The (second) most wonderful time of the year

Some friends we met at the Sandy Institute invited my roommates and me to drive the Alpine loop (the road behind Timpanogos) today to see the fall leaves. It was beautiful!

Shellie, Jake, Nate, Emma

Mhmm. . . ?

My first "leftovers" casserole.

I had a roommate back in Rexburg who would make casseroles out of random things - and they would turn out delicious. So I decided to give it a try: some leftover rice, some leftover garlicky-potato soup stuff, some chicken. Plus some onions and cheese, because those make everything better right? We'll see. . .

General Conference

Well, the church is true! Wasn't General Conference amazing?


My roommates and I were able to attend conference in the tabernacle Saturday afternoon, and in the Conference Center yesterday afternoon. (Left to right: me, Emma, Shellie; yes, my eyes are closed - that's to be expected, right?) We got in the standby line at about 1:30 and got into the building at about five to 2 - and got great seats on the floor. Afterwards I got to go see Dad, who was manning the projector in the Joseph Smith Building theater.





Swarming with Mormons! It was so neat to be here with fellow church members from all over the world and feel like a part of everything.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?

Am I smarter than a fifth-grader? Hopefully, since I'm the teacher here! But as I listen to Mrs. Cope teach, and prepare my own lessons to teach, I'm definitely getting a good refresher of some things I haven't thought about for awhile. And it's true - some of the stuff I didn't even know in the first place, like this:

• Ceiling tiles are ugly for a reason! The holes and/or bumps are to help absorb sound and make rooms (like offices and schools, where they're commonly found) more quiet.
• a predicate is just a fancy way of saying "verb," (or the part of the sentence describing what the subject is doing.) I seriously never knew what a predicate was.
• "He" and "she" are subject pronouns, while "him" and "her" are object pronouns. Every sentence has a subject (except for imperative sentences, where the subject is implied) and a verb. That is why technically you should answer the phone with "This is she," or point out an individual "Is that he?" Sounds weird, but it’s correct.
• Hertz = cycles per second. Sound frequency is measured in hertz. Humans can hear from 20 to 20,000 hertz, some animals can hear higher frequencies. Ultrasounds are those beyond the range of human perception, and because of the reflection properties of sound, we can use them to penetrate mediums and create an accurate picture of something we can't see with our eyes; same idea with sonar.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader? Take the challenge online at http://www.fox.com/areyousmarter/features/