Mama Cass

2011-04-12T19:31:00.000-07:00

Hey! Christine here! So a lot has happened lately, sorry for not updating in forever! Um, where to start? The semester is over (finally!), and I think we all got decent grades. We're all enjoying Spring Break right now. Tori went down to Utah to spend time with her family, Ariel brought Kelli to Oregon so she could experience the wonders of beautiful Eugene :). And I stayed in Rexburg because I got a job cleaning apartment complexes. I started Monday and since we've been such excellent cleaners, we're probably going to finish up tomorrow, so it's only a three day job. Thank goodness though! I hate it! Haha.

Also, for a less recent update, Camden (our apartment complex) raised their Spring prices by $450. When we found that out I had no job and no prospect for a job, so I decided to move back to La Jolla, and the girls decided to stay at Camden. So sadly, we will be separated this semester, but we're only a few blocks away, and we'll still have fun times! And I'm going to room with Alison again, so I won't be alone. It should be great :).

Oh! I just remembered something else that has happened! Our ward had a talent show halfway through the semester and Kelli and Ariel had the genius idea for us to do a dance to the "work out barbie" song. So we all dressed it bright colors and spandex and came up with a routine... Then, when we performed, NO ONE LAUGHED, and we made huge fools out of ourselves. No bueno.

Last weekend Ariel, Kelli, and I got to go down to Utah for conference, and we got to go to Sunday afternoon session. I rode down with my friend Ammon because I had a chemistry lab that ended late. We were about halfway there when his car broke down. We had to get a tow, and then very nice people gave us a ride to Malad (half an hour closer to our destination), and then people came up from Salt Lake to pick us up. Anyway, I got there and had a way good weekend.

So I can't think of any other updates, so I'll just load a few pics from the semester.

And so the Oops Life Continues

2011-02-23T11:22:00.000-08:00

Remember FOREVER ago when we put up a list of my (Tori's) Oops life and all the ridiculous things that like to happen to me. Well, just when I thought I had escaped the grasp of the unlucky, I fell head first right back in.
The third week of school here I caught bronchitis, it took me 3 days of wanting to die before I let my roommates take me to Urgent Care that weekend. The next day Christine was promptly driven to Urgent Care because she began to have symptoms, and the next day Ariel and Kelli joined the crew of Sickies. We were down for about a week. I'm almost positive our apartment smelled like death.
Then on Wednesday night, Ariel and I were feeling a little better and wanted to test how well we would do outside of the apartment. So we decided to go on a late night Wal-mart run. This was our first mistake. NEVER should two sick people try and drive in the dark on icy roads to go wander aimlessly in Wal-mart. Anyways, the roads were awful, so I was driving SUPER careful and INCREDIBLY slow because I was driving my Dad's car ( We were suppose to switch back in Spring, when the roads to get to the Burg are better). When I turned on the street that Wal-mart is on I was trying to turn into the closest lane but slid right into the second. Luckily there was no one else on the road so it was ok. Or so we thought. An Astro Van pulled out about a hundred feet in front of me from Craigo's trying to go the opposite direction that we were going and started spinning. The Next 10 seconds felt like the slowest minute in my life. It was very apparent that they were going to hit us, especially since Ariel was in the passenger seat going, "Oh no! Oh NO! There gonna hit us! Oh No!" Trying to make the hit as little damaging as possible I tried hitting my brakes but I only started to slide, so then I pulled closer to the curb towards a drive way hoping that maybe we could slide parallel with out touching but no. The Astro van was still spinning and there passenger end hit my driver side passenger door and slammed my other end into a telephone pole. Now some of you may be thinking that I should have not of tried to turn my car too, but to you I say, "Oh ye of little Faith!" Because I turned the car, the Astro Van hit my back door instead of the my door, and shoved my back corner into the pole instead of Ariel into the pole. Even though No one was hurt and the Astro Van had basically no damage, I know that someone else was helping me guide the car that night. After we had hit and we had both pulled ourselves into a drive way to call the police and make a report and all that fun stuff, we stood outside in negative temperatures for about 20 min. Neither Ariel or I were dressed very appropriately for the occasion. I had a thin jacket and slippers on, and Ariel was in Her bright pink Spandex with shorts and slippers (She looked awesome!I'm pretty sure the cops were laughing at her too.) Needless to say it was a long night! Something that could only be made better by a midnight run to Rameriez (BEST BREAKFAST BURRITOS EVER! Ok maybe not that great but they're Good!) No worries, we didn't drive that time.

This picture doesn't really do justice, but the door handle did fall off....

This is where we hit the telephone pole, we actually knocked a little wire off the pole too. But we didn't break any light bulbs, so that was a plus. My Dad sent me a new tail light and Christine and I fixed it all by ourselves. (We feel pretty AWESOME!)

And this little guy is a piece of the Astro Van. Yes Lodged in my tire. It never went flat which was nice but it was wedged in there pretty dang good. But Yay Les Schwab! They took it out for Free:)

You've Been Punk'd!

2011-02-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

So we came home from church on Sunday and our apartment looked like this:

We couldn't figure out who the heck could have done it, everyone we thought of was either out of town or at church with us (or so we thought). We eventually found out later that someone popcorned our FHE brothers' apartment, and they thought it was us, so they left church during Sunday school, broke into our apartment, and flipped everything upside-down. So now, they owe us dinner :) Then, Monday night we dropped off a bag of popcorn on their doorstep with a note saying "Ha ha! You'll never know." We didn't do the original popcorn prank, but they were really confused who did it, so we thought we'd try to confuse them even more, haha.

More updates coming soon.

The Apartment

2011-01-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

And so begins the second year at BYU-Idaho.....

Small Hallways = bucket loads of homemade fun

"Look Ma! NO Hands!!!!"

Christine's room

Ariel's room

Tori's room

You can't see it, but she has a MASSIVE neon hula hoop in the corner :)

More adventures coming soon.
Love,
Mama Cass

All together at last!

2010-12-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, just wanted to give a quick update! On the 16th, Ariel and I came home! I was lucky enough to hang with Tori that day, but Ariel flew in too late. It was alright though because we spent the entire next day together, it was fantastic! For Christmas Tori got a way cool kindle! I'm super jealous because she is able to get one of her textbooks on it, so it's going to be heaps lighter. Tori is also getting a bike come Spring semester which is AWESOME! Ariel got a bunch of kitchen stuff, because she's the practical one. She also got a computer upgrade from her uncle! I got snow boots that will keep my toesies warm up to -20 degrees. I also got a recipe book that my mom put together with all of our family recipes :)

We are all super excited to be living together again, and even more excited that we get our own bedrooms! Not that we don't love sharing rooms, because I know I'll miss the late night chats with Ariel, but now we'll at lease get some good sleep, and we'll have a place of our own to study. Anyway, I don't know if anyone's posted about our new apartment yet... It's called Camden, and they have lots of pictures of it on their website if you want to take a look.

Oh! Another update! Tori picked her major! YAY! It's English with an emphasis in Creative Writing
and a minor in Home and Family Living. Also, I changed my major from Math Ed to Exercise Physiology with a minor in Math. That way I still get some math (since I kind of love it) and get to learn to become a physical therapist... hopefully. Hopefully we both stick with it, so we're not wasting too much time/money just deciding. Because we both changed our majors we get to take a class together this winter! We're taking Essentials of Human Nutrition... or something like that.

I think that's everything for now, we leave for Rexburg on the 2nd, hopefully the trip runs smoothly. We'll get pictures up of our apartment once we're all moved in and decorated!

byebye

Too cute not to share

2010-12-04T01:55:00.000-08:00

RAAWWWRRR!

In the words of Alison... "Cuties!" I love them so much!

Anywho... There are only 12 days until I come home. UNREAL! I'm so insanely excited it's ridiculous... but at the same time, I'm soooo depressed. I've never been so sad about leaving a place before, but that's because I knew I would go back. This time I don't know when or if I'll come back. On a less depressing note, I might go hangliding! A guy from my ward takes people hang gliding as his job, so he tried to take Lucan and I on Tuesday. Sadly but wind died down too much while Lucan was in the air, so I didn't get to go. I'm waiting for the wind to be right so I can go another day. I don't think much else is new, so I will bid you farewell. SEE YOU ALL SOON!!

Peace. Love. Granola.

Christine! Check it! I totally just posted something...You should be Oh so Proud!

2010-11-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

This is a post, to make one of my BEST FRIENDS, Christine, Happy.

I, Tori, shall now make a blog post of my awesome life full of uneventful stories....

November 4 -8 my Mum and I went on a road trip to see my sisters. First we went to Provo to see the twinners. We had a blasty blast together like we always do and we saw the movie Megamind! Which if I do say so myself is stellar!

Quoting movies is a common occurrence when it comes to us Ford girls, "I say we go back to the evil lair, grab some ray guns, hold 'em sideways and just go all 'gangsta' on him."
We also act like retards when were all together.
Exhibit A:

I love them.

ANYWAYS....

After 3 days with them we went up to Rexburg for 24 hours and I got to see my sister Melissa, and 2 of my other Best Friends, Alison and Kelli. I love those girls. Being in the Burg again felt so good, I can't wait to go back in two months. Except the whole time we were there it was SNOWING, which made me remember how much it sucks to walk to class in negative temperatures, still I'm pretty stoked for next semester.
(P.S I got all the classes I wanted/needed, WOO!!!!!)

The trip was way too short, and I wish that it was January already but soon Ariel and Christine will be home! I could not be more excited. It has been way to long since I've seen them and it's making me CRAZY!
Now I just need to write a talk for this Sunday...EEK! I can feel the Butterflies already.

Recent News

2010-11-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

CHRISTINE HERE! As usual... Tori and Ariel are too cool to blog, but I like to update our readers. Anywho, so the weekend of the 22-24 I went down to Bathurst for Ultimate Mixed Nationals. Newcastle had two teams that qualified, mine being the better one :) But then we were put into a really hard pool having to play hard teams early on, so we ended up finishing 15th. The other Newy team though had an easy pool and ended up finishing 5th! So Newcastle is 5th in the country! Yay! I still had a lot of fun, even though we didn't do too well. It was also awesome because I got to meet up with my friend from High School, Lisa Neyman. I played frisbee with her for a few years, and she is doing study abroad in Townsville, QLD. Her team up there came down to Nationals, and we actually played them our second game, so that was really cool. What was also quite fun, was a girl on my team looks exactly like me when she plays. When I got here apparently people called me "American Ellie" because I look so much like her. We have the same hair color/length, same figure, run the same, throw the same... Our faces are different but that's about it. So we would try to confuse people by wearing the same arm bands and taking off our hats. Here is a picture of us :)

So last week Adam and his dad were cleaning out the back yard, and found a red bellied black snake!!! REALLY poisonous. And the day before that, Liv and I found a blue tongued lizard in the back yard. That is when I realized that I really AM in Australia. That would never happen in the states. It is exciting though! This weekend they took out all the grass and put in all new grass in the back and in places in the backyard where there wasn't grass before. It looks really nice, I'll have to take a picture. Here is a picture of the Blue Tongued Lizard and some others. Bridie is my little model, she is adorable. She had a cute dress on so I just took heaps of pictures of her on Monday.

Below is Bridie's first experience painting. She actually didn't get too messy.

This is the watermelon we carved on Halloween. Pumpkins are out of season here so very expensive and hard to find. This is the way the Aussies do it... if they do it at all. Halloween isn't nearly as big here as it is in the States. Not very many people go trick-or-treating. And if they do, most houses wouldn't be prepared with candy. What a depressing childhood.

Tassie! (Tazzy)

2010-10-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Nicci the girlies and I took a trip down to Tasmania to visit Nicci's family and help her parents sell their house. Most of the time I just hung out with the girls, but we did do some pretty amazing things! On Wednesday we went out to Bonorong Wildlife Park to see the animals. We saw tasmanian devils!! Along with wombats, quolls, koalas, and KANGAROOS! At Bonorong they had a whole "Kanga Country" with over 100 kangaroos. It was fantastic. We got to go inside Kanga Country and feed the kangaroos. We got swarmed. So good. We then went to the Cadbury chocolate factory, but only saw the outside because they charged just to go inside the gift shop. Laaaammeee. Cadbury is a pretty big chocolate producer here.

So then the next day, Nicci sent me off on a day trip to see Port Arthur and by golly, it was UH-MAZE-ZING! It had such a creepy feel to it, but at the same time it was gorgeous. It's supposedly extremely haunted, but I had no ghostly encounters thankfully. It's good too because we got there pretty early, and instead of being wiht like 30 people and a guide, I split from the group and went off on my own. I loved exploring by myself! And that way people wouldn't think I was a freak for taking so many pictures, or posing funny in front of things.

Man... I don't even know where to start to tell you about Port Arthur... I'll give you small details, and then add some things in here and there when I put up the pictures. From what I understood of it all, Port Arthur was a place they would send convicts who were "trouble". The convicts that went to port arthur either actually caused trouble after being convicted, were shady characters, or there was "no place" for them anywhere else. What's ridiculous is people would be convicted for SO LONG for the tiniest crimes. Like 7 years for stealing a watch. I don't know much about prison sentences, but I think these days people would get like maybe... maybe a week for stealing a watch... if they're being harsh. So anywho, they were really harsh on the convicts... they had strict working schedules and weren't allowed to talk to anyone. A lot of people died, mostly convixts, out there which is why it's supposedly so haunted. There's an island "Isle of the Dead" that they burried over 1000 dead convicts and guards and reverends and whatnot. The place was up and running for a little over 40 years in the mid 1800's and then closed down (I think 1897 possibly). Then there was a bush fire or something of the sort that wiped out quite a bit of the area. A lot of the houses and things that used to be there are gone. But there are a few buildings still standing strong and beautiful. As creepy as the place was, it was absolutely stunning. Take a look at my pictures!!

This, my friends, is the cute and not-so-cuddly TASMANIAN DEVIL! Ta da!! To be honest I think they're rather ugly... They're pretty short, fat and stubby little things. But still awesome none-the-less. I think the Tassie devils were bridie's favorite animal! Check out this video of her. I call it her "tasmanian devil cry" so fetching adorable. I love her to pieces.

So Bonorong had a place they called "Kanga Country" where there were literally hundreds of kangaroos just lounging around. Hundreds of FRIENDLY kangaroos! You can see quite a few in the background. We were allowed to go in and feed them too. At first Nicci held Olivia and I held Bridie and we fed them and were swarmed. Then I got to be with the kangaroos by myself which was really awesome. If you want to see more pictures of the kangaroos check facebook. I loaded heaps up there.

Hedgehog! So cute!

So this is where we stopped on the way to Port Arthur. This one on the left is Tasman Arch, the next one is just a lookout of Pirate's Bay, and the second picture up at the top is of Devil's Kitchen. Pretty beautiful :)

I thought this flower was pretty. When I started taking pictures of it I realized there was a bee there.So then I started taking pictures of the bee :)

This is the church in Port Arthur. This is the church in Port Arthur. Port Arthur was a catholic facility, so they made all of the convicts worship on Sundays. As you can sort of tell, it has no roof anymore, and it's all grass on the inside. It is probably the prettiest building in Port Arthur.

So that quote in red I guess was one of the mottos of Port Arthur. I think it's good that they wanted these convicts to believe in God, but I found it interesting that they forced it upon them. They wanted to "grind" these convicts into honest men. Anyway, all very fascinating.

So this one is the Penitentiary (which Tori had to teach me how to say haha). The convicts were housed in here. extending on the inside of each of those little windows was a little bed. The men had no personal space, it was just bed and window. Hundreds of them slept in there, and were employed during the day.

This was on the wall leading into the "Separate Prison" which I think is where they kept the more "troublesome" convicts. Below are listed some of the rules. I found that bit very interesting too. They weren't allowed to make any noise whatsoever unless it was during Sunday service.

This one is the chapel inside the Separate Prison. While I was there they were playing a tape of men (supposed to be the prisoners) singing a church hymn in a different language. It gave me the CREEPS because it was a church hymn that we sing all the time. I couldn't figure out which one it was because it wasn't in english, but I don't really want to. It would probably ruin that hymn for me.

Me acting very pensive in front of one of the buildings. Sadly I don't remember which one that was. I think it was just one of the reverend's houses.

One of the windows of the Penitentiary.

Me pretending to be locked in in the Penitentiary, haha.

A great view of all of Port Arthur. On the left is the Church. That's really the only one you can make out with me in the way of the rest.

There's the Guard Tower, Commandant's house, part of the Penitentiary, and another house from up at my looking rock :)

Guard Tower

Some of the really pretty scenery of Port Arthur.

PS: Sorry about the uber long posts. I'll try to make them shorter from now on :)

Torture Tickling Tori

2010-10-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

This is a video of me (Tori) being attacked and tickled. It's kinda of embarrassing but it's too funny not to show. Hopefully it's clear enough to see. Also there's a part that my Mom and I realized sounds bad, but I promise I'm saying "My Abs!" Because I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and it was quite the work out. Haha!

Mindlessness

2010-10-05T03:54:00.000-07:00

Christine here!!
Here's a mindless video that Tori sent to me that makes me quite happy because it's just so funny...

So last Friday I got to go down to Sydney for a YSA cruise in the Harbour. It was AMAZING! We were on a boat with almost 700 other YSA's and the whole bottom floor was a dance floor. We could also go along the side, or up on top. It was PACKED! The theme was crazy hair if you see any strange hair-do's. This first picture is of me on the boat (docked) in front of the Harbour bridge :) That's my "crazy" hair... all I did was make it like crimped and frizzy and wore a sparkly headband. You can't tell in the picture at all though.

Ashleigh and I and some other YSA's (I forget their names... oopsie) and the harbour bridge behind us! This was taken on the top level of the boat.

And THIS is the best part. The one in the white shirt, his name is Vitalii (from the Ukraine). He introduced himself, then stayed by my side for the rest of the cruise. I got to know him a bit, he seemed pretty nice but he was really touchy!! Weird for not knowing him. So I was supposed to go on a date with him last night, but I made an excuse not to go because he's not a member and was already super touchy so I didn't want him to try and put any moves on me haha. So I asked if we could go some other time (hopefully do something else in the daytime). I could be just paranoid but hey, better safe than sorry. Anyway, this is him... he's quite muscly...

On Saturday Ashleigh, Vanessa, Emily and I headed over to the Blue Mountains! The weather was not-so-great, but the mountains were beautiful! This picture here is of the Three Sisters. Funny, because we have Three Sisters in Oregon as well... they're a bit different though.

This one is called Orphan Rock. You used to be able to walk around it and stuff, but then they declared it to be unsafe in the 1970s or something. Bummer, it looks heaps cool! You can't tell from this angle, but there's also a hole right in the middle of the rock.

This is the waterfall Vanessa and I climbed up. We are excellent waterfall climbers!

Aparently this Indian man posed on this rock all contemplative, so we copied him. It does seem like a very good place to do some big thinking.

Ashleigh and I... epic poses again.

Beatles.

We rode the "railway" down to another part of the mountains. It was like as steep as a roller coaster, it was so awesome! This picture was before... I just took it from above the gate that kept us from falling out.

This was another waterfall we climbed that turned out to not be a real waterfall. They just had water running down from a pipe! Lame sauce!! posers.

I'm on a horse... HYA!!!

Ashleigh's very serene...

I'm riding this horse backwards... HYA!!

These tree branch things are like the ones Tarzan would swing from. They're really thick but very bendy like giant ropes. Pretty awesome!

You can't tell but it's pouring rain in this picture. Kinda like we're dancing in the rain with statues! haha. Also, my statue had a naked butt, that's why I'm posing like that... I accidentally covered it up! Dang it!

The face paint that I got when I went to Hunter Valley Gardens a week before the cruise. Pretty legit, I think.

The snake I got to hold at the Gardens! This is the first snake I've ever held!!

Here's just a taste of what the gardens were like. Pretty amazing :)

So also, for more recent news... Sister Julie B. Beck is coming to speak in Sydney October 17th and I'm going to see her!! As far as I know, there will be a YSA Fireside with her and Elder Callister at 5:30 and then a Relief Society Fireside at 7. So I think I'll get to listen to her twice in one night! That's almost as good as general conference! Speaking of Gen. Conference... I haven't watched any of it yet because we're 17 hours ahead of Provo, so we would have had to watch Conference on Sunday and Monday instead of Sat and Sun... so we all just gather at the stake center and will watch it next weekend. I could watch it online, but I figure I'll get more out of it if I actually go to watch. I am very excited about it... I heard lots of good things about it. Also... I got asked to give a talk in Sacrament on the 31st! I don't know my topic yet, but will soon I hope. I'm actually excited about it. It'll be good.
So my time here is almost halfway over! There's so much that I still want to do, but the weekends don't give me enough time to do it all! It's crazy how fast it's going by! I do really really want to go home and see everybody, but I'm going to miss it here a lot. I'll mostly miss "my family"... that's what I call them at least... I'll miss the family I'm working for, and most of all the girls. Once I go, they're going to grow up so fast and I'm going to miss every single moment! So sad!
Um, another Aussie update: The Commonwealth games are going on right now, and it's something that I've never heard of before... I'm not really sure what the deal with it is... it seems like the olympics, but not all of the countries compete (like the US doesn't for example). Anyway, I'm not quite sure what all that is about, but I like the Olympics! So I'm okay with it.
Well I think that's everything. I love and miss all of you who may be reading!

Phobias

2010-09-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

I was stumbling and found a list of phobias. Here are some of mine along with some funny ones.

Christine's Fears:

Automysophobia - Fear of being dirty.

Cacophobia - Fear of ugliness. Hehehe just kidding... maybe, ugliness is quite scary for me.

Entomophobia - Fear of insects. Most definitely scared of insects! Especially after that tick!

Anuptaphobia - Fear of staying single. Just kidding.... maybe...

Tori's Fears:

Athazagoraphobia - Fear of being forgotten ignored or forgetting.

Coulrophobia - Fear of clowns...Okay let's be honest, who isn't?

Monophobia - Fear of solitude or being alone.

Testophobia - Fear of taking tests...ha ha this one is so true!

Ariel's Fears:

Gephyrophobia, - Fear of crossing bridges

Haha Ariel probably has other ones too but she's never really on here, and I know from experience that she hates crossing bridges.

Funny:

Arrhenphobia - Fear of men

Apeirophobia - Fear of infinity

Bibliophobia - Fear of books. Hahaha bibliophobia...

Dishabiliophobia - Fear of undressing in front of someone.

Japanophobia - Fear of Japanese.

Judeophobia - Fear of Jews.

Ephebiphobia - Fear of teenagers. Haha

Logophobia - Fear of words. Just think that one is ironic... such a long word...

Sesquipedalophobia - Fear of long words. HAHA! That one's even longer! So ironic

Peladophobia - Fear of bald people.

Pteronophobia - Fear of being tickled by feathers.

Xanthophobia - Fear of the color yellow or the word yellow.....Haha! "No PLEASE! Anything but yellow! AHHHH!!!!"

Zemmiphobia - Fear of the great mole rat....Totally makes me think of Kim Possible!

1 Apostle+ Two Seventies= AMAZING Fireside

2010-09-11T22:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight 16 Stakes of YSA's in the Eugene, OR area (pretty much anywhere in the state) gathered to listen to Elder Bednar speak. He came with two members of the seventy, Elder Ringwood, and Elder Malm. I got there early enough that I could sit up front, and lucky me, I honestly think that I had the best seat even though I was in a side bench, occasionally they each looked me straight in the eye when they spoke and it made it feel like they were really talking to me. It was such a spiritual night. When Elder Bednar first walked into the chapel everyone stood and for the first time since I had been sitting there the entire chapel was silent. It was awesome.
Elder Ringwood was the first to speak to us, he said that when he entered the room he had an experience, that we had reminded him of a scripture that says, "the foundation of God standeth sure". Instantly you could feel the spirit and already I was trying not cry. He only spoke for maybe 5 minutes bearing his testimony.
Then Elder Malm stood and also spoke to us for only 5 minutes bearing his testimony. He had such a genuine smile that you just knew it was because he could feel the spirit. He also has a Swedish accent so it was really fun to hear him speak.
By now only 15 min of the two hour allotted time had gone by, so I figured that Elder Bednar must be speaking to us for the rest. When he stood, all I could think was "this is amazing, this is amazing!" First he bore his testimony, it was such a blessing to be in the presence of an Apostle, the truthfulness of this gospel was just overwhelming my heart and I couldn't stop smiling for most of the fireside.
But it was really interesting when Elder Bednar finished his testimony he told us that this fireside would probably be different from any other church meeting we had ever attended. He told us that we would do a question and answer type of session. They had a couple microphones spread out across the chapel and gym and they let us ask questions. (not silly questions like "Just how far is Kolob?" he said he didn't know or care haha he's actually really really funny and had everyone laughing multiple times and said "It's called the plan of Happiness, so we should take advantage of it.") But he wanted really sincere questions. It was so neat because Elder Bednar would direct and usually answer part of the question and then call upon Elder Ringwood and/or Elder Malm and have them answer it too. The best part was because they couldn't possibly know what we were going to ask them, all the answers they gave us were led by the spirit. I can't even remember everything they taught us, all I know is that with everything they were saying, in my heart all I was feeling was 'this is true'.
At the very end Elder Brinkerhoff(our area seventy), Elder Malm, Elder Ringwood, and Elder Bednar all bore there testimonies. Even though they had already given them a few times through out the meeting, the ones they left us with were even more spiritual and watching them bear witness with tears running down there faces was an experience I will never forget. After the meeting I had the opportunity to shake all of there hands. I knew that I was in the presence of great men.
It was one of the most spiritually amazing nights that I have ever had. I love this Gospel, it just makes so much sense.
ToRi

Bridie's Birthday!

2010-09-11T06:31:00.001-07:00

Hooray! Bridie is one year old!! We had a nice party today in celebration, and I had way too much pizza/cake/sweet things. Bridie had a good time and looked SO STINKIN CUTE in her party dress! Here are some pictures... and an extra special video after the pictures. Liv and I recorded a song for Bridie. All of it was made up as we went along, my lines aren't that interesting, but Liv's are really impressive. It's a long vid so maybe skip over the first half.

Isn't that dress adorable??

THE IMPROVISED BIRTHDAY SONG

PS: I have resolved to go check out the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves. I asked Ashleigh a YSA in my ward, and she would like to make a long weekend out of it so we could go! I hope it works out, the mountains and caves seem AMAZING! And I have nationals for ultimate in October, and a few YSAs might drive down with me and watch and cheer us on, so that will be a fun roadtrip. And there is also a possibilty (the same group of us) may drive up to Brisbane. That'd be awesome too! I'm excited to get to see things finally, I'm realizing that there's so much that I want to do while I'm still here, and I shouldn't take advantage of the opportunity. Also, with my family (I call them my family, the Thomas family...) we're possibly going to go to "Amazement" which is a place with a bunch of mazes in hedges and things. Also we might try to do tree top adventures with ropes course type things. Should be fun. Well it's really late, I should be in bed, Stake Conference tomorrow!

Which reminds me!! I got a calling!

Young Women's Secretary!! :D I couldn't have asked for a better calling, I am soo so excited! yay!

Harry Potter Legs

2010-09-09T09:45:00.000-07:00

A random post so Christine won't feel like she's hogging the blog:

Last night I was sitting holding my neighbors baby, when my little cousin Braedyn(3) comes in and sits next to me. She loves to stroke baby Anders hair because it is so soft. When she went to put her arm down she bumped my leg. Feeling the tiny hairs, she started rubbing my leg. And this is how the conversation went...
Tori- "Sorry, my legs are hairy. I need to shave."
Braedyn-"Your legs are hairy?"
Continues to feel my leg
Tori-"yep."
Braedyn- "Like Harry Potter?"

Hahaha!!! At that moment I almost felt epic with my unshaved legs.

Hakuna Matata!

ToRi

Christine likes to hog the blog

2010-08-29T04:00:00.000-07:00

So I've been waiting for Tori or Ariel to post something so I wouldn't consume the blog... but of course Ariel never will, and Tori's a bum... so here I am. I have quite a few updates! I don't even know where to begin! I'll start most recently...
Yesterday a YSA from my ward (yes, a boy) took me mountain biking! Oh man, it was HARDCORE! I would freak out at every rock or root that I saw, thinking that if I'd hit it I'd crash, but then by trying to avoid it, I crashed anyway... I think I suck at steering too... I never fell completely off the bike though! That's an accomplishment. So the trail was mostly through the woods, but it went by a great view of the ocean (which there will be a picture of) so we took a rest there, and rode all the way back... and not only to the end of the trail, but all the way home! I was so pooped afterwards, we probably went like 30km or so we guessed. Anywho, really sick, nasty, icky, disgusting, makes me want to vomit when I think about it, horrible, nasty thing happened when I got home!! Or I guess it happened when I was mountain biking, but I noticed it at home a few hours later... I found a TICK HALFWAY INTO MY SKIN!!! Where? I would rather not say... Ew ew ew ew! Even thinking about it I freak out. I noticed something odd, I thought it was like a scab, and I tried to pick it off with my finger but didn't come off, so I grabbed tweezers realizing it wasn't a scab, and I was getting a little weirded out not knowing what the crap was growing out of me... and then I had to pull really hard (it hurt like a mother!) and it came out, I dropped it in my hand and realized it was a bug!!! COMPLETELY grossed out I flung it on the ground and stood there in shock for who knows how long! EW! SO GROSS! I couldn't sleep last night thinking about it. Yuck yuck yuck!
NEW SUBJECT:
I got a letter from Barry Jacobsen (Elder Jacobsen) on Thursday! That was super exciting! I even got some pictures.... Um what else? I joined a mixed ultimate league that plays every wednesday! That's way fun and they're all really good! I get to play in a tournament with some of them this weekend in Wollongong which is south of Sydney. I'm really excited! If we do well we get to go to Nationals! How awesome is that??? I could possibly be an Australian champion! Haha.
Yesterday I had my first "Tim Tam Slam"... Tim Tams are like chocolate covered chocolate biscuits, and you drink hot chocolate through it until it's about to fall apart, and then you eat the tim tam. It's pretty delicious, but super fatty! I don't know why, but that reminds me of the recent shopping success I had! I decided to go to Salvation Army just for fun to see what I could find... And I found TREASURE!! I found a vintage looking (but new with tags) dress that's high necked, and pencil skirt... it's red and has a belt attatched, hard to describe, but uber cute! And I got another dress that's eyelit and red and white, I got some shorts that will be perfect for the beach and swimming, and I got a knit shirt. I got all of it for $32! Booya! The Salvation Armies here aren't as big of a thing as back in the States, but I think less people shop at them too because I found SO many good things! I found even more than that too, it just didn't fit or I thought I'd save my money. Other new news... Nicci is going back to work 4 days a week now instead of 3, so I'll be watching both girls on Thursday now, instead of cooking and cleaning on Thursday. I also get to take Liv to ballet. I went last Thursday and it was a lot of fun to watch. Well I don't want to bore you all with every boring detail, so I will leave you now with some pictures :) Cheers.

Wiggle Wiggle Jump Jump!

2010-08-16T05:07:00.001-07:00

The musical stylings of Olivia Thomas!

Australia :)

2010-08-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

Christine here!!

It's been precisely one week and four days since I arrived in the beautiful New South Wales, Australia. My mom and grandma aren't as technologically savvy and don't have a facebook, so they haven't seen any pictures yet. Plus I promised I'd blog about what I've been up to, though it's strange not blogging about adventures of Mama Cass.... . Anywho... good times! Back to news from Australia! I haven't done a whole lot yet, other than play with beautiful children and sleep, because I'm lame like that. But I did get a tour of Newcastle area, which is beautiful! I love it! And the beaches are so pretty :) I have also been practicing my driving on the "right" side of the road... That's still way weird. I feel like my brain is backwards or something, I don't even know. I also have to look for which side the steering wheel is on before I decide which side of the car to walk to, haha. I'm still not completely adjusted to the time difference, but that's because I'm asleep by 9pm every night (which is like 5am back in Idaho) and I wake up around 6am... At the moment it's 9:35pm here, so I'm doing pretty well. Anyway, I tried to go play some pick up ultimate in Newcastle, but no one showed up sadly. Oh! And Sunday I went to church! That was great, I met two girls who seem really welcoming and friendly. The sad thing is though, there are like maybe 8 YSA's in the ward, so the YSA scene isn't so big. There is a cruise/party ship thing on October 1st for all YSA's in New South Wales! That should be really fun!

So the family!! Oh man, they're great! And I'm not just saying that because Nicci has found the blog ;) I'm saying it because it's true. Olivia is a very smart 4 year old, and a lot of fun. She loves to dance and sing, she's an entertainer! Bridie is probably one of the cutest babies ever... I hope that when I have babies they're that cute. And she's the sweetest thing. Adam is really nice, and a really good daddy. I feel like I often see dads handing all the work over to the mom, and they're completely lost when it comes to their own kids, but Adam does take over when he has the chance, and he's great with the girls. Nicci is fantastic! I just love her already. She's so kind, and really does all she can to make everyone happy. And I love that she and I can talk about anything, like we've talked about boys and all that. She's also really supportive in whatever I'd like to do (both of them are). So yeah, I just hope the experience is as great for them as it is for me! Because at the moment I feel like I got the better end of the deal!

Anyway, it's way past my bedtime, enjoy the pics!

Koala!

Bridie!

Olivia!

Beach in Newcastle!

Last Night Together... :(

2010-08-04T22:26:00.000-07:00

Craziest thing ever!!

2010-07-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

On Friday a nuclear reactor caught on fire in Idaho falls. The smoke covered all of Rexburg and turned the sky a mix of purple, red, orange and yellow. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen in person! These are pics as the night progressed :)

Fourth of July

2010-07-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Happy (belated) 4th!!! On Saturday (the 3rd) we went down to Idaho Falls and saw a firework show. Since everyone here is Mormon, we got to celebrate the 4th on the 3rd so we could still keep the Sabbath Holy :). Also, apparently the firework show we saw is the 2nd biggest in the nation, so it was pretty legit. It was only about half an hour though... legit none-the-less. I still think Disneyland's show was better because they made shapes and stuff! :) Here are a few pics:

Sacrelig?

2010-07-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

And then Ariel gave her offerings...

If you haven't heard yet...

2010-07-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

I (Christine) got a nanny job in Australia! I'll be leaving July 25th, right after school ends! The family I'll be working for has two little girls Olivia (4) and Bridie (9 mos), the parents' names are Nicci and Adam. They live in Belmont, NSW which is about 2 hours north of Sydney, and just south of Newcastle. I found that there's an LDS church in Charlstown which is about 5-10 min away. Also, Belmont is right on a big lake, and only a few miles from the ocean! The thing I'm really worried about though, is that I'll have to drive a stick shift there, and I don't exactly know how to (yet). And the combination of driving stickshift, and driving on the left side of the road, makes me really nervous! haha. But good news is they have a Subaru Forrester, and I love forresters :).

Here are a few pictures:

Creepy Date/ Words of Warning for When Dating

2010-06-12T22:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend Tori and Alison went to Provo, Utah for a wedding reception. On Friday night Alison's friend Matthew invited us to go on a date with him and his roommates. Alison would go with Matthew and I would go with his roommate Brandon, and then there would be a third couple. This was my first blind date and pretty much my 3rd date of my life. Anyways so first off when we go to the boys apartment we were informed that Alison was now going to have to help drive (after we had just been in the car for 5 hours driving down there...something kinda sucky about this?YES!) not only that but they put us in different cars so that Alison and I were separated. My date was rather smooth at first, it was raining and he had an umbrella. He said that this way I had to stand close to him....Awkward because I had never met him before but still I give him props. Then in the car he kept putting his face incredibly close to mine and asking me if it made me uncomfortable all I could do was giggle and turn away (which is Tori language for YESSSS!!!!).
We started off by going ice skating, all of the boys escorted us in which is kinda cute, but this is only the beginning of the creepiest/weirdest date.
Part 1: " Ice Skating = Great excuse to hold on to a girl"
Within 5 min of being on the ice each of our dates had grabbed our hands. Can you say WEIRD! I know I've already pointed this out but I HAVE NEVER MET THIS KID!!!! By now Alison and I are doing are best to just get through this part of the date.
Part 2: "Alison just has to have her Moment"
During a lap around the rink I glance back to check on Al's and I see her fall on the ice, seeing this as the perfect excuse to get my hand away from his. So I rush across the ice to help her up and here's how the scene plays out....
Tori: Ali are you okay?
Al's: Hahaha yeah I'm fine
I reach down to help her up and when she stands she get's really pale....
Al's: Woah....I'm really dizzy
She grabs both of my arms and puts her head down to stop the room from spinning when BAM! She goes completely limp in my arms.(By now the whole date group is around us)
Tori: Alison? ALISON! Are you okay???HEY!!!! Wake up!!! ALI!!!
As everyone watched I carefully fell to my knees with Alison in my arms and gently laid her to the Ice. I tapped her face and she woke up.
Tori: Dude! You passed out are you ok.
Al's: Yeah I'm fine
She tries to stand when once again passes out in my arms and the date group is still just standing and watching as I laid her back on the ice. This time I can't get her to wake up and I'm starting to panic. After 15 seconds the guys are like, "Uhhhh, maybe we should go get help?"
YOU THINK! Finally Alison came too and a coach and a medic type man checked her out. Turns out she was just fine just a little dehydrated and stood up too fast.
Part 3: "Car rides should never be this Awkward."
When we left the Ice Rink my date decided that in the car he would sit unusually close to me and put his arm around me. I figured ok this is really weird but I'm not going to see this kid ever again, he's leaving on a mission and all night he had been putting his face super close to mine, maybe he's trying to see how far he can push me, or maybe I'm over reacting, I've never really been on a date maybe this is what happens...(WRONG!!!!!)
Part 4: "Almost Normal, wait what is he Doing"
Applebee's was the most normal part of the whole night. or so I thought. He didn't sit so close to me that we were touching, Alison and I were able to be next to each other so we could feel a little more comfortable, and we got to eat. Everthing was all good until all of a sudden something or better yet someone was rubbing my leg. Now I was freaked out and after a few seconds just kinda pulled my leg away and he stopped. NOW This is the part that I should have for sure said something but being the stupid innocent girl that I happen to be when it comes to guys I was scared and not really sure how to go about it.
Part 5: "OH NO! HOW DO WE GET OUT OF THIS!!!!!"
After Applebee's we went back to the guys apartment where the guys were very very cuddly. Now normally I'm all for cuddly, but I literally just met this kid and the ways he's cuddling is NOT okay. He not only was once again holding my hand but he had his other arm locked around me in a way that I really couldn't move.
I know that all you parents are like just SAY NO, and I've always told myself that I would NEVER let someone do this to me, but I froze and all I could think was "You have to get out of here." Alison's date now had his arm around her and was rubbing her arms. We gave each other the "Time to Go" look but no matter how much we tried it wasn't working. Brandon (my date) was now playing in my hair, smelling it, and whispering in my ear that I was hot. I was so uncomfortable I'm not even sure I was breathing. The whole time all I could think was "Why in the world are you not stopping him!!!!!"
Part 6: "FINALLY!"
After a long time of trying to leave we finally were set free. The boys trying to be "good dates" walked us back to the car. On the way of course Brandon wouldn't keep his hands off me, it was creepy and I just wanted to run to the car. When we got to the car he pulled me in and hugged me, I made it as short as possible. As I pulled away he tried to pull me in to KISS ME!!! Can you believe this Kid! This is where I finally got up the guts to STOP him, As he got closer I just pushed him away laughed and said goodnight. Alison's date tried to do the same to her. GROSS!!! As soon as we got in the car I couldn't stop shaking, I felt so violated, As soon as we were out of the parking lot I screamed my lungs out. This had been the most uncomfortable night of my life.
A WORD TO THE WISE ABOUT DATING:
NEVER, EVER let a guy(or girl) make you feel uncomfortable. If you are a guy taking a girl on a date you should always make her feel safe and be a PERFECT gentlemen.
GIRLS: Don't be afraid to say something to the guy if you don't feel safe, it's okay to say NO. Practice if you have too. I wish that I would have not have been so Stupid and I would have just told him off. Also when going on a blind date try to figure out a little about the person before so you can be better prepared.
PARENTS: For sure warn your kids to be picky about who they date, and tell them how to say NO.

I know that part of this is my fault, but NO ONE should have to deal with this on a date, especially a FIRST date.

Crazy Life

2010-05-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

We went to this bonfire and on the way out of the long dirt road we saw another bonfire was going on. We decided to crash it, but the parking area was full. Where the road was wide, we just pulled over to park. We happened to park right next to a giant muddle of mud and cow crap. As we were getting out of the car, a truck sped right through the puddle, and drenched Kelli and Malia!! Malia rips off her shirt cause it had dung on it and was seriously about to chase after that truck, but decided against it. Tori and her ninja skills was able to get back into the car without being touched. Then Christine and Ariel were most fortunate and didn't even get close to getting sprayed (they were the farthest away). FUNNY! We laughed the whole way home!

Alison and Christine performed in Acoustic Cafe!! We'll get a vid up of that soon.

Roommate Pictures at the temple!! :D

Mesa Falls!!!

BYU-Idaho Diet makes all the difference!!

2010-05-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Lunch with the most fabulous Rachel :)

2010-04-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Tori, Ariel, Mikaylah, Rachel, and I (Christine) got together for lunch at Papa's Pizza. It was so fun, and Christian entertained us. Here is why...

What cuties!

In Delaney's pants, Christian lovingly placed two balls from the ball pit. He then dragged her all the way over to the table to show us. Hahaha!

And this is what else Christian was doing with the balls from the ball pit. SO funny!!!!

Also, in other news: Christine bought her mandolin yesterday!! This is what it looks like

And this is something I made up, and kinda improvised as I played. It sounds cool though I think :)

Nasty Fridge... Prelude to Clean Checks

2010-04-11T14:50:00.000-07:00

last week sometime Christine (me) and Alison went through all of the nasty food in our fridge and washed all of the tupperware (well, Alison didn't help wash it lol). I just had a fun time watching Alison freak out as I dumped all the food in the bag haha.

Also, on Friday we all had to clean the apartment for white glove clean checks. We pretty much spent the entire day on it, and Tori spent the longest because she had to clean the kitchen and it took over 6 hours to do. Crazy stuff! But now we're home and we're all really happy inside! The weather is BEAUTIFUL! You have no idea how much we all missed the green :)

Ariel's Shuttle Accident

2010-04-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

So as some as you already know, Ariel was riding the salt lake express back to Rexburg really late Monday night and was suppose to get in around 2 am. That night it snowed like a mad man and I (Tori) was suppose to pick up Ariel from the Hart building as soon as she called me. At 3:30 I woke up and wondered how come I hadn't heard from her yet, checking my phone I found a Text message that basically said that the shuttle had flipped and she was okay but they were taking everyone to the hospital. Poor Ariel didn't make it home tell 7am:( and it's finals week.

Ariel was drugged with muscle relaxants and pain killers and when she came in the door she was pretty loopy and could barely stay awake. She told me that only 3 people had their seat belts on, her, the driver, and one other. The Shuttle had an unnecessary trailer on the back and it start fishtailing then the whole van slid off the road into a ditch and flipped over. A cowboy that was not buckled fell right on top of her, he's completely fine, but now she's somewhat damaged. She's having back, shoulder, and a little neck pain.

We've still got her on the drugs and we find her pretty hilarious when she's on them. Her Accident really had us freaked for a while and were all really glad to have her home and safe. But for those who like a glimpse of Ariel loopy, here is a link to our roommate Alison's blog. She posted a video of her on her high. The video says it's 22 min long but it's only like ten.

Weeee! Temple Square! And Utah!

2010-04-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

Temple Square, Saturday April 3rd. We went up to SLC after the second session of Conference and happened to be there right before the Priesthood session started. Because of this, there were hotties all around us. We were very much enjoying that. Also!! We were walking, and I was trying to take sneaky pics of the hotties and Tori and the guy who plays Mark in the movie Charly totally made full on eye contact! I saw him too, but barely before he walked into a building that we couldn't go in. It was crazy! And he looks exactly the same in real life! Awesome!! Anyways, these are some of our fun pics from the day. And sorry that they're out of order :) Some are from Friday as well.

Crazy Karate kick! Very appropriate in front of the temple... okay maybe not. :D heheweee!! Marry me! hahaha. We had fun taking jumping pics... and I'm pretty sure people must have thought we were crazy. hehehe
It's like in All About Steve when she says "We can have cute little people on our wedding cake posing like this"... that's what we were going for.

Then I had Taylor Lautner stand in for me, cause he happened to be walking right by. :)
This is on Friday at University mall, we got to do some shopping :))

We went jeans shopping at DI! It was a jackpot, for real! We both got a pair of super cheap jeans!

Our friend Ben makes puppets apparently and is freaking amazing at it!

Sorry these pics are kind of (really) out of order. My bad. We were trying to sneak pictures of all the hotties in Temple Square. We happened to be there right before the Priesthood Session.

FUN

2010-03-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

Tori and Christine are going to Utah this weekend!! And Ariel is flying home so she can hang out with her German friends who will be in the EUG. SO we're all pretty much stoked for this weekend! And then the next week we have finals. And then SPRING BREAK!!

Boo ya ka shaw!!

Urban Pleasure Writers

2010-03-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

These are pictures we took for our magazine. They turned out really well, I'm excited.

URBAN PLEASURE

2010-03-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

So Tori and I (Christine) are in the same English class. We had an assignment to create a magazine as a group, and we'll each put some pieces of our writing in it. Anyway, our group came up with the name "Urban Pleasure" for our magazine, 1) because it sounds cool, and 2) our teacher always tells us that our writing gives her "pleasure" ... So I took these pics (Tori helped me find some of the letters) and pieced together this for our cover :)

Glamorous Nights in the 80's

2010-03-18T11:43:00.001-07:00

Last Night we had an impromptu disco party! It's was epic, we did silly hair, crazy eye makeup, and well, the photos speak for themselves.

Love ya!

we made a puzzle!

2010-03-17T18:28:00.001-07:00

So lately...

2010-03-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Christine: "Where's One Tree Hill?"
Tori: "That's a good question."
It was in Tori's room, on her desk... what the heck. Haha.

Christine here. So not too much is new with us, I just decided it was about time for another blog post. I do have some embarrassing stories though. So last Tuesday was devotional day, and I wore these heels that are like 4.5 inches and kind of deathly. So then I was walking downstairs after class and texting my friend. Then the front of the shoe slipped off the step, and I grabbed the rail so I wouldn't fall on my face, and ended up falling down 5 or 6 steps backwards! AND I was wearing a dress, AND I flashed some boys. Yikes. I also gave myself some fatty bruises from that fall. I realized that I can't go more than a week without giving myself a new bruise. I am just injury proned I suppose.
So I've gotten to play ultimate lately! I'm not gonna lie, people here are not nearly as intense as in Eugene, but ultimate is ultimate. They call "bids" "dives"... that part kind of bugs me, haha. And they don't know what a layout or a sky is. But anyway, I've been playing every Tuesday for the past 3 weeks, and the last few weekends I got to play too. And I made a friend who played UPA ultimate in high school, and knows all the terms, and he's a baller.
Oh! Something I don't think we blogged about ... Nathan (my boy) tried out for guitars unplugged and got in! And he also made it into the best of show, and played for almost 4000 people!! Crazy huh?
Funny Story!!! Actually three funny stories... I've embarrassed myself a lot lately. So I was talking to a guy who helped organize ultimate here on facebook, and he said something about the tournament that I'm going to try to play in... and I meant to respond "ok sweet" but accidentally typed "ok sweety"... hahaha. He's married with kids... awkward!! He knew it was a typo but still... Funny story #2: I was giving Nathan a hug goodnight, and he was on the edge of the stairs and he was leaning back, I thought his foot was back, and he said "woah! you're trying to push me over" and since I thought his foot was back, I pretended to push him, but then we actually fell back down the stairs. Oh man... funny... got another bruise... Funny story #3: Last night I sat up in bed when Ariel came in and asked "where are we going!?!" and I asked a few times and then she convinced me to go back to sleep. Haha... oh man...
Peace out, the end.

Random Update

2010-03-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

We haven't posted any thing lately so we thought we would do a quick update just for fun.

Christine is still a balla and I'm pretty sure she always will be. Her and Nathan are still together and we love Nathan he cracks us up. Christine has gotten to play a little bit of Ultimate Frisbee lately to, which makes her uber happy! She also plays on a rec. basketball team and is one of their best players. Her Guitar is a guy magnet...(too bad she's already taken). She's also recently learned that our bathroom is the best place to play her guitar because it has the best acoustics.

Ariel is just simply Amazing. It's hilarious to watch her talk to strangers because she is so freaking good at it. The girl can get almost any kid to talk to her and as much as we hate her for talking to all the hotties were secretly just jealous of her wicked awesome conversational skills. Her and Tori love night walks! Even though it's super cold outside, it feels so good to be outside walking and talking. Yesterday Ariel embraced the good weather and went hiking with a few kids in our ward.

And me (Tori) well I'm just trying to get through the rest of this semester. School just takes it right out of me. We've been here for two and half months and were just now finally realizing how much work we get done if we go to the library instead of trying to get it done at home. It's finally warming up a little outside and I could not be more excited for spring! Yesterday my friend Nathan (different from Christine's boyfriend, we know way to many Nathan's) checked out Rosario for me because she's been sounding a little weird, turns out there's a crack in my exhaust, he's says she should be fine but were going to check out some junkyards to try and replace it anyways.All of us could not be more excited for spring break! Were all going home for the week and can't wait to see our beautiful GREEN Oregon. Were trying to convince Alison to come along to.College is pretty sweet but were all really excited for spring semester when the weather should be warmer and the snow hopefully gone from campus.

Ward Talent Show

2010-03-03T14:14:00.001-08:00

Lime in the Coconut!

2010-02-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

This is how crazy we are.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, as of a week and a half ago, Christine has a boyfriend. His name is Nathan and he's our FHE brother.
So for Valentine's Day, Tori was in Utah visiting her sisters. Alison and Ariel held a dinner party for 16 PEOPLE!! It was CRAZY! A success though. And Christine had dinner at Nathan's. At the party, Ariel got a steam burn from a pot that was left on the burner, and is in pain. Hopefully it gets better soon so she can do her homework. Not much else is new with us. We don't have classes today which is nice, but we really need to crack down on our homework! Christine, Tori and Ariel all have a midterm project for their Book of Mormon class due on Thursday.

These are the flowers Christine got from Nathan for Valentine's Day :) They were delivered to her at different intervals of the day.

He even brought flowers to Ariel and Alison!

This is a pic of Nathan for any of you who wanted to know what he looks like.

Pictures from Boredom and Bowling!!!

2010-01-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

Last Weekend Tori, Alison, Kelli, and Christine went Bowling and had a Blasty Blast. Ariel was being a good girl and stayed home to finish her homework so sadly she wasn't with us for our fun time but we went to the Tetons Bowling Center and it was awesome. They have a DJ for cosmic bowling on Friday/Saturday nights and randomly he'll have the next bowlers for each lane do some sort of competition, like laying on your stomach and pushing the ball as hard as you can and who ever knocks down the most pins, wins free Jamba Juice! Sweet, right?!
These are some of our pictures that we took while we were waiting for a lane to open.

Christine and Tori being weirdos before going to our Home Teachers for Dinner.(Which was an experience) We also made a video during this time but unfortunately were having technical difficulties.

Watch out!! Or we might eat you!!

2010-01-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

Update on our lives:
Well Ariel is on a hot date right now. Actually... she didn't want to go, but a date's a date right? And Christine had a date last week... And Tori and Alison are wallowing in loneliness, haha. But that's all the information we'll disclose on the blog about that... you can call us if you want more dirty details... we like phone calls... or texts cause we never get them anymore haha. Also, we went to a waffle party tonight and made some new friends. New friends are good. Here are some videos you may enjoy.

This is Tori when she got her letter from Barry. This is only 30 seconds of it hahaha.

Ariel is crazy flexible and can walk like this! AND it's freaking scary lol.

There are more videos on the way, but we're having trouble uploading. Enjoy!

We're domestic!!

2010-01-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

So we have a new friend Kelli, who we have over for dinner a lot. She's awesome. And one time at dinner she said "oh my gosh!! You guys are so domestic!!" which we think is the best quote ever. So we always make jokes about being domestic. So here we have Tori and Alison being domestic!! Oh! And last night all of us were domestic! We all contributed in making Lemon Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, bunt cake, and brownies. And we invited 6 people over and had a giant dinner party and afterwards we played signs, which is such a fun game!! And today... we have more dishes to do :/ Part of being domestic I guess. :)

Fun light pictures.
This is Kelli! Christine and her took vampire pictures last night.

Awkward Family Photo!!!

2010-01-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

FOOTIE PAJAMAS and La Jolla

2010-01-09T00:10:00.000-08:00

Finally, the post everyone's been waiting for (all five of our followers... lol) The apartment!!!! We do not have pics of Alison and Tori's room yet, because we're waiting for it to be clean. Haha! And at the moment, none of the apartment is clean. It's a good thing I took these pics while it was :) I'll maybe take more after clean checks in a week, haha.
So what's new with La Jolla apartment 202? Well, we all have more classes than is ideal, but we are managing. So far we have managed to stay up past midnight every night this week and we all have 7:45am classes! Yikes. Homework and us being silly and ADD keeps us up rather late. We're working on that... haha. Tonight we attended I-Night. There were a ton of activities, we mostly hung at the dance. We ran into Heather Farrier!! That was exciting!!! And then we wanted new friends so we went up to a few different groups (of guys of course) and introduced ourselves. We met 3 Tanners, a Brian, a Mike, a Seth, a Levi, a Cort... and I forget the rest! And Cort invited us to their weekly movie parties since they have a projector! Yay new friends! ALSO! We all got tickets to the Brooke White concert tomorrow night! It was only $10 for students! SCORE! That should be fun. Even though none of us know any of her songs. Haha. Cheap concert... something to do lol. Okay... Here are the pics :)

The End.

kthanxbye

Tori and Christine's drive to Rexburg

2010-01-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

We woke up in the wee hours of the morning to begin our trek to Rexburg. All was going well, until Baker city area and the roads got quite icy, pictured below. Rosario was sliding back and forth in the lane as we passed some semis.

After that trecherous terrain, we passed through a veil of fog, photographed below.

All of the sudden, we could see the light, and the fog was gone. After a few more hours, the roads became quite icy again. Cars were spinning out into the snow banks all around us. Rosario handled the snow quite well, the van on the other hand was not so lucky. Aware that something was wrong, Craig took a random exit to inspect the van, only to later find out that the serpentine belt broke off. We called for a tow truck, and while we were waiting, this nice couple invited us into their home, let us watch G-Force and played with their puppies... who drooled a lot. Melissa and Tori with their super strength (and rubber boots) gave Christine and Amanda piggy back rides back to the cars, so they didn't have to track through the snow. Mr. Tow Truck man arrived in record time and picked up the van. The van was so weighed down by our stuff that the back end dragged the whole way to Weiser, where the tow man's shop was.

Mr. Tow Truck man then received the honorable nickname of "Mr Fix It" as he worked on fixing the serpentine belt. With much anticipation, we watched (from the foggy windows of Rosario) as Craig and Mr. Fix It fixed the car. Finally, we received good news. The van was fixed, we bought some tacos, burritos and hot chocolate, and we were ready to be on the road again.
After that quite eventful dilema, it was smooth sailing. Tori found a tumble weed stuck in the front of the car!

Mommy Ford informed us that the roads closer to Idaho Falls were very snowy, so we reached Twin Falls, fed Rosario with some gasoline, and checked into the fine Wingate Hotel.

This is how dirty Rosario was at the second gas station stop.

Christine stayed in the car while Tori cleaned the windows :)

We'll be sure to blog soon about the move-in process :)
Peace, Love, Granola
-Tori and Christine

2009-12-05T15:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, so for Single's ward FHE we had a "service auction" and Tori and I donated the service of writing a song for someone. So, Jake bought our service with 11 cans of food. Here is the video with the recording of the song, and we'll also give him the song on a CD on Sunday :) Enjoy!
I will also post the lyrics below the video.

THE JAKE DAY SONG
VERSE: Proudly Flaunts, Oregon Law
But we all know that you came from Utah
Shirt that screams I’m the Boss
You thinks you're cool but it’s your Loss
Pimpin’ that Jeep you got all the style
Looking cool, every mile
Jake, Oh Jake, you’re our friend
It’ll stay that way till the end...
CHORUS: Of our stay in Eugene
Some of our crazy quirks you have seen
You say we’re just immature
But dancing with us you wish you were
Secretly you know the moves to Single ladies
You’ve been a dancing queen since the 1980’s.
Now you’ve stopped, because you are sure
That you need to be more mature
(Just remember come what may
This song was written for you Jake Day)
VERSE: Lawyers don’t dance to win a case
You just need an angry face
You spend all your time studying
We think you need counseling
Your head is full of nuts and bolts
We think you should marry Sarah Stoltz
Jake, Oh Jake, you’re our friend
It’ll stay that way till the end...
CHORUS: Of our stay in Eugene
Some of our crazy quirks you have seen
You say we’re just immature
But dancing with us you wish you were
Secretly you know the moves to Single ladies
You’ve been a dancing queen since the 1980’s.
Now you’ve stopped, because you are sure
That you need to be more mature
Just remember come what may
This song was written for you Jake Day.
VERSE: But when we return from BYU-I
You will tell us with a sigh
How much you missed our dance moves
And you will ask us to teach you too
You’ll be the best dancer around
Christine and Tori won’t make a sound
They knew the truth all along
It’s just been revealed in this song.

Tori's Oops Life

2009-12-01T15:19:00.001-08:00

1. Oops! Tori's allergic to the facemask.

2.Oops! Tori caught on fire.

3. Oops! No one noticed...

4. Oops! Tori killed her car again.

5. Oops! She parked in front of a brick wall with cars on either side so no one can give her a jump.

6. Oops! Tori got a flat tire.

7. Oops! Tori tried to make cookies from an internet recipe.

8. Oops! Tori can't cut straight lines.

9. Oops! Tori can't put stickers down in a pattern.

10. Oops! Tori can't make snow flakes.

11. Oops! Tori wasn't told that Institute class was cancelled.

12. Oops! Tori deleted all her music on her ipod and itunes.

13. Oops! Tori was an Oops Baby!

14. Oops! "I think I'm weird shaped"

15.Oops! Tori knocked Edward out of the cup holder and screamed "OH EDWARD!" in a theater full of people.

16.Oops! Tori spoke with a Canadian accent instead of a southern accent

17. Oops! Tori left her car lights on...AGAIN!

18. Oops! Tori didn't see the ice and fell on her butt in front of a whole bunch of strangers.

19. Oops! Tori's flapping her arms instead of moving her body.

20.Oops! Tori's making camel noises instead of a giraffe.

21.Oops! Tori caught chocolate chip cookies on fire in the microwave.

22.Oops! Tori tried making a Pancake only to realize in the end that she accidentally grabbed the flour and not the pancake mix.

The OFFICIAL Bucket List

2009-11-27T21:58:00.000-08:00

Our Bucket List of things to do:

1. Become best friends with Taylor Swift.

2. Learn all the words to "In The Beginning"-K'naan

3. Become a famous music group... Known as Mama Cass!

4. Make the C.W.A. known worldwide.

5. Get our storybook of Edward's Trip To The Big Apple published.

6. All nanny together in NY during our break from school.

7. Make sure Tori and Barry get married. *joke*

8. Meet Sandra Bullock.

9. Make Aprons and Pillow Cases for College.

10. Make Rachel Hansen throw us a "College" Shower.

So You Think You Can Dance Tour 2009!!!

2009-11-22T16:08:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Christine here! So Friday I had the opportunity to go up to Portland to see the top 10 from season 5 of SYTYCD perform! Everyone that season is just sooo phenomenal! Here are some of the highlights! I took some pretty awesome pics if I do say so myself :) And I recorded my favorite dances. There are about 15 videos, haha. I think I'll put like a third of those on here. They're all SPECTACULAR though, so it won't be a waste of your time to watch :)

The whole group. This was the opening routine.

Jason is FLYING! Oh man... I am in love with him :)

Top 3 girls. Superhero Routine

We'll just pretend that's me :) Haha. Caitlin is soo amazing!

Yep! He's my husband

Brandon and Kayla are both so good! I love this pic.

Jeanine is the winner of SYTYCD season 5! This was her solo.

The group again

This routine is intense :)

I love this one!! They totally make out at the end. I'm pretty jealous of Jeanine.

So since we decided that I'm Caitlin... I just made out with Jason. Just saying...

This was hilarious! The whole time, inbetween routines, Jeanine and Phillip would come on trying to do the Russian dance, and they'd get scolded. So they snuck on again, and then everyone jumped in!

These were the top 3 guys: Evan, Brandon and Ade. They're all amazing.

Vampire Dance!! Since most of us are twifans. Thought you might like this one.

"Oh Edward!"

2009-11-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

TORI here. Thursday, was of course, NEW MOON PREMIERE DAY! Yay!

We made sure that Edward went everywhere with us. With some sneaky skills we caught him snagging us a stylish ride to the movie.

We had hours until we could get in line for our double feature of Twilight and New Moon, so we wasted time in Goodwill, where we found the perfect wedding dresses for when Edward finally decides which one of us 3 girls he's going to marry:)

Just in case it's not us, we have a back-up plan...

Wednesday night Christine and I had been watching ANTM (America's Next Top Model) season finale, where the final two girls get to walk the runway. Part of the make-up was an unreal amount of glitter all over their bodies. This gave me the best idea EVER for when we went to the New Moon Premiere. After some help from google, we found a place that sold spray body glitter that we could put on our faces and bodies to look just like Vampires!

After hours of waiting, it was time to Glitter ourselves like mad. I don't think I've ever seen so much glitter in my life. We coated our faces as well as we could, along with our arms and legs. But not only did we get sparkles on us but it is now covering my entire room. My rooms a mess...but Hey it's sparkly!:)

Here's some pictures from the night...

Waiting in line with Edward, who could not wait to see himself on the Big Screen.

We had a hard time being able to catch our glorious glittery-ness on camera..."It's the fluorescents."

"You can tell she's a good dancer by the way she drinks a Soda Pop!"

The Night was a Success. Our sparkling faces seemed to grab every ones attention. Everyone looked at us as if we were crazy. Christine and I were starting to wonder a little about our awesome idea. Luckily we ended up sitting next to a hilarious group of girls. One of which was so excited about our sparkly-ness that we glittered her up to. She could not wait to go to her college class the next morning to show it off. Oh the people you meet while waiting for movie premieres.

The funniest part of the night was how distracted Christine and I kept getting during the movie by each others sparkling faces. Anytime we'd turn to comment on something we had to tell each other how twinkly the other was.

The movie was AMAZING! Of course it wasn't the same with out Ariel:( but when she gets back will for sure go see it again. Anyways we definitely recommend it! So go see it! DO IT! You know you want to:)

kthanksbye

Edward Bought Us Tickets for Twilight and the New Moon Premiere!!!!

2009-11-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

He obviously loves us more than you. 'Nuff said.

kthanksbye

BYU-I Class Schedules

2009-11-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

It's almost here!!!

Soon we Mama Cass Girls head off to experience college at its finest! It's been a long hard process after stressing out for last couple of days trying to figure out our schedules, we've finally completed the task and decided to share with you the our amazing decisions.

Tori's SUPER AWESOME Classes:
MWF~
FDMAT 108 (Math) 10:15-11:15am Melanie Kennelly (3 Credits)
FDENG 101 (English) 11:30-12:30pm Andra Hansen (3 Credits)
FDHUM 101 (Humanities) 2:00-3:00pm Brian Atkinson (3 Credits) *might drop this class*

T/T~
FDSCI 101 (Science) 7:45-8:45am Brian Lemon (2 Credits)
FDAMF 101 (American Foundations) 9:45-11:15am Eric Walz (3 Credits)
FDREL 121 (Book of Mormon) 11:30-12:30pm Philip Allred (2 Credits)

Total Credits: 16 Woo! Bring it!
*Possible Major in English with a Minor in Humanities*

CHRISTEEEEN'S superb shchedule!
M/W/F
MATH 205 (Fund. Num. Theory) 10:15-11:15am Richard Pieper [3 credits]
FDENG 101 (Found. English) 11:30am-12:30pm Andra Hansen [3 credits]

T/T

FDSCI 101 (Found. Science) 7:45-8:45am Brian Lemon [2 credits]

FDAMF 101 (American Found.) 9:45-11:15am Eric Walz [3 credits] (*might drop this course*)

FDREL 121 (Book of Mormon) 11:30am-12:30pm Phillip Alred [2 credits]

M/T/W/T

SPAN 201 (Spanish Second Year) 12:45-1:45pm Rachel Peck [4 credits]

M/T/T/F

MATH 114 (Calculus Teacher) 10:15-11:15 Mystery Teacher [4 credits] (*might add this course*)

17 TOTAL CREDITS!! YIKES!!

So some of my credits from LCC didn't transfer "directly" so I may have to take Calculus II (even though I took it last year). Since it's M/T/T/F from 10:15-11:15, I would have to drop American Foundations. This is most likely what will happen, as soon as the credits show up for Calculus I, I can sign up for Calculus II... If it's not full by then . And then I'll have 15 credits, not 17, which is more manageable.

Major: Math Education

Minor: Spanish Education

Ariel's Schedule:

MWF

7:45-8:45 German, Bob Schwarz

3:15-4:15 Child Development, Kelly McCoy

T/T

11:30-12:30 BOM, Phillip Allred

12:45-1:45 Global Hotspot 201, Michael Madsen

3:15-4:45 Real World Math 108, Brad Garner

Total Credits: 14

I'm also currently signed up for an English class but I don't think I'm going to take it. It would put me up to 17 credits which is just too much.

Major:Child Development

Minor: Professional Preschool Associates Degree

Mama Cass Moments

2009-11-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone! Christine here. So if you were wondering what this whole "Mama Cass" thing is, I will inform you! :) The Proposal is our favorite movie, and we pretty much quote it all the time. At the very end, Ramone sings "God Bless America" then says "That's a great song... Mama Cass!" And it's totally and completely random, and we didn't know what it meant. But now we know it's Mama Cass from the Mama's and the Papa's. Still completely random. Anywho, we just thought that it would be a cool, somewhat clever name for our trio :) Without futher adieu, here is a Mama Cass video and some moments you missed out on. :)

The Mama Cass Cuddle video

This is an original song. Lyrics by Tori, guitar by Christine. Vocals by Christine and Tori :)

On Halloween, Tori and I teamed up to be Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus. Here are some pictures of the best of both worlds :)

GIRLS CAMP!!
The amazing Junior Unit Leaders. Or "Junits".

SKUNK BAIT!!! OOO HAHA!! *mating call*

Video: http://www.facebook.com/christine.e.wilson#/video/video.php?v=236905545586&subj=724885586

Junits reunite!!! :)

Beach Trips!!!!

Ariel is tall????

kthanksbye

Edward's Trip to the Big Apple

2009-11-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

Edward's Trip to the Big Apple

On a bright autumn morning Christine and Ariel awoke to the excited squeals of Edward. He was so excited that he lept on top of them to wake them up, eager to travel into the Big Apple.

As usual he insisted on driving.

But seeing as he couldn't reach the gas pedal, he eventually settled for the dashboard.

This was obviously very illegal, so Christine and Ariel eventually convinced him to buckle up.

They arrived at the train station with some time to kill, so Edward decided to ride the scooter.

He was of course a pro with the sweetest tricks.

Disappointed that Deer Park was not actually inhabited with deer, Edward sulked by the Deer Park sign, waiting for the train to arrive.

Edward and his immortal self is always the one flirting with danger.

Once on the train, Edward was very excited to give the conductor his train ticket.

Edward was sure to check all of the Emergency Exits to ensure safe exit in the case of an emergency.

During the very long train ride, Edward informed the girls that he could impersonate Zoolander magnificently. Christine and Ariel insisted that he showed off this unique skill.

Magnum.

Blue Steel.

Over protective as usual, Edward reminded the girls to "watch the gap" before exiting the train.

When they got off the train, they boarded a ferry headed towards Liberty Island to see Edward's favorite monument.

On the way to the island, Edward warmed up his Liberty arm.

Right next to Lady Liberty, Edward showed off his grace, beauty, and poise.

He then declared that it would look much better if there were a "Statue of Mr. Edward Liberty"

After the beautiful ferry ride back to shore, Edward helped the girls locate the Manhattan Temple. He was eventually successful, after getting the girls lost for over 20 minutes, and was rather irritated by the time he finally found it.

His irritation soon turned into joy once he realized that this was the place that he could, one day, be sealed to his eternal companion.

All he had to do was choose one...

After visiting the Temple, Edward suggested they take a stroll through central park. He spotted some leaves...

After quite an eventful day, Edward grew weak and needed to replenish. OM NOM NOM NOM!!

The llamas did not suffice, so Edward retreated to the Central Park Wildlife Center.

What occured next is not suitable for young children.

Leaving the park, Edward spotted a sign with which he very much agreed.

On the way back to the train station, Edward became giddy when he saw Times Square.

And even more so when he spotted himself on the New Moon billboard!

Edward hopped back into Christine's pocket...

And later into Ariel's, to await the next adventure.

THE END
kthanksbye