Semester in Review

Since I didn't upload any pictures from my camera this semester, I thought I'd blog about them now that I have some free time (and an adorable new laptop with wireless). :)
So think way back to football season...
Rise and shout!
Natalie and Candice at a game. I don't have any pictures of the game that Dad came to because I didn't want my camera to get wet. But that's ok. Dad kept saying he was fine, but I know I was frozen and nearly dead by the end.
It SNOWED on Sep. 30. I remember because it was the day of the general RS meeting and I had gone to World of Dance before that (without and umbrella). When I got home Kristin was sitting on her bed talking on the phone and when she glanced out the window said, "What is that white stuff coming out of the sky?"
Goofing off on the way to the meeting...with the lens halfway open.
The view from the front of the MOA. That statue is supposed to look like Squaw Peak, the mountain behind it, but I don't really get it. I don't get most of the statues outside the MOA. On a related note, my security buddies and I, who get paid way less than the rest of on-campus security, are getting a raise! Yay! Good news, just not very good timing.
I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills...
My friend Stephy and I and her friend Lacey went to BYU-I for a weekend to visit Steph's sister Maria. We stopped in Blackfoot to befriend this giant potato.

The almost-complete Rexburg temple was a 15-minute walk from Maria's dorm. It's really small, but beautiful. The open house is going on right now and the dedication is next month, in case you were wondering.
Maria, Steph and me.
Sign of the week: a hair salon by the grocery store where we went about four times since there was nothing else to do and we wanted to visit a certain boy who worked there. When he asked if I was from Louisville (CO--Steph and Maria's hometown and where he served part of his mission), I thought "how did he know that?" Then I realized we weren't talking about the same place. Blonde moment.
We were really bored on Saturday night so we ended up going back to the store to look for inspiration. We got sidewalk chalk and decorated the sidewalk outside one of the boys' dorms until it was too cold to stay out any longer. Then we went inside and watched the Red Sox beat the Rockies.
We stopped by the Idaho Falls Temple on the way home.
Putting hand turkeys on the window.

Hope wishes you a happy Thanksgiving! (Sorry about the glare.)

Matthew showing off his soccer skills...
and instructing Logan and James on a play.


Our in-house ninja.
Putting a puzzle together.












The last Sunday of the semester my study abroad class was invited to Bro. & Sis. Welch's (the directors) for a potluck dinner. It was fun, but I couldn't stay long because Tommy and I went to the Erdmanns' for the Christmas/anniversary shindig.
The Erdmanns' beautiful tree.
Our beautiful tree.


















My roommate Natalie's birthday isn't timed well. It's Dec. 19, right in the middle of finals. This year Kristin was getting ready to leave for Vegas the next morning with the band and the rest of us still had finals to study for. It was still fun, though. We got her a High School Musical 2 game that she didn't want to wait to open, so we did that in the morning before I went to work. That evening her math buddy Erica joined us for birthday cake and Candice came over to study with me and bring presents from her gals. The day before I had some free time and some spare baking ingredients, so I re-made the blonde brownies that I brought to the potluck dinner and didn't get to taste. Yum!
Before...
After
Her real birthday cake, complete with Funfetti frosting.
Roomies.
Now we're back in Texas. Here's Kaci's beautiful Christmas apple cranberry pie before it imploded in the oven.
Mom and I babysat Eli one night. He really liked applying Chapstick...to his nose. Then he started eating it so I took it away and he got mad. He was also very suspicious of me and mom the next day when F&A came over for dinner. I'm no longer the favorite aunt.

That's it for now...Happy 2008!

Provo to Plano

Dear readers,

I'm back in Texas! After a last-minute flight booking, a stressful night and morning last Friday and Saturday, and a few hours waiting on planes and at gates, I came home two days earlier than expected and surprised the fam (thank you Mr. Lane!) It was nice to have a few days to chill before going back to Frito on Thursday. I don't think I could have gotten through those boring two days without all the mail I read. I got more than my share of gross product samples, but also more than my share of funny kid mail. If you're looking for a good sample of children's letters, read on.

Love,
Blogger Sum

The first three were obviously from the same school and the same assignment. I had fun comparing. I wonder what grade they're in.

Dear Frito Lay,
A few days ago we did a taste test of cheese curls in my class. I liked yours the best. The first reason. I chose FritoLay was because the taste and smell. The cheese smell like real cheese and they tasted "Mm!mm!" It did taste good!!! Another reason I chose FritoLay is because is melted faster than the oters. The 3rd reason I chose Frito Lay is because it was as big as my thumb. I really liked the taste. Thank you for making cheese curls.
Sincerely,
Sandy

Dear Sir
A few day ago we took a taste test. We tasted a cheese curls to see if we liked it we wrote on paper. The first reason I chose your brand is because the appeal of your bag. It is so colorful. Another reason is because the tiger on the front of the bag it looks so funny. also I liked the taste because it was chseey, it melted in my mouth When I go shopping I will always buy your cheese curls because they were better then the others Thank you for making cheese curls.
Sincerely,
Jaylen

Dear Sir
last week we did a cheese curls test to find out which was our favorite. I chose your brand. One reason I chose your brand was because of the taste and smell. It tasted like popcorn and it smelled like ceddar cheese. The bag appealed to me because the colors were bright and has less calories. I liked your price it was 25 cents per ounce. When I and my mom go shopping, I'm going to buy your brand. I liked your brand.
Sincerely,
Jorge

No, thank you for liking "cheese curls," Sandy, Jaylen, and Jorge!

To Whom it may concern:
I'm in 3rd grade at the Windermere Boulevard Elementary School in Amherst, N.Y. I am writing to you to tell you how much I love Lays. I like the flavor of them and especially salt & vinegar. I was wondering will you be coming out with a new flavor or kind of chip? I was hoping that you could write back to me with answer, to my question, and possibly a free sample. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Antonio

Lucky Antonio got a very individualized response because the phones were slooow and I was in no hurry. I had fun with it. The next one is my first complaint from a child--we don't get many of those. It cracks me up that she actually wrote in about it and signed herself "a shopper."

To whom may consern,
I am wrighting to complain about your chips. When I opened it there were only ten chips and most of them are crushed. I wish you could put more chips in the bag. Be careful with you chips so they will not be crushed. Thank you for your help.
A shopper,
Kelsey

This one wins the awards for most creative name and weirdest, most eclectic questions.

Dear Flay,
Why did you want to invent Tostidos? They taste sososo good. Why did you name them Tostidos? How do you make your product? How old is everybody? What else do you make? You guys women are the best!!! Do you have kids? How old are they!!!!! Have a Happy Holidays and a Happy New year!! Hope to hear from you soon.
Love,
Kysawn

I don't know what to say about this one...it gets the Goofball Award?

Dear Sir or Maddam,
I'm an eighth-grader at Alma Middle School. I would like to compliment you on all your products. In my Spanish class we had to pick names. I couldn't think of a name, so everybody for some reason that I still don't know, picked the name Dorito for me. That is what I have been called ever since. Plus I really like Doritos! They sure are tasty! Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Derek

The handwriting in the next sample and the fact that its sender threw away her possibly expired salsa because she couldn't read the date lead me to believe it's from an elderly woman. I know those things are hard to read, but this course of action seems a little extreme. I would also question her spelling and word choice, and her decision to scrawl this on an index card and not include any jar information.

Today I wanted to use All Natural Tostitos Chunky Salsa. Neither I or my husband could make out the crazy dot letters and numbers telling the experation date. We could not decipher the code even using a magnifying glass. So in exacerbation I just dumped it down the garbage disposal.

Ummm...sorry? Have a coupon. The next one looked like this...

I FOUND WHAT LOOKED TO STRANGE TO EAT IN THIS BAG OF CHIPS. I DON'T WANT TO EVEN SAY WHAT FEW THINGS IT LOOKS LIKE. I WANTED TO SEND THIS BAG IN, SO IT COULD BE EXAMINED.

Good! I don't want you to say either. (It didn't look that gross. People are so dramatic.)

And now a few phone call tidbits...

This summer it seemed like I'd get a comment or joke about my name every day. I figured it might stop this week since it's not summer anymore. I was wrong. In fact, that's just what the first guy said when I said my name:

Summer? It's not summer anymore, is it? Hahahaha...

And another one said, after the standard greeting, "Summer? Is your real name [insert long Indian name here]?"

Do I sound Indian to you? Who cares if you can understand me?

Here's the best annoying comment from a child (probably in Detroit): If I left a bag of chips in the rain and they got soggy, would that be my fault or your fault? Thanks for calling Frito-Lay. Click.

Catchup

Okay, I know I've been a slacker in the blogging department this semester--mostly because I've been a slacker in the picture-taking department this semester--but here are some highlights that you guys missed out on.
The weekend before Halloween my friend Stephy and I went to BYU-I to visit her sister Maria. We had fun dressing up as '80s aerobic instructors.

I've enjoyed keeping up with some missionary blogs, including that of this guy (don't you love the flag and hat?)



who is here (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)


and this guy (my FHE dad from last year)


who is here (NYC)

Date #4

My stake did this blind date night thing where you could email them and they'd set you up with someone. Great, right? And one of our options was the Percussion Ensemble/Steel Band concert that Kristin was in. Double prizes because I'd be going to the concert to see her anyway, right? Well, it was fun because half my ward was there, but let's just say my date seemed a little clueless...and like he didn't even want to go in the first place. He was nice and everything, but it's a good thing Kristin gave me her two extra tickets because he didn't get any from the stake when they handed them out. (If you think he looks creepy, so did I when I saw that picture. In his defense, he was clean shaven that night. Thank goodness.)

Date #3

I guess technically it was a date, but it involved the following:

-trying to convince my roommates that between work on Friday night, ballet on Saturday night, cleaning checks, homework, a get-to-know-you breakfast at my study abroad director's house (yummy crepes!--not buckwheat) and all the trip prep stuff I had to do before I left, it wasn't worth trying to win the date contest

-my roommate Hope (not the crazy one, Tommy...okay she is crazy but in a different way :)...) convincing me that I HAD to win, that I COULD squeeze in a date, and that with the billions of boys she knows, she WOULD arrange it for me

-Hope contacting her ex-boyfriend via Google chat (that will forevermore make me think of you, Forrey), telling him about the contest, and asking him if she could give my number to one of his roommates

-said roommate, Tyler, calling me and asking if I wanted to do something (...well duh) and then a harder question, WHAT I wanted to do

-date coming to "pick me up" and walk me to the Malt Shoppe, a popular and conveniently-located local ice cream hangout (just across the parking lot, although we had to hop a fence)

-us getting to know each other between large bites of jumbleberry pie and pumpkin Oreo shakes, and thankfully, no long painful silences

-me paying for mine, since I really asked him...I guess that does violate Elder Oaks' definition of a date, though

-me learning a surprising lot about Tyler in the hour we spent together, such as he's the youngest of 9, from Montana, at his house they have more animals than I could handle, he's brave enough to do engineering, he's a violinist and music minor, and he is lucky enough to have a married sister in Orem that he babysits for

I glanced through his Facebook photos and there were no good ones of just him. Can you believe it? This was the best I could do in an effort to keep a semblance of following the picture rule. And it's a year old. You may recall that all three of my dates this semester have been blind...not the best circumstances for picture taking. Just pretend the girl is me. :)

The drought is over!

It's what you've all been waiting for! I know I'm a slacker and haven't posted in over a month. Don't worry, I'm still alive. I've actually had some very bloggable material since the last post but I've been enjoying everyone else's blogs so much that I feel like I can't compete with pictures of adorable children or exciting adventures in Germany. Okay so the truth is I just keep putting it off. :) I figured I'd better catch up at least a little before Thanksgiving when I'll have a lot more bloggable material. You can thank my roommate Natalie for encouraging me to have a blogging party with her. So without further ado, here are some of the things you've been missing out on:

exciting exciting classes: Doctrine & Covenants (first half), teachings of the living prophets, French 321, ASL 101, beginning ballet, music civilization 201, and my study abroad prep class

lots of exciting missionary letters, but not as many as I would like, because 3 of my correspondants are in Brazil and their mail takes about a month through the Pouch service

lots of other exciting stuff in the mail, like a Michael Buble CD from Forrey & Abbie and a 5lb box of Pirate's Booty from Mr. Lane

meeting up with two guy friends from last year before they reported to the MTC

the annual India fest at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork...there were lots of llamas!

very welcome weekly temple trips with my temple buddies Candice, Stephy, Jacqueline, and their roommate Courtney, after a long temple drought this summer

the same old same old at the MOA except for a couple funny things: an unexpected early-morning flower delivery for one of the custodians, and watching others of the said custodians try to clean a duck print off the glass at the main entrance. That's right, a duck print.

a yummy dinner at the Erdmanns'

my first time experiencing the horror/hilarity that is Labyrinth, a 1986 Jim Henson movie with an altogether scary-looking David Bowie wearing altogether too tight pants

going to UVRMC twice on Sunday evenings with some wardies to sing hymns to the patients...this kind of replaced tunnel singing for me, which is what I did last year on Sunday nights

awesome BYU devotionals/forums, with distinguished speakers such as Pres. Hinckley, Elder Perry, John Roberts, an astronaut (I don't remember his name...hopefully he won't read this), and author (and New Englander!) Nathaniel Philbrick talking about the Pilgrims (Pres. Monson is coming this week!)

*cough* interesting forum with Harry Reid

two dates (both of which were semi-set up) involving a fun soccer game and lots of Vietnamese food...but I already posted about both of them. Sad.

painting our window for the Canyon Terrace Halloween decorating contest

two sessions of conference in the conference center!

the best dollar movie night EVER--Hairspray, complete with smuggled popcorn, M&Ms, and 3 half-gallons of ice cream

having Dad come visit and come to the b's freezing cold and wet football game with us!

going to BYU-I to visit my friend Maria and dressing up as '80s aerobics instructors for a Halloween dance, with a little help from DI

awesome CES fireside broadcast with Elder and Sister Oaks (he is my new hero...the first half of his address he devoted to quoting from and reemphasizing his well-known fireside address from May 2005 about dating vs. hanging out. Hope and Kristin and I listened to it together and decided we should post a sign on our door: "Will open for individual dates." Some girls who live above us did that.)

spending Halloween night with my pals Jacqueline, Courtney, and Stephy making sugar cookies, singing and dancing to Disney music in French, laughing at ridiculously high decibel levels, failing in our attempt to get into a Halloween party, and enjoying a taste of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (it was totally worth only getting 4 hours of sleep that night)

awesome stake conference and awesome stake firesides with Edward Kimball, son of Spencer W., and President Merrill J. Bateman, new president of the Provo Temple

way fun football games (with very different weather). BYU has now won 11 home games in a row.

multiple viewings of Monk, courtesy of Mr. Lane who sent me DVDs of this summer's episodes

a fun FHE which involved getting lost and taking an hour to drive to Spanish Fork, after which we arrived at the home of a bishopric member and had a lesson, activity, and yummy food

a $10 TV from Craig's List!
painting our window with hand turkeys for Thanksgiving

lots of culturally enriching experiences, like...
-the choir showcase featuring the Women's Chorus, Men's Chorus, and BYU Singers
-the jazz showcase featuring Synthesis, BYU Jazz Voices, and Jazz Legacy Dixieland Band
-my first experience with both the wonderful and the weird in World of Dance
-a concert featuring BYU Concert Choir, BYU Singers, and Philharmonic Orchestra
-a lecture from a French cultural attache about immigration in France (not a lot of which I understood)

lots of intense meals from my roomies, especially Hope who likes to be adventurous and make stuff like falafel (I just figured out how to add links...can you tell I'm having fun with it?)

Viva la France!

For your reading pleasure, here is a thrilling excerpt from an email I received today.

Dear Summer White:

Congratulations on your acceptance to BYU's Winter 2008 Paris SA program.

Participation in an international experience can be life-changing and I encourage you to do all you can to prepare for this experience by studying the basic geography, cultural customs, and the history of the places you will visit. You will be required to attend a preparation class which will further orient you for your in-country experience. We have found that the better prepared students are for these experiences, the more they get out of them.

We are happy that you have chosen such an excellent complement to your education at BYU. Previous students have unanimously referred to their international study as one of the most significant experiences of their entire college career. We welcome you to the growing number of BYU students who believe "The world is our campus."

I'm so excited!!!

Date #2

Last night I had dinner with Long, Kaci's friend from BU who is now a grad student at BYU. We ate at Costa Vida, which is quality Utah Mexican food and conveniently close to my place...but I was coming from campus because, long story short, I waited for 3 hours to give blood and couldn't wait any longer. And I am scheduled to work 4-9 on Friday nights, so I got someone to cover 4-7 but no one for 7-9. So we ate early and then he walked me to the MOA, where I found out for some reason they weren't planning on me coming in and had rearranged the schedule accordingly. So I went home and then to the dollar movies with Kristin because our other two roomies were at Homecoming Spectacular. So in a nutshell, yesterday didn't go as planned. But the date was good. Long was really nice. This is a random picture of him from Facebook.

President Hinckley!

That's right, he came to BYU on Tuesday! Last year he came on Halloween and it was awesome except I was sitting in the back because I came right from class, and consequently I was sitting with people I didn't know. This time was even better because miraculously, my three roommates and my roommate's boyfriend and I all got to sit together even though we didn't plan it. I worked early and when I came out of the museum at 9:15, the line to get into the Marriott Center was already to the end of the building and getting longer by the second. (And devotionals, or devos as we like to call them, start at 11:05.) I don't know how far it is between the buildings, but it must have been a pretty long line. So I decided to skip my 9:30 class (don't worry, this is not habitual) and get in line. Natalie's class got canceled (lucky), so she joined me soon after I got there and helped me save seats.

This was about an hour before it started.


The men half of the choir, who sang a pretty English song called "To Be A Pilgrim" in honor of Pres. H.'s missionary service in England.
Waiting for Pres. H. Susan Tanner, YW General Pres., was there with her husband who's an academic VP. Elder and Sis. Hales were there, and our friends the Kerrs. :)
When he walked in and sat down and people started taking pictures like crazy, he covered his face. He is so cute!
Pretty packed! They estimated there were over 22,000 people there.

Highlights: He started off congratulating us on earning the #1 spot in the Princeton Review's "Stone Cold Sober" ranking for the 10th year in a row. That was cute. The business school was also #1. He talked about the 13th Article of Faith, the difference between being honest and true, and chaste and virtuous. He told us to be grateful that we can attend BYU (which I am) and mentioned Karl G. Maeser and how he taught Pres. H.'s father back in the day. (Dr. Maeser was the second president of BY Academy and is the founder being honored this week for Homecoming. Without his support, BYA probably wouldn't have made it.) He emphasized honesty and that there are no shortcuts to the top (which, coincidentally, is the name of a book he recently read about an amazing mountain climber). He said the key to greatness is hard work, and talent has little to do with it. He ended early and it seemed way too short, which was disappointing, but it was awesome to be in the same room as the prophet! What made it even cooler is that I'm taking teachings of the living prophets for a religion elective and guess who we've been talking about? I'm loving him more and more!

Date #1

So Robby challenged me to a dating contest...whoever goes on more dates between now and Thanksgiving will buy dinner for the other person when I'm in Arizona. Ground rules:

1. I have to post a picture of my date on my blog.
2. "Hanging out" doesn't count. Thank you, Elder Oaks.
3. For Robby and Sharon's dates to be valid, no kids.

So it looks like I'm winning! Last night I went on a group date with my friends Candice and Stephy and three guys from their ward. We had dinner and then went to a women's soccer game. (Which we won!) My date, Marcus, just happens to be a big fan of Boston, the Red Sox, and Fenway Park. I thought you'd appreciate that, Kaci. :)

Game 1: BYU vs Arizona

Rise and shout, the Cougars are out! Natalie and I met Candice and Stephy and some of the other 41 people we got all-sports passes with and walked to the stadium together. As expected, we coded sorry b's! I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a shutout. (Arizona scored with 53 seconds left, for a final score of 20-7.) But it was fun, except the part when Candice and I very nearly passed out and consequently missed most of halftime. My roommate Kristin is on the cymbal line and had lots of fun, although she also almost passed out after their long march-in. (She commented, though, that they took care of her and were nice about letting her sit out pre-game, which wouldn't happen at LHS. DC and the DC jrs, aka section leaders, would act like it was the end of the world if someone needed to sit out.) It was b's hot. It wasn't too bad later in the game when it was a little cooler and we were actually hydrated, but we were out there for four hours. At halftime Ty Detmer and Gifford Nielsen's jerseys were retired and they spoke and LaVell and Pres. Packer were there. Kristin was on the field pretty close to them, so she thought that was way cool.

Oooooh. Crooked lines.

If you look closely you can see that they're spelling out "COUGARS" upside down. This would have been a better picture if it was more centered, I know. We were on the 10 yard line but not too far up.

Road Trip!

Last Thursday (was it only 8 days ago? It feels like months) Stephy and I drove to Utah! We caravaned with two other people but I was in her car the whole time.

Cranking up the tunes somewhere in Wyoming!

It was interesting trying to get a picture of both of us while she was driving...and not look directly into the sun.

And there was a beautiful rainbow! Driving through Provo Canyon was a little scary because it was stormy and very dark, but we made it! It was wonderful to see my roommates again, especially Natalie who I hadn't seen all summer.

Denver Zoo

Last Tuesday when I was visiting my friend Stephy in LOUISVILLE, Colorado (that's right, like our Lewisville), our amiga Candice met us at the zoo, where we had a lot of fun and fit right in. :) First, here's an animal quiz for Molly. Can you name them all?





This was funny. It was an indoor exhibit, and one of the zoo people came through the door to give the animals water or something. But while she was trying to corral another one, this one got on top of the door and it took her several minutes to get him down. When the door opened wider we saw a sign on the inside: "CAUTION. MALE LIKES TO SIT ON DOOR."



We all did individual monkey-face shots too but I chose the more flattering pictures. :)

I was trying to look scary but then started smiling so...it's goofy.

Petting the nice gorilla statue.

All of us! It was so great to see them again.

Goofy Burpems

I miss Eli! This post makes me happy, though. It's from the last time Logan and I babysat him, August 25. He was tired, but happy. Good combination. It makes for loopiness and snuggliness. :)