HealthProbs&Intramural&FlashPack &SpurtingBlood

Well I made it!
I have survived mid-terms and have a nice week and a half break until any tests or anything major so that's a relief. Besides that, my life's been pretty normal lately except for the fact that it's freaking freezing outside and oh I don't know, it's only October and we've already had the first snow! You heard me right, IT'S SNOWING IN OCTOBER. So basically, I'm going to die. This Texas girl is not going to be handle December. So if I don't post for a couple of weeks, you can basically assume that I have the most boring life ever or that I've frozen to death.

So with this cold weather brings out the worst of my sinuses and allergies. I've pretty much always had sinus problems, I just never knew it was that bad. To me, stuffy noses are just a normal thing and I've just learned to adapt to it.
However, before I started school, my mom took me to an ENT to make sure everything looked okay. With the whole climate change and living on my own, she was worried. And to my surprise, the ENT found that my nose was very swollen and he was shocked I could even breathe out of it. I was taken back because I thought I could breathe just fine! So what then proceeded was a a few medications and nose rinses for a couple of weeks to see how I reacted. When those helped a tiny bit, he wanted me to try a little longer. This past Monday, I went back in to report no change in my sinuses. Therefore, I then got a CT scan so he could get a better look at my sinuses. When the scan was basically clear, the next step was to either try a new spray or get allergy tested to better medicate or prevent my allergies from acting up. Well due to me and my mom's dying curiosity, I am currently scheduled to get allergy tested this Thursday! It basically involves them pricking me a bunch of times to see how I react? I'm not for sure, but I do know that it involves needles. Wish me luck!

So because I'm getting tested next week, I went off of my preventative migraine medication this past Monday. I've also dealt with headaches and migraines for a great part of my life, so I was prescribed some medicine to help prevent migraines this past August. Since I've been on the medication, I haven't gotten any migraines which has been such a blessing. So because I was feeling so good, I thought I would try going off of it to see how I did. With the timing of getting allergy tested and the fact that the preventative medication can't be in my blood for testing, I thought it was a good time to go medicine free for a bit. And with my luck, you can only imagine that that isn't going well right? Well this brings me to my next topic: Intramural volleyball (I know its weird but I promise it relates).

So I'm on a intramural volleyball team with people from my ward and friends from Cypress Stake. I absolutely love it not only because of the people but because its been really fun to be apart of. Our team name is Master Commanders. If you're wondering, it's from an Olan Rogers video (If you don't know him, shame on you).
We won our first game but sadly lost our second (It was really close).
Naturally, we got shirts that I happened to design.

So after we had our game, we practiced for awhile. We kept playing the team we faced (for good practice) and it was pretty fun. Well of course until one of the guys on the other team spiked the ball on my face. Yep. You heard me, right smack dab on my face.

I've always had this fear of getting hit in the face in volleyball so I have this habit or squealing when the ball comes close to my face or when something else scary happens. Sadly, this happens a lot. Well anyways, the ball came so fast that I literally had no time to react or to even let out a squeal of terror. Instead, it just hurt. BAD. I couldn't feel my face for a few minutes and I was crying uncontrollably from laughing, but it got better. Well it got better until about 2 hours later when I developed a throbbing migraine and it was awful. 2 days after I stopped taking my medicine again too!! I went to bed hoping to sleep it off but of course, I woke up with the same throbbing migraine. I took some strong migraine meds that the doctor prescribed (ones to take at an onset of a migraine, not preventative), and I actually felt much better... for awhile. 

To my despair, I have yet to be migraine free. It comes and goes but loves to be strongest when least convenient. The other frustrating thing is that I don't know if it's just from the volleyball or if its normal since I went off my medication. I have to to stay off the preventative until thursday so I sure do hope I can get rid of this nasty migraine. 

So besides all of that, another fun thing we did was something called Flash Pack. Jordan is a part of BYU/SA and is on the activities committee (or something like that). Well anyways, she's been in charge of planning this whole Flash Pack and so of course, as roommate, I had to go but it was actually really fun. We basically just went to a random intramural soccer game, chose a team, and cheered crazily for them. We even got the rosters of the players and made signs for them. 

<-- I made one for Henry and Andrew made one for Christoph...er. 

It was hilarious because the players were like what the heck?! My team didn't win but it was really fun. The only bad thing was that it was FREEZING and I was sure my toes were frozen by the end of the night. 

#IMISSTEXAS

In more recent news, today I tried to give blood in a blood drive but pretty much totally failed. After trying to find a vein for like 5 minutes in my left arm, they went to my right arm. In my right arm, they couldn't find a vein at first but when they finally did, it blew up and it spurted blood all over me. Definitely something I've never experienced before. I didn't actually see the blood because I wasn't looking at the needle and everything (because I don't do well with needles) but I was sitting right next to everyone waiting to give blood and apparently put on quite the show with all the blood spurting. It splattered on my mint green pants and coral jacket but luckily, I got a hold of some hydrogen peroxide and the blood came right out of my clothes. Needless to say, I will be a little more hesitant to give blood next time! I have bruises on both of my arms which makes me nervous because they poke my arms on Thursday for allergy testing! I mean I guess that's cool. 

Laugh of the Day: 

Signing up for classes at midnight and being totally wired on halloween candy. 

This basically comprises of jumping around the room, laughing uncontrollably, and doing weird things. 

#storyofmylife 

Midterms&CollegeFun&FamilyVacations

Wow, where do I even start?
Life's been busy. And I have a lot to talk about. Soooo bear with me while I try to not bore you to death. Okay.

I guess I'll start with only the most exciting news ever- I have been reunited with my mint macbook baby!! FINALLY. After I don't know, like two weeks of waiting for all the repairs of my poor corroded mother board and other damaged parts to be completed, I finally was able to pick up my computer. I can't tell you what a relief that is! College - laptop = awful & extremely difficult to study/do homework/ like anything else ( I don't recommend it).

So midterms are upon us college kids and lets just say I've spent a lot of time endlessly studying (something I'm not very good at). I've got 3 down and just 2 more to go. I can do it... right?
Oh and let's not forget about the rhetorical analysis paper I have due. Let me just say that I absolutely loathe writing rhetorical analysis. I've never been much of a writer, so my writing class has definitely been one of my hardest classes. The first paper I had to write for that class was an opinion editorial that I actually thought was really good (if I do say so myself). However, I get the paper back and it's a 79. First of all, let me just rant about how annoying any grade ending in a 9 is. Like why couldn't you just give me an 80? I think I'd rather have like 76 or 77 than a 79. It's like she's purposely trying to annoy me because my paper was so bad.
But anyways, so when I found out that our next paper was a rhetorical analysis I almost died. Luckily, I got a good article about abortion and it's pretty interesting so that makes it a little bit easier. I've met with my teacher for a conference already and she seemed to really like parts of my analysis, but I'm still convinced my writing teacher secretly hates me, so I can't be too confident yet. I still have a lot of writing and painful revision to do, but I'm so determined to get a good grade. I'm even more determined to get a grade that doesn't end in a 9.

So besides the paper, I have my Intro to Communication Disorders class midterm this week as well. I'm plannning on majoring in Communication Disorders to become an Audiologist so I've really enjoyed this class so far. It's definitely a lot of work and there is so much information to learn, but it is so interesting! The weirdest thing is that I actually really enjoy studying for this class. But that's not a bad thing right? I mean I will be using this stuff for the rest of my life in my career so I'm thinking it's a good sign I'm in the right major.

Besides boring school, there's been a lot of fun things going on at good ol BYU like one of my personal favorites- True Blue! It was during homecoming week where they basically just squirted out all this blue foam over Helaman fields and we rolled around in it and slid down this huge slip and slide. It was great fun. As you can see in this picture, the moment I got there (because I had class and got there late), I got attacked by none other than my roommate and hallmates. The only down side to True Blue is the fact that it stains your skin blue in spots like your elbows, knees, feet, underarms- basically your whole body. So I enjoyed being a smurf or avatar or whatever for a few days. It's been a lifelong dream.
Not really, but I can pretend right?

I also happen to have the best FHE (Family Home Evening) group ever in case you wanted to know. Family Home Evening is every monday and we basically just do lots of fun things and eat cookies. This week, we had a powdered sugar fight! Chandler is allergic to gluten and flour so we improvised and went with powdered sugar ( a note to those who have done it with flour: powdered sugar doesn't paste in your hair and washes off so much easier).
It was way fun.

Excuse the scary red eyes. 

So guess what?! Vacations have been planned for my Thanksgiving, Christmas, and now summer! This is such a first and I'm so excited for what is coming up. For Thanksgiving, I'm driving down to Colorado with my cousins Audrey and Brenn to spend thanksgiving with them and their family. We're going to go skiing (or maybe I'll try snowboarding... still deciding) and I'm so freaking excited to see my best friend, Shelby! We've been close since birth and I've been missing her like crazy! If I can't go home and see my parents and brother, at least I get to see the Ellsworths (they're basically like my second family). 

It's going to be incredibly fun.

So then for Christmas, my parents decided it would be a good idea to take a good family vacation while we have Ashley and Robbie this year (because next year they'll be in Santa Barbara and in 2 years Ashley might be pregnant or have a baby soooo yeah). But anyways, we're going on a cruise! We're going on a 5 day cruise to Yucatan and Cozumel, Mexico. I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. It's going to be way fun and I'm so excited that my whole family will be there. Yay cruises! 

Lastly, just yesterday morning, I was talking to my mom and she brings up maybe going to Orlando, Florida to visit Briana in the summer. Briana is going to be working for Disney in the College Internship Program and so it has been brought up a few times about going to visit her, but nothing serious. Well anyways, my mom realized there is a conference going on in late May that she wants to be a part of to sell and advertise so she basically decided that we're going! The only tricky part is that it's the end of school for my brother and my Dad has to tape graduations. But I'm for sure going so getting this text in class really made my day ->
We're going to be staying in Disney World and it'll be me, Frank, and hopefully Ashley (and Robbie) just hitting up the parks all day. Can you say some serious sibling fun? I'm too excited right now.

Laugh of the Day: 

So on Tuesday, I had to take my Statistics midterm and study for a gazillion other things like all day. That night, we had volleyball practice (because I'm on an intramural team) and it was outside on the sand courts where it was way windy and cold. Not everyone could make it, and I think that since I hadn't done anything that day besides study, everything was funny. Jordan and I could not stop laughing about anything and everything. We didn't do so well volleyball wise, but hey, at least we had fun yeah? Can't say this is the first time something like this has happened but oh well, it was pretty funny to watch I bet.
<----Oh and let me just finish off with this picture.

Yes,
this guy is PASSED OUT on the couch in the library.
Yes,
he did snore.
Yes,
his backpack fell off the couch and scared the crap out of me.
Yes,
he never woke up while I was in the library.
Will I ever be this guy?
NO.
It still amazes me as to where people decide to sleep on campus. I never would want to sleep where a bunch of people would walk by and see me. Like what if I drool or do something weird? Yeah, no thanks.
But nonetheless, they are pretty funny to laugh at.

159Days

First of all, sorry I haven't posted in awhile but my computer has yet to return from the doctor (fingers crossed I get it in the next couple of days) and so it's been hard to find access to a computer.

Second of all, I was going to blab on and tell about my oh so exciting life over the past week, but it honestly doesn't seem to be as important anymore after today.
Twice a year, my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) holds a general conference where the leaders and prophet of the church speaks to us and gives us guidance relevant to us today. Well this morning at the 1st session, President Thomas S. Monson announced that the serving age for worthy men and women to serve missions has been changed. Previously, men could serve at 19 and women at 21. But today, he announced that men can now serve at 18 and women at 19.
This is basically one of the biggest changes in the church that I might ever experience and it couldn't be more relevant to me.

159 days, 10 hours, 25 minutes and 43 seconds.

That's when I'll turn 19.
Needless to say I've been freaking out all day. Shock, confusion, scariness, nervousness, excitement, happiness: all spinning around in my head at the same time. The moment Jordan and I heard the announcement, I got chills. We both were freaking out, too in shock to even let it sink in. We had a good 30 minutes where we both just sat in silence and tried to process it. Even when I think about it now, I get chills. I could be leaving for a mission this summer! Of course, I don't have to leave until I'm ready, but it's still a crazy thought.
I've wanted to serve a mission for as long as I can remember and it probably all started with the example of my mom. She served a mission to Sweden and I can remember so many cool stories that she's told throughout the years. I know that it would be the right thing to do and I can't think of anything better than sharing the gospel 24-7, but it's definitely a decision that I'll have to ponder and pray about. I'm so grateful for general conference though and I do know that this change will bring so many more missionaries into the field. And who knows, maybe one of those missionaries could be me.

So we missed a lot of the saturday morning session (because we accidentally slept in) but we got this amazing opportunity to drive down to Salt Lake for the afternoon session. One of Briana's friends had two tickets so Jordan and I jumped on the opportunity. I felt that being in the presence of all the general authorities and feeling the spirit so strongly would help our conflicted minds with the whole missionary announcement. And I wasn't wrong! The conference center was amazing and I can't even explain how cool of an experience it was. I'm so happy to be a mormon and to be blessed with the gospel. I honestly don't know where my life would be without it.

No Laugh for Today: 

Rather just a lot of deep thought. But that's okay every now and then right?