I just finished about 6 hours' worth of writing out sub plans and getting everything ready and put together for the 7 class sessions I will miss while in Indiana and Mexico.

It'll be worth it......It'll be worth it.......It'll be worth it.......It'll be worth it.

My oldest brother is getting married a week from today. If you want the truth, I never thought he'd get married. This is quite a miracle. A wedding also means I get to go home in 2 days! I'm really excited to see my family and to be there for such a special occasion.

I'm a groomsmaid in the wedding - they're having bridesmen (Dominika's brothers) and groomsmaids (Isaac's sisters) instead of the other way around. Cute, right? Yeah. Anyway, so a few weeks ago I tried on my dress and realized it shows a lot of skin that hasn't seen the sun in a while: my legs below the knee and my arms up to the shoulders. I needed to fix that, obviously, because I can't be lookin' like a fool in the pictures. Especially since Dominika's family all has beautiful chocolatey smooth skin. I'm going to Mexico the day after I get back from Indiana, which would've been really great if it had been right before the wedding, since I'd have sunkissed Mexico skin. Not so.

I don't do the tanning bed and I'm too poor for a spray tan and I'm a little afraid of coming out orange like Ross from Friends. So I decided to go with some self-tanner. My mom's used it before and I've never thought she looked weird. So I found one, tried it out on my legs, and loved it! Instant color, not too extreme, and no skin damage. The problem then arose of my arms and chest, which were just as white as my legs. I can't be having tan legs and ghost arms. But if I put it on my arms, I've gotta put it on my chest. And if I put it on my chest, do I put it on my neck? And if it goes on my neck, how do I not put in on my face? Quite honestly, putting sunless tanner on my face is a scary thought. Conclusion: I don't know what to do.

Then the weather thought itself so kind as to help me out. As I mentioned previously, I'm training for a half marathon in about a month so I run outside a lot. The weather has been gorgeous lately, so I decided I'd just run in my tank top, get a little sun every time and I'd be set by April 1st. Yesterday was my long run - 12 miles, which took me 2.5 hours. When I got home, I spread a blanket on the grass and stretched and read my scriptures to soak up a few more rays. I'm figuring, it's March which is barely spring so a short time in the sun isn't gonna cut it. We are, after all, still quite a ways from the sun.

Last night as I was getting ready to go out, I noticed I had some tan lines. Yessss.... Then as I was in the shower, I noticed it was painful to run my loofah over my shoulders. Wait.... Then after I got out of the shower, I realized I'm a lobster. In my attempt to get just a little color so my arms and neck would match my legs, I burned my shoulders and chest. Score.

Here's to hoping it turns to a tan before Sunday but waits to peel until Monday.

In further get-myself-ready-to-look-good-in-wedding-pictures news, my roommate Whitney has been teaching me how to curl my hair with a straightener. My first reaction when I have a hard time with my hair is to get frustrated, make frustrated noises, slam whatever tool I'm using on the bathroom counter, and pull my hair up and out of my face, all the while cursing my uncooperative hair and my lack of hair styling ability. I'll admit, I was tempted to commence that frustration process several times while she was teaching me, but since someone else was in the room and I didn't want to lose face in front of my friend, I pretended to laugh about it, all the while seething inside.

I practiced again today, and I am happy to admit I did about two-thirds of it on my own! She had to help me with a few in the back and then she pretty much had to fix half of what I did on my right side, but if you were to look at my head from my left side, you'd think I was some sort of professional hair stylist.

Maybe I'll just always keep my left side to the audience and the camera. My left side's my good side anyway.

To celebrate my roommate Aubrey's impending marriage, Whitney and I threw her a bridal shower and invited some lovely friends. Not everyone could come, but we had a blast with the ones who made it.

On the menu for the evening: dip. That's right. All kinds of stuff you can dip tortilla chips in. I'm taking full credit for this idea. It was all mine and it was all delicious. I made cowboy caviar, fresh pico de gallo, super nachoes, and fresh guacamole. Hailey brought the yummy cheese dip.

Then for dessert we had chocolate dip, cream cheese dip, and peanut butter dip with a variety of things to dip into them.

I don't mean to be arrogant, but dang it was good. All of it. We were all painfully full after stuffing ourselves as much as possible.

Danielle, Whitney, and me

Aubrey Shuler (soon to be Johnson), Alaina, Aubrey Gillespie, and Dee

Whitney, Angela, and Hailey

Great looking group, right?

And now, for your viewing pleasure...

March 14 - Pi day. Also Angela's birthday.

We went to dinner at Red Lobster to celebrate Angela's birth which has so touched my life, as well as many others. When the servers came around to sing Happy Birthday to her, they brought a little lobster friend with them. (Sorry about the blurry picture. I didn't take it. Not my fault.)

Angela's one birthday wish was that they'd take Mr. Lobster over to see Whitney. Unfortunately, Whitney was not a very gracious recipient of Mr. Lobster's company.

I tried flounder for the first time. I liked it. I also tried Angela's lobster, which was my first time trying lobster. Meh. I think I still prefer shrimp which is a whole lot cheaper...

After dinner, we went to Miracle Bowl to get in a few games of old-fashioned bowling fun. I did everything right beforehand - called, then went to the bowling alley to put our name down to reserve a few lanes. We ended up having to wait 40 minutes, though, and by that time everyone was tired and lame and it was a weeknight....so we all went home. Lame? Maybe.

If you'll remember, number 8 on my Utah Bucket List was snowshoeing. I enlisted my roommate Whitney's help and we made it into a double set-up date. I invited my friend Derrick to be her date and she invited Alex, our home teacher, to be my date. We were a little nervous that we wouldn't find any snow since we've had such a mild winter, but once we got far enough up into the canyon we did ok.

We rented the snowshoes from BYU's Outdoors Unlimited and headed up to Big Springs Park in Provo Canyon. It wasn't super crowded, because, well, it was cold and windy. Who wants to be outside when it's cold and windy? Apparently we do. They all mocked me because I didn't have snow pants. I was perfectly warm and dry in my jeans, though. Joke's on them.

It was a little bit hard to get used to the snowshoes but after a few steps, I was hooked. I LOVED them. They're super easy to walk in - not at all what I'd imagined. I'll confess, earlier in the day I was dreading going because I thought it was going to be really hard and I'm a tad bit on the lazy side. It wasn't hard at all, though. And my favorite part was that you can just walk whereever the heck you want - snow, ice, dirt, gravel - and you won't slip or lose your footing. There are these little ice pick things on the bottom that just grab onto anything you step on and hold you firm. That was the most fun for me.

Since we were sure-footed, we didn't even have to stay on a path. In our explorations, we happened upon this fort which was immaculately built. There was also a little treasure chest which Alex had no problem opening. The treasures were quite valuable: wrappers and some corn nuts...and that's all I can remember.

The fort really was impressive. I can only assume that it was built either by some creative scouts on a hike or one very dedicated hobo who needed some protection from wind and predators. I salute the builder, whoever he was, for his fine craftmanship.

That's me in the doorway.

The fort from the outside.

Utah is gorgeous.

My conclusion: snowshoeing is awesome. I'm sad I didn't discover it sooner.

One of my favorite views ever is from the Provo temple overlooking Utah valley at sunset. I love the lake and the mountains in the background. Lately I've gone to the temple a few times right at sunset and the beauty of the surroundings of the most sacred place on earth strike me every time. I'm really going to miss this place when I go back to Indiana. 

Every day at about 6 pm this is what I get to look at outside my window as I work at my desk. It makes me so grateful for this gorgeous world that we have and for a God who cared to give us a gorgeous display of His love every night.

The unthinkable happened today.

Peyton Manning was released from the Colts. Yes. It is that bad.

Here are his parting words:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7401273n&tag=api&fb_ref=belowVideo&fb_source=home_multiline

Actually, yes. I did tear up while listening to him.

I'm not ok with this at all. It feels a little bit like betrayal. How could you dispose of someone who has made your organization what it is? I know it all comes down to numbers and age and performance and money. But in the end, it also comes down to morale. And I think the city's going to struggle with that for a while.

On the bright side, now I'll have another NFL team to cheer for while the Colts are struggling to rebuild...