Friday night jousting and stargazing

It was Friday night, Kris & Nat were gone, I was trying to study after not studying all afternoon, and Nichelle was itching to do something fun. Fortunately for us, her friend called her and said he and his buddy were going to joust and would we like to join them? So we got our next-door friends Erica & Courtney to come over and the six of us...
a) had a massive pillowfight
b) made cardboard armor
c) had an epic battle with broomsticks
d) gave ourselves names based on Nephites and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
e) all of the above
The correct answer is E! It was so fun.









Fortunately for us again, another friend called when we were done and invited us a free, informal planetarium show with some people in the ward. I saw the view from the roof and then we chilled in the planetarium for two hours (literally--it was colder than a cast-iron commode on the shady side of an iceberg) listening to Pappy talk about the planets, stars and constellations and asking questions. I learned a lot and it was probably more fun than should be allowed.

food, love and Monk

Last Friday was exciting. Nichelle made muddy buddies,
Natalie, Hope and I went to a wedding reception for a friend from freshman year,


(not the best picture I know, but they were so adorable and it was so good to see her, even though we waited in line forever and a day and talked to her for a minute--reception lines are the worst invention ever)
Then we came home and watched the first new episode of the second half of season 7 of Monk!
The next day we had friends Courtney and Erica over and Nichelle made this beautiful granola...
...and we tried to make pasta from scratch...
...and made pizza and watched North and South. :) Don't you love that all my pictures are of food?

here she is

...the hot red purse up close and personal. Thanks, Andra and DSW! I wish I could be Mary Poppins and stuff all my books and supplies in it and carry it everywhere.
I'm SO excited about my new camera. Kristin opened the case that F&A gave me and loved the orange: "It's like a surprise every time...except you know what it is."
It snowed ALL DAY Monday and Tuesday. It was crazy. I took a slight detour walking to class when I saw this ginormous snowman built on top of a statue. Two twin sisters stopped to admire it at the same time and one wanted the other to stand by it so she could take a picture with scale. The sister didn't want to, so I volunteered and we bonded. :)
In other news, the first week of school is almost over and I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm taking:


MMBIO 221 general microbiology
PDBIO 220 human anatomy (lecture and lab)
NDFS 100 essentials of human nutrition
CHEM 285 intro bio-organic chemistry
MUSIC 202 civilization: music 2

I either like or really like all my professors and have friends in most of my classes, so that's a big plus. I'm really excited for my anatomy lab where I'll get to look at cadavers, and microbio where we discuss a few "diseases of the day" every Tues and Thurs when we meet. Quote of the week: my NDFS professor, when discussing obesity, said "it's a growing problem."

Hepworth Holiday

It was SO great to spend these past two weeks chilling with Andra & co. It involved some late-night talking, shopping, playing, kid herding, Rock Banding, cooking, reading and sleeping in.
The beautimous Christmas tree.

Singing with Grandma H. It was adorable.

The playroom is awesome.

Our first big outing was to the zoo--on a cloudy day!

It was fun watching the kids watch the animals.

That's how I feel when my feet aren't on the ground, too.

Goofy as usual.

This was hilarious. They were standing there eating their apples at the same time and watching the otters. I just kept taking pictures.

The flamingos were what Jennika wanted to see.

Trying to keep track of all the kidlets and strollers.

Love the cheesy smile.

Aaron and Amanda, David's brother and sister-in-law who stayed with them for a week, and their cute kidlets.

This was hilarious. Poor James.

He insisted on holding the map.

I think the funnest part of the zoo was hanging on these bars. Andra took loads of pictures and will no doubt post the embarassing ones of me trying to do a chinup.

On Christmas Eve all the Hepworths came over and we tried to do a nativity...

but it was a little disorganized. That's why Matthew ended up being Mary.

the Wise Men



Sorry I cut off your head, David. It's still cute.

Leaving reindeer food on the lawn. They were seriously wound up. It's a wonder they went to sleep at all.

But they seriously scored! Santa brought the kidlets these musical instruments and this playhouse for Audrey. He even left me a stocking.

They were in raptures. I was in raptures with my own ridiculous mound of presents. I thought since I wasn't at home I wouldn't get anything but no. You are all too nice. THANK YOU to DL for the Elizabeth Gaskell DVD collection and clothes, to Kaci for the pretty necklace, to F&A for the CAMERA and earrings, to Mom for the cool family history book, and to Andra for the earrings, the hot red purse (getting its own post later on) and the hot pink blow dryer (it's awesome).




Trying to play one of their new games before Audrey puts it away.



A special Christmas treat--chocolate pie. When James saw it thawing on the counter, he wouldn't stop talking about it until we ate it. That's our Jamesy.




They were also excited about polishing off the roll dough (best roll dough ever).



My two attempts at a good picture of G&G Hepworth with the kidlets.




Eating oranges, James in his Christmas pajamas that he looks so handsome in.



Playing with the musical instruments (the scarves are for dancing).



Audrey in her playhouse. She likes to use it as a tent.

Wrestling. James thought it was funny to tell Matthew to take me down and then they'd gang up on me. They're both so funny. Jamesy calls me Aunt Fa-er.
Matthew posed for me behind the tree and told me exactly how to take it.
Playing in the backyard. I wish it had been dry enough to play in the sand but it had been rainy the week before I came.
So tute!
Thanks for having me, A&D, especially when you had other house guests. Special thanks to Doris who drove me to the airport in ridonculously bad conditions.

I'm missing my kidlets already!