The Miracle Man

He goes by the name Marcus Mathews. Tonight BYU played Utah State. The game began with Utah State scoring a touchdown in the first fifteen seconds. Fifteen seconds! I was assuming that was sign of how the rest of the game was going to go, and it was. It was until the third quarter when our backup quarterback, Riley Nelson, stepped onto the field. Smart move because our starter QB, Jake Heaps, has not been playing well. He's good from time to time, but he really needs to work on his consistency. In the fourth quarter, USU was leading 24-13. We scored a touchdown with 10 minutes left in the game. When there were three minutes left, Arianna said we were going to lose unless a miracle happened. Someone must have been listening because a miracle is exactly what we got. With 11 seconds left on the clock, Marcus Mathews caught a deflected pass for a 13 yard TD. We got scared that it wasn't going to count because there was a flag, but we got it and WE WON!!! The final score was 27-24. Arianna, Christina and I were going crazy. We were jumping up and down and screaming and the apartment downstairs was obviously not watching the game because they were banging on the ceiling due to the noise. Lame! This finish made it one of the most exciting games I've seen.

Here is the miracle moment:

Go Cougars!

The Cure?

I think I may have found the cure for insomnia. I fell asleep today reading a textbook. It happens more often than it should. I was telling Arianna that there is just something about reading a textbook that increases drowsiness. I know a lot of people have the same problem. I wondered if people with insomnia have tried reading a boring textbook to help them fall asleep or if a study has been done to see if it works. Arianna laughed at me. I don't know why, I think it's a pretty genius idea. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person to think of this, but I really do wonder if it's been tested.

G Whiz

I came across this video the other day. Sesame Street parodied Glee as a way to teach kids about the letter "G". As awesome as that is, do children really learn from it? Children under six are the typical audience of the show and a majority of them are preschoolers. Also, as much as love Glee, I don't think it's the best show to partner up with Sesame Street. But hey, if it works, that's great.

Concert In Colorado (Warning: Long Post)

So we left Saturday morning at 4 A.M. Since I hadn't gone to sleep yet, I was extremely tired. I was awake in the car just long enough for Janessa to run over a poor duck. It was raining pretty hard so it was hard to see. It rained most of the way to Denver. I felt like such a bad road trip buddy because I slept for so long. I was much better on the drive home with a little help from my good friend Dr. Pepper.

We got to Denver in ten hours instead of eight (due to the rain). We bought lunch at Wendy's because it was right next to the venue. I recommend their Asian Firecracker Wrap or salad. It was delicious. We had to change out of our traveling clothes in the car (don't worry, no one saw us) because there was no public restrooms anywhere nearby. We arrived at the concert venue extremely early to increase Janessa's chance of seeing Joe Jonas before the concert. Also, it was general admission seating so we had to be towards the front of the line. I waited in line for a total of 7 hours. Janessa stood out back by the tour buses for 4 hours, in the rain, hoping to catch a glimpse of Joe. She met his keyboardist and he said that he wouldn't come out because of the weather. A singer's health is everything you know so he couldn't risk catching a cold. Fifteen minutes after she joined me in line, Joe came outside and met with some of his fans. Poor Janessa. She also barely missed getting a VIP pass to meet him. It just wasn't her day.

While I was waiting in line, there were two guys talking to everyone in line. They are in a band from Kansas called The After Party. They're following the Joe Jonas tour to promote themselves. I talked to Alan, the drummer. Brandon, who plays bass, was at the other end of the line. I was listening to my iPod and he asked me who I was listening to. I proudly admitted it was Justin Bieber. He told me about his band and asked if I'd like to hear one of their songs. He passed me his iPod and I listened. I liked what I heard. I bought their CD and got it autographed by both of them. Janessa and I took a picture with them too :)

Brandon, Me, Janessa and Alan

I wish I had looked a little cuter or at least had makeup on, but I'm the kind of girl that chooses comfort over cute. Also, I figured I didn't need makeup because I wasn't trying to impress anyone and I didn't really care that much about those performing, except maybe Jay Sean. After meeting Alan, I kind of regretted my choice. The other two members, Andy (plays guitar and is Alan's twin) and Kenny (vocalist) were in another city doing their own promo stuff.

This is the song Alan had me listen to.  I love it and can't stop dancing to it!

Since we had such a great place in line, we were able to make it close to the stage easily. How close? Second row baby! Well, Janessa was second row. During the concert I kept getting pushed further away from her and my original spot. She kept looking back to make sure I was still there. I get easily lost in a crowed.

There are pros and cons to a general admission seating concert. 

Pro: You can get close to the stage if you're fast enough. 

Cons: You get shoved since there are no seats. You get stepped on. If you're short, the people behind you think it's okay to use you as an armrest. No joke. Kinda pissed me off. Camera straps hang in your face. There are multiple people invading your personal space bubble and you get way closer to strangers than you would like to.

Okay, so it looks like there's only one pro. I think I will stick to concerts where you pay for you seat and everyone stays where they're supposed to. Or maybe I'm just not cut out for concerts.

JoJo opened the show. I haven't heard anything about her since she was in the movie Aquamarine. I may have forgotten that she existed. I was never a huge JoJo fan in the first place. This performance didn't do anything to change that. She dropped the f-bomb when her keyboardist messed up on her new single and her outfit was awful. 

She used to look like this.

Now she looks like this, an angry rocker. Dark hair does not suit her.

Jay Sean was next. I loved him. He is amazing live and he's got some beat boxing skillz! I forgot he had an accent. When he talked I was in heaven. He also took his sun glasses off during a song and every female in the room melted. He was so cute! He also told us we could download his new album for free! Want it? Just click here. 

Then it was the moment everyone besides me had been waiting for. Joe performed. Everyone went crazy and the pushing increased. I'm not really a fan of his music, but his looks are acceptable. I knew a few songs he sang from his Jonas Brothers days. 

During his final song, he had about 8 roses that he was throwing out to the audience. If I had been a little taller I probably would have caught one. But I'm not. So I didn't. It's not like I really cared anyway. The girl next to me caught one and the girl behind her grabbed it too. I think they were friends, but they ended up fighting over it and the coveted rose was destroyed. It was like a bridal bouquet toss gone wild. Times 100! I thought I was going be like one of those people who gets trampled to death during Black Friday. 

When the concert was over, we hung out by the tour buses hoping they would come out. We even went to a back ally to see if it was Joe leaving in a black SUV with tinted windows. It was his band/crew members. He had already left to board a plane to NJ for a family weekend (we knew because Janessa is his follower on twitter).

Jay Sean waved and blew kisses to us from his tour bus before leaving. Most of the people had cleared away by now (there were only six of us left) so JoJo came out and offered us her extra box of pizza. We couldn't take pics, but it was nice of her. Janessa and I hadn't eaten since we first got there at 1 P.M. and it was now almost 11 P.M. 

Pizza from JoJo...it was Papa John's if anyone cares.

We also had to pee like no other. Seriously, as unhealthy as it is, we didn't pee for like 12 hours. I was hoping the celebrities would pity me and realize I was risking my life to see them, but they never came out. I was even starting to make up headlines for the next day's paper. "Fan dies from exploded bladder while waiting for Joe Jonas." 

The hotel we stayed at was in Fort Collins, which is an hour away from Denver. So we were tired, cold and had to pee, but had to wait an hour to be comfortable again. I think that may have been one of the best sleeps I've had in a while. I was so dead to the world. 

We woke up and met Janessa's cousin for breakfast at this cute little restaurant called Snooze. They only serve breakfast food. It was sooooo good! I ordered the Caprese Benedict: Ripe heirloom tomato slices, fresh mozzarella and poached eggs atop toasted ciabatta with cream cheese hollandaise, basil pesto and a light balsamic drizzle. YUM! We also ordered three little pancakes/french toast so we could all try what they were famous for. We got a Pineapple Upside Down pancake, Blueberry Lemon Bar pancake and Peaches 'N Cream French Toast. Everything was so delicious and their hash browns were amazing. It kept me full the whole ride home.

It was a really fun short trip and I'm glad I got to go. It was a nice end to my birthday week.  I wonder what I'll do next year.

Random Road Trip

In less than 3 1/2 hours I will be leaving with my friend Janessa to go to Denver, Colorado. Why? Because she's obsessed with Joe Jonas and had an extra ticket. She tried to sell it, but none of her friends wanted it. On Wednesday (my birthday) she was desperate and posted about her upcoming trip on Facebook. She said she needed a car buddy and concert buddy and whoever wanted to go wouldn't have to pay for anything. Since I've been in here in good 'ol Provo pretty much all summer long, I jumped at the chance to get away. Even if it's only for two days. I'm excited for the road trip. I've never been to Colorado. I've never been this far east before. I'm not excited about seeing Joe Jonas, but Jay Sean will also be performing and he's cool. But hey, I can't really complain because I get to go to a concert for free.

I'm going to be pretty dead though. I'm really tried, but I need to finish cleaning for cleaning checks. Also, tonight a bunch of us decided to play football after a BBQ some guys in our ward put together. We wanted to get muddy since it rained today. We started in the park, but it was too dark. None of us could see the ball so we weren't really playing so much as running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We moved to the field at a neighboring complex because they have lighting. We were much more successful. I actually don't know which team won.

We ended our game early because a girl asked us if we could hide in her apartment to surprise her friend for his birthday. None of his friends really showed up (there were only six people). Whether he was expecting a surprise party or not, he was definitely surprised because there were like 14 strangers singing him happy birthday. We thought it was pretty fun. I felt bad though because we got grass and a little dirt all over their carpet. They were cool about though because they were so grateful.

I love how random life can be sometimes.

The Big 2-1!

My birthday started at 12:03 A.M. with a happy birthday text from my friend Claudia. I woke up to a phone call from my mom and a couple Facebook birthday messages. Throughout the day I received more messages and texts. At the end of the day I had a total of 51 Facebook birthday messages, 3 texts, and four calls.

To celebrate my birthday, I made Reese's cupcakes and invited people over for 7. Not everyone one showed up at once. It was basically like having three gatherings in one night. I liked it because I actually got to talk to people instead of being surrounded by a huge group of people and not getting to talk to everyone. Everyone loved the cupcakes. As I suspected, despite my mishap earlier this afternoon. My friend Rosi made me strawberry Jell-O shots, sans alcohol, and everyone enjoyed them. It was funny watching everyone get the Jell-O out of the little cups. Some were even drooling. There was some dancing and we played a little Swedish Twister. I was so popular today :) I'm bummed my camera was absent during all the fun. I really suck at remembering to use it.

So, in case you didn't already know, my roommates are awesome! Rylee and Christina got me cute cupcake liners. They know me so well.

Arianna got me a cream filled donut! FINALLY! I can die happy and content now that this dream has been fulfilled. Five years or so ago, I discovered that I share my birthday with National Cream Filled Donut Day. Every year it would be my wish to accomplish eating a cream filled donut on such an important day. And every year I would fail. You would think it wouldn't be that hard, but for me it was. I came close my Freshman year at BYU. My friends came back with a Krispy Kreme box and I got really excited. I opened the box only to be disappointed at the sight of original glazed donuts. What a let down.

It even had a cherry on top :)

Now I can say I've done it and I can finally stop obsessing over such trivial thing. I don't even really like cream filled donuts, but I had to do it just for the sake of being able to say I did.

THE BIG MOMENT...Only 5 years in the making.

The Proof. I got laughed at for this one.

I received a package from Howard and Lori. It was a card and and amazing candle. Here's what it's supposed to do.

Here's what happened. I'm making it sound like something bad happened, but it didn't. We just didn't light it right. And yes, that is my precious donut beneath the giant candle. 

I didn't want to light it myself because I was kind of scared so Christina did it, plus she's an EMT. Well, she didn't really do it right or the candle had some issues and part of the flower started melting because the big flame sat there for so long. It was still entertaining though.

I had a wonderful 21st birthday. My new mantra is "I'm legal, single and ready to mingle!" Whatya think? 

Only On My Birthday

Only on my birthday would I mess up on my own cupcakes. Maybe its a sign from the universe telling me I shouldn't be making my own cupcakes (though my friends say no one could make them better...but not today apparently) or it could be a sign about how my year as a 21 year old is going to go. That wouldn't surprise me considering how the last few years have gone.

Okay, so they're not as bad as I'm making them sound. It's not like they taste awful or I burnt them. I just mixed them for too long. The key to any batter is to mix for two minutes. Well, I turned on my mixer and started doing something else. I let them mix for too long and let too much air get incorporated into the batter. Now they are all cracked on top and don't look like my cupcakes usually do. They are not up to Wendi standards and I'm sad, but there's nothing I can do about it. People will still eat them because looks don't matter when it come to desserts, taste does. And my cupcakes always taste good.

The Laundry Room

Tonight I was doing laundry, as was everyone else. I almost always seem to pick the day that everyone else does. I went to switch my laundry to the dryer and there was a guy doing the same thing. Our laundry room is TINY so I decided to leave for a few minutes to save us from having to squeeze past one another. I came back and he was still there. His clothes weren't done yet. He moved by the door to let me have room to move my clothes. I lifted the lid to the washing machine (which happened to be the one right by the door) and started to pull some clothes out. I didn't lift the lid all the way and the guy's common sense kicked in. He said something, which I didn't catch, and then walked out. I'm guessing he was telling me he was leaving for a minute. I thought it was really nice of him. I don't want my underwear on display in front of people, especially guys. I really appreciated the fact that he was aware that I was a little uncomfortable by his presence. I've only been in the laundry room while a guy has been in there a few times and it's always a little awkward. Sometimes they even seem a little uncomfortable and I can tell they're trying not to look or be weird about it. More guys need to follow the one I encountered tonight. I don't know who he is, but I think he's awesome.

Eventful Evening

Tonight, a fairly large group of us went to the hot springs. It was a 2.5 mile and hour long hike to the springs. Kirsten and I got there a little after the first group (I'm a slow hiker). While we were setting our stuff down, there was a man behind us. We thought we were blocking the path so we asked if we should move. Kirsten saw his badge and that's when he told us he was cop and asked that we not blow his cover. He could tell we were BYU students, we could be trusted. There was a certain smell that could faintly be detected through the sulfur and Kirsten (a Portlandian, woo hoo!) recognized it as marijuana. It was a drug bust! He caught the guy and searched through bags. It was the first time I had heard the f-bomb dropped in a while. When that ordeal was over, we soaked for a little over an hour and then headed back down. it was my first time at a hot spring and I liked it. I sat in the perfect spot. It was warm because of a cold stream that ran though. The other areas were too hot. Walking back, it was dark and there was a limited number of flash lights. It was quite the adventure. Sliding, falling, twisted ankles. Let the good times roll!

On the way back, Kirsten, Ally, McKenna and I were all starving. Tomorrow is fast Sunday and we don't have  church until 1 p.m. We decided we would stop at Sonic. Right after getting off the highway and back into town, we saw flashing lights. Yeah, Kirsten got pulled over for speeding. He could smell the sulfur radiating from our skin. He asked where we were coming from and if the three cars behind us, that were also speeding, were part of our group. They were and the only reason why we got stopped and they didn't was because we were in front. Wasn't that nice of the boys, to let the girls get busted?

Luckily, we Kirsten didn't get a ticket. As we started driving again, Kirsten said now she REALLY needed to go to Sonic. It was almost midnight so naturally we got breakfast burritos from their dollar menu and cherry limeades. It was so good. It was a great way to end such an eventful evening. I've showered to rid the stink, blogged and now I am going to bed because I am EXHAUSTED. I plan on sleeping in until noon so I won't have time to think about being hungry.