Week number thirteen

Well, It's been fun kids.
Thanks for the adventures.
This is my last week with my one-a-week adventures blog. Well at least it's my last week to write in this blog for my class. I may or may not keep writing in this blog after I get home from school. I have about 2 months at home before I leave for my mission so maybe keeping this blog up will keep me busy. On top of all the studying I'm going to do of course. I need to brush up on my scriptures and Preach my Gospel knowledge. I feel so unprepared so Thank GOODNESS I have some time to really study and prepare before I head out for the MTC in February. I am so excited. My mission has consumed my life and I'm not even serving yet. Well I have enjoyed seeking out adventures this semester and I had a blast every week. Thank you MCOM 320!

My professor asked if we would blog on what we thought about the class. I have no problem with this because I loved the class! It is seriously one of the most useful classes I have taken at BYU. Even during the stressful projects and papers I was still grateful I was taking it. I learned so much and feel so much more prepared to enter the work field. I feel so much more confident with writing, being interviewed, grammar, networking, and so much more. Thank you MCOM 320 and Thank you Professor Thomas!
I created a little survey for the class and what others think about it. Here is the link and some stats.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dHJUYUZlc2gzX1FkNUhSc3o2cjJ6dXc6MQ

25 responses

Summary See complete responses

Have you heard of MCOM 320?
	Yes 11 44% No 14 56%

Would you ever take MCOM 320?
	Yes 14 56% No 11 44%

How interested are you in taking this class?
	not at all interested 11 44% kind of interested 6 24% interested 1 4% very interested 6 24% I am taking it in the future 1 4%

Would you take this class as a GE, only if you had to for your major, to gain experience or for fun?
	Only if my major required it 14 56% For fun 2 8% To fulfill my advanced writing GE 11 44% To gain experience 9 36% People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

If you have taken this class would you recommend it?
	I recommend not taking it. 10 40% The class was alright. Take it if you want. 4 16% I recommend taking this class. 2 8% I highly recommend taking this class. It is very useful. 9 36%

Number of daily responses

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Week number twelve

Wow, only one more week after this. I can't believe how fast this semester went! I only have a couple more weeks and then I go home for good. And then it's off on my mission I go. I am so excited. I kind of wish it was already February but at the same time there are so many things I need to do and learn before I leave so I'm glad I have some time to prepare.

Now.... This week.... First off:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

My family came up to Utah this year instead of all of us going home. It's kind of a bummer not to be able to go home to California buuuuut as long as I'm with my family life is good. W had an absolute BLAST!! We ate so much good food and played so many fun games. Seriously every night was a party. I love my family so much! They are the best.

My mom brought up some crafts and I really took a liking to watercolor painting. I'm not the best drawer or artist, but I have come to find (as of this week) that I simply adore painting! I really love it! I'm not good by any means but let me just say I lost a lot of sleep because of it. Everyone would go to bed but I just couldn't stop painting. I painted quite a few things and my mom had this good idea where we paint something and then you add lace/beads/writing/sparkles/etc. they look awesome and all of the ones I made have special meanings to me so it was fun to create them. Now yes I have painted before so that's not my new adventure for this week. But I will tell you what it was.....

Every year my family makes my grandma Gallacher's famous monkey rolls! Mackenna usually makes them but she lives in D.C. Nw and couldn't make it to thanksgiving this year so my mom put me in charge of e much loved rolls. This wouldn't seem like a big deal but you see, my family adores these rolls. Thanksgiving=monkey rolls. If these aren't good everyone would be sad and upset. You cannot mess them up. They are number one. So the pressure was on. My mom gave me the recipe which honestly didn't have directions but more like just a list of the ingredients and a couple of pointers. well the results were positive! Very positive! I nailed the rolls with the help of my brother in law Brandon who insisted on learning how to make them because he loves them so much! Haha as do we all! They aren't super hard but there are definitely tricks to making them good. For example you can't knead them or mix them too much or else they get too tough. They turned it perfect and we ate the with the homemade strawberry jam I made my family this summer. (my job every summer-- which I love because I love to make jam. It's strangely therapeutic for me)

Thanksgiving was so delicious and I couldn't have asked for a better time! I soaked it up since I won't be here next thanksgiving. Bu I'll be in Latvia so it's okay. :)

Week number 11

This week I had the honor of attending "Savior of the World" up in Salt Lake. My wonderful roommate Carley Well's mother bought us all tickets. So my best friends and roommates (Lauren Mcfadyen, Erica Hawkins, and Carley Wells) headed up to salt lake after stopping at little Caesars for dinner. Yes, we did buy 2 whole pizzas and crazy bread. And YES we finished it all. haha. Needless to say we love pizza. The play was shown in the Conference Center Theater. The costumes were so fun and colorful and the singers were so amazing. Funny, I didn't even know that theater existed! The play was just lovely, inspiring, and uplifting. It made me think about the Savior and His atonement and we all cried a bit. I especially loved the part when the spirits were resurrected and they were all so happy to see each other again. That part really hit me. It's going to be SO wonderful when we are all reunited with all of our loved ones. Friends an family on earth and in heaven. What a glorious reunion that is going to be.
After the play we stopped off at Hatch family chocolate. (http://hatchfamilychocolates.com/) We heard that it is famous for its hot chocolate so we had to stop by and give it a try. I of course got a banana-chocolate ice cream shake. My absolute FAVORITE! Maybe I should branch out sometime? haha. After running and playing around in the newly fallen snow we headed back to Provo feeling very uplifted and full of chocolate! :)

Week number ten

Wow, TEN weeks already?
That's insane.
I can't believe the semester is almost over! We only have a couple more weeks of school and then I go home for good! Well, until 2013. Weird. Provo has been my life for over 2 years now and it feels so weird knowing I won't be cominG back here with everyone else and going back to school for such a long time. But hey, I'm going on a MISSION to LATVIA! So it's ok. I think I'm luckier than all those school zoobies. hahah.

Ok this week I am kind of embarrassed about what I am going to write about. I'm not embarrassed it happened but I think it is kind of a funny thing to write about. It honestly is something not only worth writing about but it's also pretty funny.
So.... You are all aware that this week we had a very historical date? Yep!
... 11/11/11....
and what about adding the special time of day with it?
...11:11:11...
Put it together and what do you got?
11/11/11/11/11/11
How sweet is that!?
Here is the story. Don't judge me for blogging about this. I just honestly don't have a better story for this week. haha

I went to an 11/11/11 party and I was outside with a bunch of my friends when everyone started to count down to 11:11pm. That special time of day. The time and day in History that is ALL ONES! haha. Everyone counted down like news years and then when everyone started to scream my good friend hugged me. I looked up and HELLO he kissed me right on the lips. hahaha. I seriously just started laughing my head off. Whoops, I was not expecting that! We joked the rest of the night about the random kiss.
But hey, I got smooched on 11/11/11/11/11/11!!!! What a great day in History.
Now it's not that I've never been kissed. But that I've never been kissed on 11/11/11/11:11. haha. So silly I know, but hey, not everyone can say they got kissed at this amzing all ones date and time.

week number nine

Well this weeks adventure happened quite by accident. We had a big group date planned to go to comedysports. Lauren and Trent Mcfadyen and their dates planned it and invited Nick Newell and I so we were totally stoked to go! I went to comedysports about a year ago and it was HILARIOUS! Seriously so funny! I’ve wanted to go back ever since so I was seriously so excited to go. So we all drive together and we get there and Nick and I find out all of the other couples had bought their tickets online and Nick and I missed the ball I guess because we didn’t do that. Whoops! I was super bummed but I mean, hello it was a Friday night and we were on Center Street... there was bound to be something fun right? Well here comes the adventure.... I’ve been to Center Street obviously but I’ve never just walked down center street and explored it. So Nick and I started our adventure. First we came upon an open art gallery show! They had paintings by a bunch of different painters including James Christensen. We walked around and got free cookies and cider! Yum! Nick was determined to go to the guitar store so we walked a little farther down and saw many exciting stores on the way there. I LOVE CENTER STREET! It’s the cutest street in Provo. Not that there is a lot of competition here... haha. (Quote by Brendan Lee) The best part? When we went into the guitar store and there was a random concert going on in the back! We snuck in and heard a couple songs from this one guy who I have no idea who he was. He was probably in his 50s or so and he did a lot of covers and a couple of originals. It was way random and sweet. Next we walked around the other side of Center Street and found some treasures there as well. I want to go back in the daytime when al the cool stores are actually open and I can explore each of the antiques stores and what not. There was construction going on and a car almost hit us 2 or 3 times but we made it out alive. BARELY. Jk but I had the best time exploring and I just gotta go back and explore more! Thanks Nick for going on this adventure for me!

Week number eight

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

This past weekend I went to Panguitch, UT. My friend, Nick Newell's mom, Jorli Perine, has a cabin there and boy oh boy is it the coolest place ever! The town of Panguitch is tiny. Her cabin is about 10 minutes outside of the main town on 22 acres and is by a beautiful river. Seriously the coolest place ever.
The crew consisted of: Nick Newell, Camryn Gallacher, Erica Hawkins, Nicole Hawkins, Carley Wells, Kendall Blake, Mike Smith, Tyler Allan, Ammon Orgill, Erin Simmons, Scott Mathis,
Jeff Larson, Krissy Bentley, and Chris.
Our adventures went like this.
First we all got in our costumes and we frolicked around in the wilderness. Then we played some music and sang some songs while Nick, Mike, and Jorli's friend Gary (favorite human I've ever met) played their guitars. We then had the best dinner and yummy dessert. We had a costume contest which I can proudly say I won for most original. I won a beautiful blanket! I was a toilet. Yes, you heard right. I was a toilet! haha it was classic.
After dinner and dessert we bundled up and we went outside to enjoy the AMAZING stars!!!! It was literally the best star gazing of all time! Incredible x10. So beautiful. To get in the spirit of Halloween we told some scary stories in a circle holding the flashlight under our faces like little kids. Classic.
The next activity consisted of some people watching Sherlock holmes while others made herbal tea and we played funny games and danced. The best part about this night you ask? Just being with these amazing, wonderful, and hilarious people. I just adore each of them.
We all talked and played into the week hours of the night and then headed for bed ready for another day of adventure!
The next morning after breakfast we all piled in the cars and headed for town! We first went to Jorli's quilt and painting shop. She is an AMAZING painter. I was so blown away! Her shop was the most darling thing I've ever seen! Gary showed us around and told us all about the bed and breakfast they just built. It is so cute!
We walked down the main street and stopped in a thrift store. Of course. It's where we shop best. We found all sorts of hidden treasures. I for one found an old book with several stories in it. Once in particular called "walkabout". Uh, do I even need to say it? I MUST read that story! Walkabouts are the best idea. We spent more time than normal people would in a thrift shop and I must say, I think each of us found a treasure of some sorts.
When we got back to the cabin half the group had to leave to get back to Provo for various commitments. Nick, Nicole, Mike, Jeff, Chris, Krissy, and I stayed to continue our adventures.
Next up we played some baseball with some bats that nick brought. We used these little apples for our balls. We had the grandest time trying to hit a ball "out of the park" or over the second fence.
Final Destination: BRYCE CANYON!
I was sooo excited when I found out Bryce Canyon was only 20 minutes away from the main town. Of course we all watned to go explore it and boy, that's exactly what we did! We went to many different look out points and explored them all! We were very lucky and got to watch the sunset there as well. So beautiful! The canyon is amazing! As Gary puts it, "it's like DQ with color." None of us are very sure what he meant by that but it was funny! haha. He also said that it would strike you with amazement at how incredible God's creations are. He was 100% right about that. I thought of one of my favorite hymns, "For the beauty of the Earth." This earth is so beautiful! I loved every second of my experience at Bryce Canyon. except for when I almost had a heart attack becasue of my fear of heights. I used to never be afraid of heights. Now I'm the biggest baby and can hardly move when I'm high up. I don't know what happened to me. I get it from my dad though. He hates heights. I used to love them! I'm confused. If growing up means more fears then I don't want to keep doing it anymore.
We drove home, and stopped for some ice cream and a movie. We rented the classic 80's movie called Poltergeist.


Super funny movie but because I am a baby when it comes to scary movies I was still a little sacred in some parts. But mostly we just laughed at it. We ate our ice cream and all snuggled up together. We had deep talks until about 4:30am and then decided to get some shut eye for the 2 hours we had until we needed to get up to leave and drive home to make it in time for church.
It was sad to leave our dear town of Panguitch but we hope to go back again sometime soon! Thank you to everyone who made this Halloween getaway the best anyone could ask for!! I just adore my friends. I feel so lucky to have them!!
Here's the video on youtube of our adventures

click here: HALLOWEEN GETAWAY!

Week number seven

This week I cooked Shrimp! Yep, I even had to de-vein them! I thought it was going to be totally disgusting but I actually had no problem doing it. We made shrimp fettuccine Alfredo in my cooking class. We had to cook the shrimp lots of veggies and noodles and we also made the sauce from scratch! I love my cooing class! I love to cook and it's so fun to cook things like shrimp alfredo. I don't know if I'll ever make it again... I don't like shrimp. But now I know how to de-vein and cook a shrimp. maybe my future husband will love shrimp and I'll use this knowledge. haha. Sea food isn't my favorite but I found out tonight that I don't mind it as much as I thought I did. I like some fish! Some of the other groups cooked a bunch of different kinds of fish and I was brave and tried them all! I actually enjoyed them! It's so true that the older you get, the more food you like. Funny concept but I believe it.

Week number six

Well another week has gone by. I sure did have an adventure this week, although I'm not sure how much I liked it.
My friend Carly Walker puts on a concert thing every month in Provo called Music Outlet. Local singers and bands from Salt lake and Provo come and play and it's loads of fun! Me and one of my best friends, Nick Newell, decided that we would sing a song for the next one. Me and nick mess around singing all the time and one day we decided to perform at this concert. I decided that would be the perfect adventure for this week. I have never sang an entire song in front of a group of people. Well, I mean, by myself. And even though I'm singing with Nick I've still never done that! I've sang in groups and in choirs obviously but I've always been too afraid to sing alone.

Well, I did it. It was the most horrifying experience I've ever experienced. I didn't like it. haha. We sang "Dream a little Dream of Me" By the mamas and papas.I sang in English and Nick sang in French. I got really nervous and I think I sounded funny. Oh well I guess. It was on my bucket list to sing a song at a concert so I had to do it once in my life time. Now I'm just so embarrassed I did it. haha. I don't know what it is but I can mess around and sing with my friends but I can't sing for real for real with very many people. Nick is one of the only people I can sing with and feel comfortable. But the hundreds of people at Music outlet was just one too many people for me. haha. But I can say that I did it and it's over and I just want to forget about it now. haha
Shout out to Nick Newell though! He did a fabulous job on the guitar! And his voice? Seriously ladies? I will be shocked if every girl at the show didn't fall in love with him! He is seriously SO GOOD! I love hearing him sing. Thanks for singing with me Nick! You're the best friend a girl could ask for!!

Week number five

Guess what?

I got it.

I GOT MY MISSION CALL!!!

I opened it at 5:00pm on Wednesday October 5 2011.

I got out of my ASL class at 4:00 and walked home nervous and excited. I can't describe the way I felt as I walked up to the mailbox. All I could think about was how if that envelope was in that mailbox I would finally know where I was going to spend a year and a half of my life preaching the gospel. I slowly opened the mailbox and there it was. I snatched it right up and ran to my door. My roommate, Erica Hawkins, was sitting on the couch and when I burst through the door and she saw the envelope in my hand we both started screaming with excitement. Then of course I started crying. I am such a cry baby! I immediately called my family members and told them I was going to open it in an hour. My family in California all got on skype and a bunch of my friends came over for the grand opening!

Dear Sister Gallacher:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the:
BALTIC MISSION.
You should report to the Provo MTC on Wednesday, February 8, 2012.
You will prepare to teach the gospel in the Latvian Language.


When I opened my call and read the Baltic Mission I didn't know what that even meant. I had never heard of that mission. I only realized where I was going when I read that I would be speaking Latvian. I know where Latvia is! haha. I was even more excited when I found out that the Baltic mission covers Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania! It also says that my language assignment may be modified according to my mission presidents needs so basically I could learn Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, or Russian while on the mission! I hope I get to learn more than one language. I would love that.



Well the moment I have waited for for 20 and a half years has finally come and gone. I have always wanted to serve a mission and I finally know where I will be serving.

I won't deny that at first I was so incredibly scared. I had voiced to my mom earlier that the only place I was afraid to go was Russia and let's face it, the Baltic states are basically Russia. They just gained independence in 1991 or so. But as I thought and pondered about it my mind has totally been changed. OF COURSE I'm going to the Baltics! It is perfect! I couldn't think of another place I'd want to go.

It's a weird thing and I don't know if someone would understand unless they got a mission call of their own. I have never been to the Baltic states. I don't even know what they look like, but I am already so inlove with everything about them. My heart is overflowing with love for the people. I can't wait to meet them. I can't wait to serve them. I can't wait to love them. I can't wait to teach the gospel to them. I can't wait to bring them the happiness I have from the knowledge of my Heavenly Father's love. I know that I was called there by inspiration. I am SO excited! I can picture the people in my head and I am so anxious to go and find them, serve them, and love them. I can't even imagine not going to the Baltic states. I know there are people there that I promised I would find and bring the gospel to. It seems impossible to love people you don't know anything about, but I can promise that you can. I do. I love my future friends.



Family! Love skype!
Roommates


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150835872605324&set=t.502274932&type=3&theater

Week number four

This week I went on a Murder Mystery date!! I have ALWAYS wanted to do this so I was so ecstatic when I found out I could go! (I had to leave my cooking lab a bit early to make it there on time...opps). Let me first explain the game. First, we all got assigned characters prior to the date. I was a British secretary, my date was a retired general that just got off a safari, My sister, Cami, and her date were Russian ambassadors. The other couples were a Chinese man and his daughter, geishas, and other funny characters. We all came totally decked out in our costumes. We also had to speak in our characters accent. Thankfully I got a British character because I would not have been able to do Russian or Chinese accent. haha. We sat around the dinner table and all got a little booklet that explained who we were and our secrets. For example, my name was Miss D. Meaner (funny, clever name right?) and I was the secretary of Ivan titcher, but I was also secretly in the British Secret Service but nobody knew it. The game was based on the murder of Mr. Big Job, the bodyguard of the Japanese embarrassed. We all went around and said our lines that we would read from our booklet. What we would read out loud to the others and explain where we were at certain times of the night of the murder. Secrets would unfold and people would figure things out by asking questions and putting together information that each person would share throughout the dinner. HOLD IT…. let me first explain how AMAZING the dinner was! (Shout out to Kristi McArthur for providing the food!) We had a 5-course Chinese meal that was incredibly delicious! Well the mystery unfolded and guess who was the murderer…. Yup, ME! Haha. The funny thing is the murderer doesn’t know they are the murderer until the end either so when I heard the clues I wanted to guess myself. My character was suspicious. The game was super fun and we all had a fun time acting out our characters and eating the fabulous food! We ended the night playing some Dance Central! Haha, SO FUNNY! Man, I was cracking up. Mostly at myself… I’m so uncoordinated it’s embarrassing.If anyone has never gone on a mystery murder date I would highly suggest you buy the game and play it. So worth it.

Here is the description on the internet so that it will make more sense:

The Time: January 1931. The Place: An express train bound for Moscow from Vladivostock on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.The Victim: The Ambassador of Japan's personal bodyguard, the enigmatic Mr Big Job.The Scene: It's a classic locked-room mystery! The victim is found in a cabin that has been bolted from the inside!The Background:The train is on a peace mission. Hosted by the Russians, there are delegations from China and Japan together with a pair of British 'observers'.The Suspects: Eight fellow passengers, each hiding a guilty secret, have been implicated in the murder.Your Mission: Over the course of a dinner party you must unravel the mystery and help Komrade Ivan Inkling to solve this intriguing whodunit!

And here is the link to buy the game if you want to play it!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006Z86L4/creativityunleas

Week number three

Well, another week has gone by and this weeks adventure will, by far, have the longest, most profound effects on my life than any other this semester.

This week I turned in my mission papers.

That's right.

I am going to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's true, and I cannot wait to be a full-time missionary. I have wanted to serve a mission since I was a little girl. I would talk about it with my parents and friends and say proudly, "one day I am going to serve a mission and I simply cannot wait for that day." Throughout my life the option of serving a mission came and went as I dated, went to college, and made life plans. For a while I really did believe that serving a mission was not going to happen for me. Especially when I switched my major from Humanities to Communication Disorders. My class schedule became very complicated and leaving when I actually turn 21 (may 31 2012) made serving a mission and finishing school in a timely matter very difficult. After figuring things out, it came out that I would graduate a year later on top of the year and a half of serving a mission. So serving a mission would put me two and a half years behind in school. Which isn't the end of the world but it would really set me back since this next winter and the winter I got home I would not be able to take any classes for my major. I felt like those two semesters of being home but not being able to take classes would be such a waste of time. I felt defeated. It seemed like serving a mission was not in Heavenly Father's plan for me and I was devastated because I still felt like I was supposed too. I prayed and even though I was confused, I knew everything would be OK. That's when I heard from a friend that there are some cases where people can get special permission to go on a mission early if they have a really good reason. What is a better reason than my academics? So I made an appointment with the bishop to ask him that very question. I asked him if this little fun fact was true and he had never heard of a sister going early before, but he said he would call the mission office and ask. A week later I heard back with the news that IT WAS possible and the decision whether I could leave early or not was up to my stake president. So what did I do next? I met with my Stake President and I got the special permission I needed to start my papers a couple weeks after that. Going through the process of requesting this special permission to leave early, I don’t think I actually thought it would work. It didn’t seem real. When I got the phone call from my bishop that everything was good to go and I could start my papers, my eyes filled with tears of joy and also with tears of fear. I thought to myself, "Can I really do this?" For weeks I told myself I was going but still felt some doubts in the back of my mind wondering if I would actually go through with it. I knew I wanted too, I just didn't know if I actually could do it. I didn't know if I could leave my amazing, beautiful family for so long. I didn’t know if I could leave my friends, school, and life at BYU behind. I started to doubt if a mission really was the thing for me. I knew that making a decision and taking it before the Lord was the only way to calm and settle my fears and insecurities about serving a full-time mission. The answer didn't come to me easily. In fact I couldn't tell you the day or even the week that I made the decision to actually go on a mission. I never really knew for sure until the night I had my Stake President interview. Even with all of my doubts, I kept moving forward. By the time I submitted my papers I could not have been happier or more sure of anything in my life. My availability date is January 1, 2012. After weeks of praying and preparing I finally submitted my papers and I cannot wait to receive my call in the next few weeks! I will most definitely blog about opening my call. That’s something I’ve definitely never done before. :)

My mission picture

Week Number Two

Well, this week's adventure may end up being my favorite of the whole semester. I guess I'll have to wait and see though.

This weeks journey took us to many different places such as: Riverwoods, Bicentennial Park, and the BYU football stadium. These places are where we created our

PERFECT DAY.

I have always wanted to do this but never actually have. We came up with 10 different categories to fulfill our perfect day.

1. SHOPPING
We started out with a little shopping. My roommates Lauren McFadyen and Erica Hawkins and I (my other roommate Carley Wells was writing a paper. We missed her dearly!) went to the Riverwoods where we shopped a little bit and walked around the cute outdoor mall. Gotta have a little bit of shopping in the perfect day! We all bought a skirt--only $7. What a steal!

2. FOOD

After we met up with our friends Nick Newell, Mike Smith, Nicole Hawkins, and Tyler Allen. So many of my very favorite people together is definitely a recipe for the perfect day! We packed an amazing, wonderful, and delicious lunch and then all headed to bicentennial park. We packed sandwiches, yogurt, chocolate milk, chips, oreos, wheat thins and cream cheese, and some fruit. Can you say perfect?

3. LEARNING/EDUCATION

Then Nick read us all some poems by Robert Frost. Naturally he read them in a British accent. We sat there and soaked in the words of wisdom for a while. Poetry at a picnic. What a joy.

4.EXERCISE

We then ran around and rolled down the hills, played leap frog, soccer, and tag. We climbed trees and of course as soon as we found some mud we put it on our faces like Indians.

5. MUSIC

Nick and I brought our guitars so to fulfill our music portion we all played some songs and sang our hearts out. We even sang some original Blues songs.

6. SPIRITUALITY

We then shared favorite scriptures.

7. NATURE

Let me just tell you this one thing: Bicentennial park is the most AWESOME park I know. They have this amazing jungle/rain forest trail that you can walk through. Tyler and Nick played "I'll follow you through the dark" as we sang along as we walked through the beautiful trail of jungle. I have to go back to Costa Rica. Or maybe actually go to the Amazon.

8. COURAGE

Well, Nick says that putting the mud on our face was courageous because it actually smelt horrible. Also rolling down the hill was courageous since I was sick when I got to the bottom. Maybe even climbing to the top of the tree could count for our courageous act.

9. SPORTS

Let's not forget the funnest and saddest football game I've ever gone too... Yeah, BYU lost to the U tonight. How tragically horrible. But we had the best time together and screamed and cheered for our beloved BYU team.

Goodness I just love my Number 10 on the list:

10. FRIENDS
I have the best friends in the whole wide world!! I simply adore them.

For those of you who are my friends on facebook you can see some awesome footage we took of our day.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2019956012187&ref=notif&notif_t=video_comment_tagged

Week number one

Okay, so I know it's only the first week, but I'm already going to cheat. You see, I floated down the Provo River on Saturday and I REALLY want to write about that. So can that count as my weekly adventure for this week? Shh. Just don't tell anyone. Saturday is at the end of the week anyway, right? :)

Let me just start off by saying that I have wanted to do this for 2 years now! I heard about it my freshman year and for some crazy reason I never actually did it until now. Why? I'll never know because it was absolutely wonderful!
To get there you drive up the Canyon until you see a sign that says, "Rent tubes" on your right (Just before Vivian park). It's $15 per person, which includes: parking, tube, life-jacket, and shuttle up the canyon to the starting point. So not too bad of a price, especially for how much fun it is. I say it's totally worth it! You can pay with a card or cash and you leave your keys with them. Then you grab your life-jacket (super old school jackets that are totally awesome!) and your tube and you take the shuttle 10-15 or so minutes up the canyon.

Note to all new floaters: Don't try and hold on to your partners and their tubes.

Especially when you first start off. It doesn't work. Why? Because you float to the side and into old trees and branches that might as well be knives. Yes, this happened to me and the 7 or so girls that tried to link together. We went straight for dagger-branch lane and we were all screaming not knowing how to push ourselves from going that way (TIP: you let go and maneuver yourself with your hands... duh.) So that is how I got the cut on the side of my face. opps. Now I know, I guess. We let go and laughed off the fear that overtook us for about 5 seconds. haha. Later down the river you can link up and it works just fine. It is true, however, that you can't lay back and close your eyes the entire time because there are times where you need to push yourself to one side to avoid a tree or a rock...etc... but let me tell you I wouldn't close my eyes if someone paid me! It was SO BEAUTIFUL! The whole way down I thought I was in another country floating through forests and jungles. Normally I would blame that on my imagination, but I know for a fact this was real. Utah is so amazing to me. Every mountain looks different. While you drive up the canyon notice how on your left there is a rocky, gray mountain and on your right it's lush green and then all of the sudden it's a desert. Seriously so cool. I couldn't take my eyes off the incredible mountains the whole float down--which was probably about 2 or so hours. If you want to try something fun lay on your stomach and use your hands to push yourself in circles. You can get going really fast! Just be careful you don't get too dizzy! The river is pretty consistent but there are spots that take you pretty fast or pretty slow. It's never scary though, so don't be afraid. All in all we had a fantastic time and I will totally do it again in the future.

Floating down the Provo River was a total success!

I loved every second of the ride!

Pre-Week introductoin

Well, here I am folks. To start off, I am going to explain how this blog came to be. I am in a business writing class (M COM320) this semester at Brigham Young University and for one of our weekly homework assignments we have to write in a blog. I already have a couple blogs, such as my personal journal and my travel blog, but I decided I wanted to try something new. Our assignment is to write in a blog once a week about whatever we want. I thought about what topics I might want to write about when this idea popped in my head and now this HW assignment is going to be so much more fun than any I've had before. I am going to take this opportunity to do one thing a week that I have never done before and then write about it. I will write down my experiences whether they be a weekend trip to a state I've never been or to bake homemade bread for the first time. Maybe I'll even give tutorials on some of my projects. Here I go, world.
This will be my new adventures journal....

The 1-a-week adventures of Maddie.

Starting NOW I will begin this new endeavor and I can't wait to share it with you all.