Fun Fall Festivities

It is finally fall here in Logan. The students are back. The Valley will soon be turning incredible crimson colors. There are a bunch of festivities going on to celebrate Homecoming week. We even have an office decorating contest that we do here in the Taggart Student Center and of course, the Admissions office will not be outdone:

There has been an abundance of school spirit and this week of festivities has been everything that I wanted in a Homecoming week. We are all in our game day shirts today and have even declared this Chocolate Day. Gotta love it! Go Aggies!

It's Official!

I am moving to a place that looks like this in the winter:Instead of this:My last day of work is October 23 and then I am out of here!

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

I find that this day has been a day of reflection, remembering where I was 8 years ago at this time and being nervous about the future of my country. I was reassured by my Commander-In-Chief who promised that the actions of these "faceless cowards" would not go unanswered. It is days like this that I look back on the state of our country and how it has changed since then and I find that I am nervous about the future of our country for different reasons. On days like this I am not so reassured by my Commander-In-Chief who seems to forget that he works for the people and can't stop campaigning even though he has been elected. On days like this I resent that we have a President who asks me to pledge to be a better citizen of this country but gets upset when anyone questions why he is not a better leader. It is days like this that I reflect what it means to be an American. So, I look to the leaders that I do have faith in and who have always made me feel reassured. Harold B. Lee had this to say about our country: "Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won't fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges. I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through." (Ye Are the Light of the World, 350-51)
It is days like this that make me greatful to be an American-to mean it when I pledge allegiance to "...One Nation, under God, INDIVISIBLE..." and especially greatful that I believe the words of my church leaders when they reassure me that I live in a place that is favored above all other nations.

Guess What I Did!!

Once upon a time in the history of my life, I set a goal. I have set numerous goals, but this particular one took a lot of time, money, effort and had quite a few obstacles that had to be overcome. So, the last couple of years of my life, I have made this goal a priority. I have sacrificed time and sleep and worked really hard and after traveling on what seemed like a long and winding road, I have accomplished this goal. So, I will give you a couple of hints as to what I finished as of August 14, 2009:

I finally get to wear one of these in Aggie Blue:

I also fulfilled a promise that I made to this lady not so long ago: (Being Flashback Friday, I had to post a great pic) And I am pretty sure that I heard some cheers from Heaven when all was said and done...

In case you couldn't guess from the clues-I GRADUATED! I now have an official Bachelor of Science Degree posted on my transcripts and everything! Phew!
Now I just need to find a job where someone pays me a lot of money to do something that I like. No problem.

Happy Birthday...I mean WEEK!

It has become tradition in my world to celebrate everyone's birthdays for at least a week. It takes that long to really make someone feel appreciated. SO, I figured it would be a great time to take at least a few days to celebrate my birthday. I got to head down to Taylorsville and blow out some candles:Then eat some yummy homemade cupcakes with some of my favorite girls:Then I went out to eat with my sister named Laura to PF Changs and it was so yummy! I would definitely recommend the lettuce wraps-they were to die for! This was the day for some great presents too: some yummy smelling lotion from B & B Works and a new Digital Camera! Anyone who has had to take a picture with what I lovingly refer to as "ghetto camera" will happily agree that this was a much needed gift:) Then, after a few days in Salt Lake, I headed back to Logan for a half day of work and then, Saturday we went to Bear Lake:Here we are at the Bear Lake Lookout and this was the best pic taken by the poor nerdy guy that we asked to take the picture for us. We had a great time and went to LaBeau's (who gave me food poisoning for my birthday and are SO not getting a thank you card for that gift) and just hung out on the lake. And in true Barlow tradition, I had to take a picture of the natural habitat of Bear Lake:I am pretty sure that I never want to run across the "Utah Sucker Fish" whilst playing in the water. All-in-all I had a great week and although I still only admit to being "Twenty Ten" this birthday will rank up there on the list of favorites. Thanks to everyone for the cards, pics, well wishes on Facebook, phone calls and presents. And, oh yeah, I also get to go shopping at my favorite store, ROSS! So I truly feel loved.

Wedding Weekend

Once upon a time there were a group of friends that were always together. They had lots of good times and knew all of each other's secrets (well, most of them anyway...)and will always have great memories. Then, some of them scattered out of Logan to do things like go to school and get better jobs. Weird. But, every once in a while, one of them will do something worth traveling back to Logan. This weekend there was such an occasion. Brad and Tanja got married on Saturday and even convinced a couple people to wear tuxedos. Luckily they are worth it and the tuxedos looked great!Laura came up from Salt Lake and here we are with our Joe:Laura, Me, Tanja, Brad and Michelle. Yes, this is Brad's picture face:And finally, the whole gang together at one time:Joe, Jer, Michelle, Laura, Mikol, Me, and Dave. It was great to have everyone together at least for one night and I am glad that everyone made the trip so that we could catch up on eachother's secrets. I heart you all:)

I heart the A's...and the Bees!

Every summer I try to make it to at least one Salt Lake Bees game and Monday night was the night. It was a perfect night for baseball and there was excitement in the air to be able to watch a great game! We had a whole section of friends and got to meet up with some of our SLC friends we don't get to see much anymore:If you look closely you can see our new friend Derek and the famous Robert Draper in the background. We got to hang around with another new friend:It also marked another occasion of being able to hang out with these two for the last time before they get married on Saturday:They really love baseball. All-in-all it was a great night and totally worth the drive to Salt Lake-even though the Bees really lost big time. But as an A's fan, it just felt right to be cheering for a team that not only loses, but loses with style.