so youthful. She's always right about things like that, so I guess I'll trust her. But I have a feeling that 'someday' isn't going to be for a long, long time.

A scene right out of a scary movie

Tonight after the ward FHE chip n' dip party I decided that it was time to cruise over to the bank and deposit a few checks that have been building up. I found the nearest bank and learned that the ATM was located in the parking garage of the said bank. Parking garages have never been the most warm and welcoming settings, partly due to their dark, cold, and empty nature; partly due to the fact that in nearly every suspenseful movie at least one murder, bombing, stalking or chase occurs in the mentioned setting. As I drove up to the ATM I noticed that I was the only car/person in the area, retrieved an envelope and began writing the amount I wanted to deposit. I casually glanced in my side mirror and saw that out of nowhere had appeared an old man wearing a blue plaid shirt with suspenders standing solo directly behind me, watching me. I immediately imagined myself as the main character in a scary movie while the suspenseful music played in the background and the audience yelled at me to drive away before the murderer caught me and decided my fate. For a few seconds I was convinced that my life was nearing an end and that soon my face would flood local newspapers as the girl who was found slain in the bank parking garage. Shortly after my imagination ran wild, I came to my senses and realized that he was most likely a kind, innocent old man just waiting in line to use the ATM. But because I have seen one too many Law and Order episodes I locked my doors and deposited my checks as quickly as possible before I threw the car in drive and sped off to the safety of my apartment. An overreaction on my part? Perhaps. But one can never be too cautious, especially in parking garages.

I Walked Where Jesus Walked...Literally

After almost two weeks spent in the Galilee, I can honestly say I fell in love with everything about the area and the New Testament. It was completely breathtaking and it's no wonder that Christ chose to live in the most beautiful area in the world. We stayed in a Kibbutz right on the Sea of Galilee and had a ton of free time to study the scriptures and the Savior's life in the place where he lived and performed most of his miracles. We saw most of the traditional sights of where miracles and significant scriptural events took place and overall, it was a perfect two weeks. I grew so close to the Savior and had some of those amazing life-changing kind of experiences that I will never forget. Here are just a few of the highlights:

Boat ride across the Sea of Galilee

We stopped in the middle of the sea for about half an hour and read in the New Testament when Christ calmed the water and walked on water with Peter. Truly amazing to be in the same spot where it all happened.

The Mount of Beatitudes

This was definitely one of my favorite spots we went to. We read the Sermon on the Mount and had about an hour of free time to just read, write, pray and ponder. It's hard to put into words why it was so good, but it was one of my favorite places I've been since coming to Jerusalem.

View of the Galilee from the church building in Tiberias

We went to church with the members of the Tiberias branch on the sabbath. It was so fun to meet them and hear some of their stories. This is the view from the balcony and it was absolutely breathtaking. The building was dedicated in 2007 by Elder Holland and this is his favorite place in all of Israel. I can see why.

View of the Sea of Galilee from the beach we stayed on at sunset

My very favorite part of my two weeks in Galilee was waking up early to watch the sunrise on the beach while I read about the Savior. Watching the sunset was a close second.

The Mount of Transfiguration

We spent one morning here reading the passage of Christ's transfiguration. It was here that God, Jesus Christ, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, Peter, James and John were all present. My favorite thing I realized here was that everyone present during the transfiguration was involved with the restoration of the church: Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove; John the Baptist restoring the Aaronic Priesthood; Peter, James and John with the Melchizedek Priesthood; Moses and Elijah in the Kirtland temple. Clearly, the church is true.

We went on the most beautiful hike in the Golan Heights. When we got to the top it started to rain making the whole experience very majestic.

Capernaum

The city where Christ performed miracles, taught many sermons in the synagogue and where Peter lived. We studied the Bread of Life sermon while sitting in the synagogue where Christ taught. So awesome.

Dan

This is where Jeroboam reintroduced idolatry to Israel after the kingdom split. This is the exact place where he set up a temple to worship the golden calf. Get it? Golden calf? We think we're so witty.

One night we went to a restaurant that served fish from the Sea of Galilee. When they brought it out it was a full fish-head, brains, eyeballs, fins-everything. Disgusting to look at, but rather tasty. Our friend Lacey had a particularly hard time looking at it, so all in good fun, Gretchen, Courtney and I decided to leave her a little gift and hang it in her shower. One of my favorite non-spiritual moments of the trip.

Nimrod's Castle

We stopped at an awesome crusader castle where we had way too much fun acting out crusader scenes and filming Anastasia music videos. If it's not obvious, Courtney and I are shooting arrows through the little arrow holes.

Hopefully the pictures give you just a small glimpse of why I loved Galilee so much. I would go back in a heartbeat. It was perfect.

Off to the Galilee

Wow...I can't tell you how nice it is to be done with classes for the most part and be free to play all the time. The city has finally calmed down, at least a little bit and we've spent the past week field tripping in Bethlehem, day trips to Tel Aviv to swim in the Mediterranean, exploring and shopping in the Old City, a field trip to herd sheep and make pitas and spices, and just living up the Jerusalem life. Tomorrow morning we're heading to Galilee for two weeks to study the Savior's life in the place where he performed most of his miracles. I honestly can't wait! From what I've heard, this field trip will be the highlight of my Jerusalem experience and I can't wait to experience it for myself. I'll be sure to give some updates with pictures two weeks from now when I get back. Farewell for now!

Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

(picture of a sign in the garden tomb)

There have been a few demonstrations going on in Jerusalem the past few days. Don't worry, it's not as bad as Fox News is making it out to be.

Nevertheless, pray for the peace of Jerusalem, both for my selfish (so we don't have to be on lockdown anymore and can go into the Old City) and unselfish (because I've grown to love these people and want nothing more than for the conflict to be resolved) reasons.

I feel somewhat obligated to write a new blog post tonight. Partly because I've been kind of a slacker at blogging lately. Partly because everyone around me is updating their blogs. Here's the thing though, I don't really have much to update on. How could this be you may wonder, after all I am living in Jerusalem. The answer: three midterms last week. Five finals this week. And class all day long. I can honestly say that I haven't left the center for almost an entire week now. But just you wait, by next Friday I'll be done with all my classes (except for two which will not consume my life by any means) and I'll be having one adventure after another for two straight months (as if I haven't already had two months full of adventure) Anyways, until then, here's just a few things I've done in the past week or two:

• Friday Synagogue Service: I've decided if by some terrible reason I am forced to change religions, I'd definitely go with Judaism purely for the Friday services. The entire hour and a half consisted of clapping, dancing, and singing in Hebrew. So fun.
• Mass at the Church of the Holy Seplechure: Catholicism would be a little lower on my list of religions to join. The music wasn't quite as upbeat as the Jews and there was no dancing involved. However, still way awesome, mostly because it was in the church of the Holy Seplechure and four different branches of Catholicism were trying to compete for the loudest service at the same time. Rather entertaining.
• David's Citadel: A structure built by the Crusaders that is now a museum of the history of Jerusalem. The best part about it was our 80 year old tour guide who had eyebrows so long they kept poking him in his eye. Such a sweet old man with a wealth of knowledge.
• Field trip to an underground tunnel showing us the original Western Wall and the Herodian Steps, steps leading to the temple during the time of Herod, which means that Christ would have walked on them (check out photo #10 in your bible).
• Sitting in a study room for hours on end with friends, studying 20% of the time and laughing the other 80%. If I fail my tests at least I had fun, right?
• Israeli Folk Dance lessons: One of the more fun nights in my life up to date. Remember that scene in The Wedding Planner where they are at a Jewish wedding throwing plates against the wall and dancing? Yeah, thats what I learned how to do, minus the whole breaking plates thing. But we did get to yell "Ommpa/Ummpa" (I may have completely massacred the spelling on that) whenever we wanted throughout the night.
• Purim Festival (tomorrow): The Jewish holiday equivalent to Halloween. We're going into the City to buy costumes and we may be going to a Purim dance party. Should be good.
• Field Trip to the Separation Wall (tomorrow): Also, should be good.

Okay, as I wrote it all out I realize that despite being in what feels like lockdown in the center I'm still having adventures. Let's just say, I'll be excited when this week is over, finals are out of the way and classes are over and I can just play in the Old City all day every day.

Scripture Stories Come to Life

Here's the thing about Jerusalem: almost everywhere we walk has a significant event that took place there. But...because it all happened so long ago, some of the sites tend to look very similar to each other. In order to remember what happened at each spot, we've started acting out the scripture story that took place there, all for the sake of a photo.

David and Goliath anyone?

Some Samson and Deliliah action going on here. Weakening him by takin' a razor to his head.

And sometimes we act out Disney movies if nothing from the scriptures happened at the site...

We went to some caves that had the inspiration for Pride Rock in it. It looked so similar we couldn't pass up the opportunity for Mufassa to hold Simba up to the animals below. Don't worry, the reenactment included the singing of many, if not all, of the Lion King tunes.

More reenactments to come...

Walk Like an Egyptian

Here are some photos from my Egypt trip. Sorry there are so many...I couldn't narrow it down very easily. Enjoy!

Mt. Sinai

Me and Jodie on our way to Mt. Sinai- 3 scarfs on my head and socks on my hands and I was still freezing

Muhammad Ali Mosque

Luxor Temple

Horse buggie ride from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple

Karnak Temple in Luxor...there were 134 of these massive columns

Just after my camel ride along the Nile with my camel driver, Akhmad and my camel, Bob Marley

Felucca Ride on the Nile

Great statue of Horus, god of the underworld...or so we think...we saw a lot of ruins that day, they are getting all jumbled up

Courtney, Victoria and I at Hatsephut's Temple

Me and Kennedy at the Step Pyramid of Zoser

Kissing the Sphinx

The sphinx and Pyramids in Giza

Pyramid at the Pyramids...we couldn't resist

Khufu's Great Pyramid in Giza

Me and Victoria at the Egyptian border

Jodie and I overlooking the wilderness

Jerusalem Through Pictures

The supposed rock that Satan tempted Christ to turn into bread.

Our GQ Israeli soldier. I might just bring one home with me.

Just kidding, dad.

Atop the Mount of Temptations near Jericho, where Christ was tempted by Satan during his 40 day fast.

Overlooking the city Jericho. It is the oldest city in the world and the lowest city in the world. It's the city Jericho that Joshua conquered.

A group of us just in front of the Wailing Wall. Portions of it are the remnants of Solomon's Temple that the Jews pray to. On Friday afternoon they welcome in the Sabbath by singing, dancing and praying, we were able to go and celebrate with them. It was an amazing experience.

The Garden of Gethsemane. You already know how I feel about this one.

Allison and I in Zedekiah's Cave "carving out the stone" for Solomon's Temple.

The crew overlooking the Old City. This view never gets old. Ever.

The Dome of the Rock. Even more spectacular in real life, the picture just doesn't do it justice.

Allison and I in the Orson Hyde Gardens, just above the Garden of Gethsemane, overlooking the Old City.

Home Sweet Home.