My Brother--the Yell Leader

My brother Matt is a Yell Leader (the male equivalent of a Cheerleader) for Utah Valley University. Andrew and I had the opportunity to go to a basketball game and watch Matt cheer.

Matt is the guy in the middle. He is the smallest man on the team in both height and chest size.

But he can lift cheerleaders with the rest of them.

Matt is the guy on the "V" who is whistling. I'm so proud of him for learning how to whistle.

There's Matt. He had to wear his tight black cheer uniform for this game.

Matt and another lifting a cheerleader. Matt is in the pair to the far right, only he is on the inside of that. You can see in this picture that he is the smallest man on the team. I think it is funny that some of the guys have poochy tummies. Matt is supposed to go to the gym and bulk up, but he doesn't want to, cuz then he'll have saggy man-boobs when he is old. Instead he runs. I think that is a better idea anyway.

Matt is in the middle of the picture. He is holding up a girl by one of her feet and her bottom. If anyone thinks male cheerleaders are femmy, they should take a look at this butt-grabbing action. As a side note, some male cheerleaders are way not straight. But Matt is straight. He loves girls.

Funny story: Andrew told one of his friends we were going to my brother's basketball game. Our friend, knowing that I and the rest of my family are exceedingly short, exclaimed, "Sarah has a brother who plays basketball?!" Andrew clarified, "Oh no, he's a cheerleader." Heck yes.

Good job Matt! It was fun to watch him cheer.

Do You Write?

Last night, my very sweet little sister-in-law asked if I had advice for writing papers and if I'd ever written a 3-page paper.

Oh yes. I have. You have no idea.

Yesterday I wrote one 3-page paper and was halfway through on a second 3-page paper. I'm stuck on the second one--for my Women and Gender in Art class. I can't think of a feminist critique for the Zeuxis myth. He's ancient Greek, trying to paint Helen of Troy, so uses the best features of five women to depict her. It's logical and doesn't seem as lusty as Pygmalion (he sculpts perfection and falls in love) or Apelles (falls in love with his model, Alexander the Great's favorite mistress, but love conquers all). Maybe I'm a fake feminist. I've tried to write that sort of thing as my critique, but I feel like I'm missing something. Or maybe it's that my prof asks obscure questions (like she did in our last writing assignment).

Anyway...I don't know if it has to do with the fact that all Greek female models seem to be nude models.

Of course, this morning I intended to finish up the paper--and that didn't happen. I've bummed around reading other people's blogs for an hour. I'm thinking a bubble bath would be a good idea.

I actually wanted to go to the gym this morning, but I had a hold on my student account cuz I had some fees that popped up out of nowhere. I just paid them but I doubt my account will be cleared up until later this afternoon.

Which brings me to why I can't workout this afternoon. I'm going to a lecture called "Feminism and the Bible." It should be interesting. That might redeem me as a feminist.

So simply, the answer is, yes I've written a 3-page essay. I've written a 30-page senior thesis. I've written a 25-page paper in two weeks. And because I am a fool, I will be writing a 90ish-page paper in the next year and three months.

Writing advice? Try to know what you are going to say, but if you don't know what to say, just write something. It may be crap, but that crap may help you realize what it is that you really want to say.

Case in point--this blog post.

Humble Prayer

Dear God and Genes,

When I finally have kids, please don't give me bald babies.

Sincerely,

Sarah

~Now I've ruined it and I will have cue ball babies.~

A Long Wait for Some Good News

Yesterday I went to the doctor for a follow-up appointment. At my women's health exam in November, the doctor suspected that I had asthma because she detected a slight wheeze and I have eczema (which apparently is related to asthma). So I sat in the waiting room for 25 minutes before they called me to an examination room. I sat on the crinkly paper on the table while the nurse took my blood pressure, my pulse, and the dates of my last period. And then she left and I sat there. After 15 minutes, I got off the examination table. My tailbone was starting to hurt and I had a lot of homework. I began to read articles for my environmental history seminar. After 15 more minutes, I began to suspect that they had forgotten me. It was after 5 p.m. and I was a little worried that I would trapped in the Student Health and Wellness Center. I texted Andrew and kept reading. Finally, I decided to poke my head out of the room to see if anyone was around. The doctor saw me and said she'd be right with me. And so, 45 minutes after I sat down in the examination room, the doctor came. She looked at the data I had brought with me from my Peak Flow measurements (it measures how much one can exhale) and complimented the chart. Good job Andrew! It was very detailed and had spots for the date, type of exercise, length of exercise, and then three slots for each PFM in the morning, before/during/after the workout, and at night, the average of each test, and the percent of what I should be hitting (475). The doctor said she wished all her patients kept such meticulous records. And then she said, "Well, I was wrong! You don't have asthma." Awesome. And then I walked home and felt winded climbing up the hill and having bus exhaust blow in my lungs.

Christmas Vaction to California - Santa Cruz Island

For Christmas, my parents gave all of their posterity a fun trip to California. After a long drive to Solvang (like an hour northish of Santa Barbara), we slept well and set out early in morning to Ventura, where we would embark on an island adventure to Channel Islands National Park.


The sun was coming up over the Santa Barbara Channel while we were driving and it was so pretty!

Everyone on the boat from the back to the front: Matt, me, Dad, Andrew, Daniel, and Leslie.


Two sea lions chilling on a buoy thing.

An oil rig that is inspiring my future children's book, Counting to 10 with the Oil Production Process.

Dolphins!

I think this is California from the island.


Andrew and I on the dock at Santa Cruz Island.

The grass was really green because there had been a ton of rain in California the week before we got there. Think of us all trekking through black muddy roads.

Binoculars!

Animal tracks! We think they are fox tracks and crow tracks.


Potato Harbor. It was very pretty.

Family picture! Andrew was playing with the lighting and forgot to switch it to normal.Me, Leslie, Dad, Melanie, Ross-i-patootie, Mom, Andrew, Matt, and Daniel.

A cool fence--I just like this picture. Andrew took it.

Some lookout point or something. I don't remember its name.




The family hiking. Ross is leading the way, and is followed by Melanie, Daniel, Dad, me, Leslie, Mom, and Matt.

This is another angle of the lookout harbor thing.

Matt and I playing in the cold water.

Sunset on the boat. Lovely and patriotic (please note the flag in the bottom corner).

It was a great time! No one got sea sick. We all expected Matt to get sick, as he has a history of motion sickness and throwing up on his sisters and their blankets. I got a little sunburned (ya!) and we all enjoyed scraping mud off of our shoes for the rest of the trip. Hopefully I will have time to post more pictures.

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart!

This is probably one of my favorite songs every. Every time I hear it, I just feel happy.

And I found this awesome scene from the Muppet Show. Enjoy Elton John's sexy pink suit!

iJoin

Andrew and I wandered around in the USU bookstore this afternoon (until I started running into things and Andrew made me go home--I'm sick and am going crazy) and I was checking out the iPads. Andrew then told me why he wouldn't get an iPad. And then when we were walking home, I thought about Apple's marketing campaign. It's great--it's all about technology that fits MY (or YOUR) lifestyle. Thus, iPod, iPad, iMac, iTouch, iPhone, and iWhatever. And then I thought that this marketing campaign was somewhat selfish, but still brilliant.

Now, this post is not a bash on selfishness, narcissism, or egocentrism. No. This is a post wherein I present my idea to the world. This idea will help fit important and necessary technologies into MY (or YOUR) lifestyle.

I present to you:

iChurn


It's amazing. It's a touch-screen butter churn. Everyone needs one. With advanced churning capabilities, you can churn your butter to music and feel totally cool. With the iChurn, you thankfully won't be churning butter with a hand crank anymore. The iChurn comes in several colors, like pink, purple, blue, lime green, normal green, yellow, orange, and black. The lid doubles as an LCD screen, which reveals the consistency and doneness of the butter. You can also access the web for delicious recipes and Facebook updates. Thanks to it's high quality processing power, you can now share your butter exploits and conquests with the touch of a touch screen. Conveniently, the iChurn only weighs 1 pound when empty, so you can take it everywhere. Churning butter has now become hip and fun. It's butter churning technology that fits into MY (or YOUR) lifestyle.

iChurns will be sold at all major retailers. The 2G/2 pint iChurn retails at $599 and the 8G/2 quart iChurn retails at $899.

New Year Resolutions and Revolutions

Lots of people make a big deal of how they don't make New Year's Resolutions. I'm making a few goals that I would like to improve in my life during this next year. They are goals that I want to make into lifestyle changes.

Health:I want to be more healthy. I used to be more active and diligent with my workouts, but the major upset in my schedule of marriage has really thrown it off. This year, I want to run 2-3 times a week, and do some other form of exercise on the other days. If running falls through due to knee problems or whatever, I should find another activity to replace it. I also want to each healthier. My biggest weakness is feeling obligated to eat the dessert and the fact is that I DON'T have to eat dessert. I should only eat the ones I know will be good, that I want, and in moderation.

Housewifery:
I love that picture. It makes me think of whenever I make bacon. Anyway, my goal is to be better about wiping down the counters and table after dinner. I always forget to do it.


Master's Degree:
My educational resolutions include figuring out my committee, defending my thesis by the end of April, doing a lot of research during the summer, and begin writing my thesis.

My revolution for school is to stop being scared to share my opinions in class or being worried that I'll hurt someone's feelings by disagreeing with them. I need to stop being so nice in my seminar classes and let people know how ridiculous they are.


Religious:
I am going to work on having more personal and meaningful prayers at night (see Elder Bednar's talk from a few years ago). Instead of just thanking and asking, I'm going to make my prayers more of a conversation with Heavenly Father.


So there you go. Those are my New Year Resolutions. If I remember, I might report on them (except the prayer one, as that's incredibly personal) throughout the year.