School, General Conference, The Big Country

So this week has been all about school. I had 3 tests: Isys, ASL, and Accounting 210. I don't know how I did on the 1st 2, because the grades are not posted yet, but I did pretty well on Accounting which makes me glad because I studied pretty much allll week for it. It's exhausting to do nothing but study, let me tell you. Scott is a pretty good motivator for me. He always wants to study so then I do too. Isys seemed pretty easy to me, and ASL was... interesting. I couldn't see anything he was doing for the finger spelling part because he would sign to just the sides and not the back, so no one in the back to see. It was probably the most frustrating thing of my life.

Speaking of ASL, I am overdue on a story about it. So the other day I ran into this guy, Andrew in my ward. I ended up telling him I was about to go to sign language class and he eagerly signed I love ____. I didn't know the last sign, so I asked what it was. He said it meant make out. So I laughed and went on my way to class. That day we were talking about directions, and how deaf people use their tongues to show that something is far away. Andrew (the teacher, not the guy in my ward) said "Deaf people use their tongues a lot!" This struck me as very funny, because what is one of the main and best things people generally use their tongues for? Making out of course! So I started laughing and made that sign. I thought it was a very good joke... Andrew just looked at me, and said (breaking the no-talking rule), "Necking?? Realllyyyyy????"... "Making out??" I said, repeating the sign, a little uncertainly. Andrew sighed. He then showed us the signs for necking, making love, and kissing with tongue. Everyone was fascinated. I don't think I've seen our class pay so much attention before. It was pretty embarrassing, though. I didn't think he'd react in such a shocked manner.

So anyway, after I finally took the Accounting test, I went to the game for about half of it until Heather, Winnie, and Christine decided to leave to go get ice cream at sub zero. Apparently some guys who were friends with Winnie invited us. But then we changed our minds when they informed us that they were on dates. That made me laugh... I mean if I was on a date and suddenly the guys started texting their other girl friends and asking if they wanted to come too I would be pretty confused about if the date was over.... or what?

So then we went back to Winnie's and then to Christine and Heather's. We hung out with Krystal (their roomie) and some guys she had over until we heard all this music coming from outside. Apparently some guys from Glenwood decided to start a spontaneous dance party in the parking lot, so we went and joined them (of course) for about an hour or so? It was very fun... really random. At one point 2 of the girls who are in the RS presidency came...

OH! I forgot. I was called to be the RS secretary last Sunday. It was interesting, because I was asked to meet with the Bishop at 9:30am, and was sustained at 10am. I just love my little presidency. I had met the president at 1st counselor the week before after I gave my talk. I never met the 2nd counselor before, but she's adorable too. Their names are Lori, Shannon, and Tashi. I am so excited to serve with them :) It will be quite an adventure because none of us have been in a presidency before, except if you count young womens, which I don't because I know I had lots of callings in it, but I honestly don't remember which callings (maybe I was Beehive President once?) and we did basically nothing.

On that note, it's General Conference time! I love General Conference :) I remember as a little girl we would go to the Stake Center and watch it. We would always try to get mom and dad to take us to the nursery room so we could play instead of sit in the chapel. They tried to keep us in the chapel as long as possible, though. We were to take notes on every talk, and if we did, they would pay for us to all go see a movie as a family. This guaranteed us listening to every talk. We would also do "Conference Reports" for the next family night, where we would each pick a talk (or ten if you were dad) and talk about it for the camera and bear our testimony. We always fast forward them when we watch family movies, but maybe that will change one day. I still remember claiming talks when a general authority would tell a particularly funny story and then fighting over them when more than one sibling wanted it. Usually we would find another story in a later talk and that would make everyone feel better. I remember one time making as many faces at the person giving their report as possible... sometimes we get really irreverent... but one of my favorite talks today made me feel better about our inherent random irreverence that manifests itself as the most inopportune times.

Elder Bednar talked about love and concern and diligence in the home. One part of the talk sounded so similar to my life. He talked about how during scripture study it seemed like the kids didn't pay attention or seem as spiritually edified as they would have hoped. Many times it would be interrupted with "He's touching me!" and "She's breathing my air!" This was so much like my home. We would be so irreverent! I remember one time tickling little Sarah all of scripture study and pretending I wasn't touching her. This was probably just this past summer... maybe we'll never grow up! Prayer usually ended up with all of us giggling about nothing in particular, but not being able to stop. It's so fun to be best friends with your siblings! The point of this is mostly that it was still effective. I still learned so much in our daily scripture study. We would often complain about how long it was, but the truth is I am incredibly grateful that my parents had the patience to do it. My favorite game we would play was fill in the blank. We got to be incredibly good at it. Someone would read part of scripture and pause and everyone would try to guess the word as quickly as possible. Sometimes we would count points. Another time, we had a tent that you would set up on a bed, and we set it up to pretend to be listening to King Benjamin. And one time, we decided to sing the scriptures when dad was gone. Mom told us excitedly that that night we would sing the verses, because daddy was going to be at a meeting. We'd asked to do that many times, because scriptures, like songs, have verses. Dad never thought it was a good idea, so we only got to do it that one time, but we had so much fun.

I also randomly thought of a daddy daughter date I went on when I was very little. Brother Potter, who was my parent's bishop when they were in singles ward, was having a party for his birthday maybe? He is very well off, so he got a whole theater reserved and had a bunch of his friends come to watch "The Big Country" with him. For some reason mom couldn't go, probably a calling or something, so daddy asked me to go with him. I got dressed up, if I remember, and we went to watch it. It's a very long romantic movie, and so there was an intermission in the middle. I remember lots of people coming to talk to me, because I was little, probably, and dad was going to take me home, but I wanted to see the end, so he let me stay. I remember getting little winks and elbows and "Oh, you wanna see how it ends, huh??" from lots of people. Anyway, it was just really fun, and I'm glad my daddy thought to take me :)

Next time I really will talk about the 1st episode of the office... promise.