Who I am.

Who I am.

I am...21 years old.

I want...to see the world.

I have...a lot to be grateful for.

I wish...I could run a marathon.

I hate...doing the dishes.

I fear...making the wrong decision. oh, and insects.

I search...for everything on google.com.

I wonder...what my purpose is in life.

I regret...only the risks I don't take.

I love...my husband and family.

I ache...for those who are suffering.

I always...have my toenails painted.

I usually...leave everything until the last minute.

I am not...afraid of confrontation.

I dance...but not necessarily well.

I sing...to loud music in my car.

I never...skip breakfast.

I sometimes...feel average.

I cry...in movies when someone dies or something ends.

I am not always...on time.

I lose...important papers quite often.

I am confused...by people who are intentionally unkind.

I need...to feel loved.

I should...look for the fun in everything I do.

Who are you?

I borrowed the idea for this post from this darling blog. Thanks Jaimie!

Where we are today.

The other day I got a Facebook message from one of my best friends, Melissa Nash.  In the message, she had linked to a news article about a fatal shooting in Salt Lake City. I thought it was a little strange for a Facebook message, but I clicked on the link and read it anyway. It turns out, one of our casual friends from high school was involved in the shooting. And get this...he wasn't the victim.

Our friend from high school was the shooter.

Okay. So this might not seem surprising to some people, but it pretty much threw me for a loop. Someone that I knew in high school turned out to be a murderer. Holy cow!! For some reason, this almost shocked me more even than high school friends of mine that have passed away unexpectedly. After having a minor panic attack about how a murderer signed my yearbook and watched movies at my house, I started to do some thinking. 

It's so crazy to think about where the people in your life have ended up.

I hardly ever thought about this when I was younger, but for all I knew I was eating lunch with future world travelers, valedictorians, teenage parents, cancer survivors, suicide victims, and star college athletes. Oh, and murderers...

It's even weird to think about where my life has ended up. For one thing, I never expected to be married at 21 years old. And I had absolutely no idea when I met Daniel that he would eventually become my husband. I definitely never expected to be going into Elementary Education, either. Even though I hadn't planned on any of these things, I know I am in exactly the right place in life.

 I'm excited to see what we all become in the future.

man cold.

Poor D has a cold. And when D gets sick, he does get pretty sick. I think it has something to do with the fact that his sinuses aren't exactly functional. I always feel bad because when I catch a head cold, it's not usually as bad as when D gets one.

Even so, I didn't think it would be too harmful to tease him just a little about his "man cold." If you are unfamiliar with the "man cold," it's has to do with the common stereotype that men are total babies when they're sick (totally true if you ask me). They catch the same colds as women do, but unlike us, they can't seem to go about their daily lives. Instead, they crumple up on the couch and think they're dying.

On the way home from getting medicine at the grocery store, the "man cold" came up in our conversation.
It went something like this:

(After blowing his nose loudly) "Mandy, I think I might die."

"Daniel...you totally have a man cold."

"A man cold?"

"Yeah. When you catch a cold, it's like 50 times worse just because you're a man."

His eyes lit up like he'd discovered something he'd been searching for his whole life.

"Is that true?! Why do you think that is?!"

I was laughing pretty hard at this point.

"Oh yeah, it's definitely true. It's because men just can't seem to handle colds as well as women can."

Then the real lightbulb went on.

I received an angry scowl followed by something like "That is such a joke!" and "You are way more of a baby when you're sick!" Blah blah blah....

As soon as we got home, I turned to the Internet for some proof and I dug up this hilarious gem.

Watch it. I promise you won't regret it.

I think it's SO TRUE!!!!

But I'd love to know what you guys think!

Settle the age-old dispute: is the "man cold" fact or fiction?

locked.

Sorry it's taken me so long to update! We are alive and well, I promise. There's been a lot going on lately too, so get excited.

Have you ever heard the saying..."when it rains, it pours?" Well, I am here to tell you that that statement is totally and completely accurate. Because we are living it. For reals.

A few examples from the past week or so:

For one of my classes, I had to get FORTY-FIVE FEET of paper laminated. Ridiculous. And then, if that isn't enough, I had to cut out the tiny little cards that were on each page. Did I mention there were 120 pages? And that there were 12 cards on each page? I think I have developed carpal tunnel.

I also came down with some sort of flu/food poisoning. It was not a happy night.

In addition, I forgot to refill a rather important prescription until the pharmacy I usually go to was closed. After driving around to a few different pharmacies to see if anyone could transfer it or had some samples, I turned up empty handed. Oh, and to make matters worse, the pharmacist at one of the pharmacies happened to be a previous boyfriend's older sister. Talk about embarrassing.

Here is probably my favorite story of the week.

It was about 10:30 this morning, and I decided I was going to do a load of laundry. Our laundry room is shared between the four units in our building and it's right outside our door. I hadn't showered yet, and I was wearing some scrubs, a t-shirt, and slippers. Anyway, as I was walking out the door, I noticed that Daniel had locked the deadbolt and everything when he left this morning. I remember thinking that was really sweet of him since I was still sleeping when he left. 

So I put the laundry in the washer and headed back to my apartment. I turned to knob on the door but to my absolute horror, it wouldn't open. I couldn't believe it. As I was thinking about Daniel locking the door for me this morning, I had locked myself out without realizing it. And I didn't have a key to get back in. I didn't have my phone, or a jacket, or a key to my car either. I had absolutely nothing except my laundry soap and a key to the laundry room. Great.

My first thought was just to trot on over to our apartment managers and ask them for the spare key that they keep to our apartment. Only they weren't home. I rang the doorbell 3 times. I even went and checked their parking stalls to see if their cars were there. They weren't. I'd like to say that I didn't try to peek in their windows to make sure they were gone, but I did.

My next move was to try and break into our apartment through one of the windows (I probably looked like a total sketchy as I was doing this). I managed to get the screen off of one of the windows, but I could not push the window open for the life of me. I tried until I was half frozen and had mud all over my slippers, but I had no choice but to retreat back to the laundry room to consider my other options.

I didn't have a credit card to try and get the lock open on the door (not that I know how to do that anyway, but I've seen it in movies) so I was about out of ideas. Eventually I decided that somehow I needed to call Daniel. He was at work, so I wasn't even sure that he would be able to leave to come and rescue me, but it was pretty much my only option at this point.

I want to preface this next part by saying that I do not really know my neighbors. I have said "hi" to them a couple of times as we came and went, but that's pretty much it. But I stalked the parking stalls for our building and noticed that the guy's car from apartment 16 was still in the stall. I got brave, and knocked on his door. Pretty sure he stared at me through the peephole for like 30 seconds before he opened it, but he was kind enough to let me use his phone to call D. I had to leave a message because he didn't answer (on the third try...) so I went and sat on the stairs outside and waited.  My poor neighbor poked his head out of the door a few minutes later to hand me his phone. Daniel was on his way to rescue me!

By the time he got home I had been locked out for well over an hour. I was freezing, bored out of my mind, and probably more embarrassed than I have been in a long time. D found me hiding in the laundry room. He just looked at me and laughed. In a kind, non-judgmental way, of course.

Sorry that I have absolutely no pictures to show for our adventures this week. In my defense, I didn't think to bring my camera when I locked myself out of our apartment. But I will try to do better on the picture thing in the future.

I guess the moral of the story is...keep your keys with you at all times. Or at least your phone so that you don't creep out neighbors that hardly even know who you are.

XO,

M

sunbeam adventures.

Daniel and I teach the Sunbeams in our ward. It's quite possibly the most hilarious (and sometimes exhausting) calling ever. We have eight darling three-year-olds in our class, and they are all fabulous. Here's a few quotes from our class time just to give you a taste of what we deal with on the average Sunday:

"I looooove food!" - Eli

(After a talk about "feasting upon the words of Christ")

"I am a Ninja Turtle." - Mark

"Aren't you a real person?" - D

"Well, yeah. But I am a Ninja Turtle!" - Mark

(After farting quite loudly) "...I fluffed." - Eli

"I want to tell a story! Once upon a time, there was this boy who cried and cried and cried and cried...." - Will

"Oh no! Was he ever happy?" - M

"Nope."

"Oh...that's a sad story."

"Yep."

"What is your favorite present you got for Christmas?" - M
"A fridge." - Gillian

(Pointing to Daniel) "Is that old guy my teacher?" - Mark

"Yeah, he's your teacher too." - M

"I have TWO teachers! What the heck?!" -Mark

We also have quite the budding romance in our class as well! Will, one of our cute Sunbeams, has decided that he is going to sit by a girl named Addie at all times, hold her hand, and give her REALLY big hugs. Addie is a darling girl, so I can totally understand how he feels. It's pretty cute.

In addition to the romance, we also routinely have more than one child saying the prayer at the same time. It's not that we mean to, but when we tell the kids to fold their arms and bow their heads, they all start saying prayers. It happens even when we call on one person in particular to say it. Too funny!

I also made the mistake today of writing Mark's name in orange crayon on his picture. You see, Mark likes the color red. I mean, he really likes the color red. He likes it so much that there was absolutely no way he was going to have his name written at the top of his paper in orange. Before he left class, I had to completely trace over his name in red crayon until you couldn't see any orange at all. Crisis averted.

As we were trying to wrap up class today, a mass game of ring-around-the-rosie somehow got started. We have no idea how it happened, but in about a minute flat the entire class was holding hands and spinning in a circle until they ended up in a pile on the floor. Luckily, we managed to get it under control by the time their parents came to pick them up. It took some help from Isaac reminding the rest of the children that we were in "a Jesus house."

Pretty much...we love our calling. The Sunbeams are surprisingly spiritual, and a whole lot of fun to teach. But I have to say that one of my favorite parts of the calling is getting to see how great D is with the kids. It kind of makes me melt to see how much they love him. He's going to be such a great Dad someday. <3

tweet tweet!

So...I got Twitter.

Whoops.

But you should follow me! @leaptackle <--- (don't even ask)

I have no idea who has Twitter and I am still not quite sure how to find people. I should also confess that I really don't know how to use it in general, so if anyone has any tips or tricks...bring 'em on!

Happy tweeting!

P.S. Daniel also has an account. @running_ostrich, in case you were wondering.

jimmy eat world & blanket forts

I'm stressed.

School starts on Monday, and 19 credit hours = NOT excited.

Also, the deadline for applying to the Elementary Education program at the U is March 1st.

That means before March 1st I have to:

Study for and take the Praxis (and get my scores back in time)

Get my official transcripts (which is complicated because of this incident)

Fill out the application form

Write my statement of purpose

bah.

It's my fault, though. And I know it. If I hadn't procrastinated the application for so long, this wouldn't be nearly as difficult. There are also a few other dumb things that have been stressing me out lately, but they aren't really important. It just seems like things tend to pile up all at once, you know?

I told D last night that I kind of just wanted to hide from the world for a minute.

So he built me a blanket fort.

Sweetest husband ever? Pretty much. We spent our Friday evening huddled up together in our little fort and hiding from everything. If you're ever feeling stressed, I recommend it. That, and listen to some Jimmy Eat World. Jimmy always makes it better, I promise.

Here's a favorite of mine off of their album called Invented. The whole album is amazing if you're looking for some new music. We're huge Jimmy fans.

Starting the year off with a bang!

On New Years day, Daniel and I were invited to go shooting with his family! What a fabulous way to start 2011 off with a bang. Get it?! A bang?! Ha...ha...

Anyway. Some of you may not know that Daniel's dad is in the Army. As such, shooting has always been a favorite pastime of the Sorensen Family. Daniel and his dad also like to go hunting, and Daniel even owns quite a few guns of his own. All that being said, when we got invited to go I had never, ever shot a gun in my entire life. I am not even sure I had even held one! Needless to say, I was basically terrified for this little shooting adventure. But there's a first time for everything...right...?

It was absolutely freezing when we got to the desert area where the Sorensens usually go shooting. Don't worry though, I put on about 5 layers of clothing, and also donned my trusty beanie that I wore for our fishing trip. I stayed pretty warm. 

When we got there, I was a little nervous. I had no idea how many rifles had come on this little expedition. I had figured I'd shoot maybe a handgun or two, so these "big" guns were looking pretty scary. Basically, I was just worried that they would have a huge kick that would knock me flat on my rear. My mom told me that she went shooting once, and that happened to her Grandma. *gulp*

Luckily, the Sorensens helped me out and I didn't end up getting laid out by any of the guns (although it probably would have been a funny story if I had). I even got to shoot a few of the rifles! It turned out they weren't so scary after all. I still have a lot of respect for them, though.

It also turns out that D is quite a good shot with his 12-gage shotgun. Check out my man in action!

Pretty impressive, huh? 

The only way I was able to hit a target was with one of those super-magnifying scopes. But I did hit a target! I was kind of proud of that small accomplishment.

Let me also take a moment to share some happy news.

I have finally joined...the smartphone club!

 Yes people, it is true. My parents surprised me with a Samsung Fascinate for Christmas. It is seriously the best thing of my life considering that my old phone would only vibrate when it wanted to. I'm not kidding. When I got a text or phone call, it wouldn't vibrate unless it felt like it. But other times it would randomly vibrate even when I didn't have a text or call. That thing had a mind of it's own for reals. This happens to be the first video I ever took on my phone, so I'm sorry if it's kind of choppy and awkward. I'm still figuring out how to use it.

Hope everyone is having a great new year!!

Aunt Kathy

Kathryn Bell Jacobsen

1965 ~ 2010

"Kathy Jacobsen, a loving wife, mom, daughter, sister and aunt; passed away unexpectedly in her sleep on Thursday December 30, 2010, after struggling with and enduring a wide variety of debilitating illnesses for a number of years..." More here.

We love you Aunt Kathy! You'll be missed.