Leaves are falling on my head.

Halloween costumes. Squash soup. Leaves falling on my head. Autumn is here! I love this time of year, and until Easter, there is now always a holiday to look forward to:) Halloween was an excellent kick off, I saw the coolest guy on BYU campus in a FULL OUT YOSHI COSTUME. So cool.

On Friday night, we had a 45 minute ward party (the best kind) and my roommates and I dressed up for the chili cookoff extravaganza. Heidi was The Nanny, Johannah was the prettiest Southern Belle you've ever seen, and I was just tasty lookin. (Laiken had to work, so she took the picture, but I assure you, she was lovely too!)

Tonight I made squash soup! I have been on a quest for a year now to find the perfect recipe. Luckily, I have a great friend named Suzanne who shared her knowledge with me! I had to buy a pumpkin from a floral shop because the BYU creamery didn't have any squash! Crazy? yes. But it was yummy and my roommates even pretended to like it:)

If you would like to have a friend named Suzanne, or would like the soup recipe, comment below!

Now, I am looking forward to more and more midterms and some awesome cooler weather. Hooray for Thanksgiving break, so close I can almost taste it...

Today. October 27, 2009

Today I wore a sweater vest. The result was fantastic.

Today I read an article about foreign oil dependency. I get to write about it now.

Today I made dinner for my grandparents, and the mature me that I am, I ate Sauerkraut.

Today I slept in til almost noon. (don't do that)

Today I beefed up a pretty purple power point for my Relief Society lesson on Sunday.

Today I facebook stalked several new people. Why is everyone so attractive?!

Today my best friend Desi called me from Cedar City and said that her next door neighbor is a guy that my sister Taci went to high school with. Oddly cool.

Today I counted out 131 pennies in order for me to go visiting teaching.

Today I wore pearls. Along with the aforementioned sweater vest, it was a good day.

Today I saw snow for the first time this season. Yeah precipitation.

Today somebody called me effervescent.

Today I let my good friend borrow my crock pot, I must really trust that guy.

Today I ate my roommate Johannah's cabbage salad. That's two cabbage servings in one day!

Today I blogged.

The landfill of all my thoughts

I haven't updated in a while, so I thought it would be nice to dump all of my recent thoughts and happenings in one blog. First off, I feel much better after my bout with some flu bug. I was in bed for approximately four days and was sick for almost two weeks overall. Thankfully, an email entitled "I have the Swine" produces sympathetic results from professors.
My favorite thing in the world is now blog stalking. The best is when you find a new blog to look at and uncover a treasure trove of over a year of posts. Clearly, the happiest part of stalking is checking out pictures. I will now proceed to share some recent photos of mine for you to enjoy.

miss mady beckett, my cousin's daughter. I am Mady's personal toy and she is absolutely adorable:)


Sammy! This is my buddy cousin who just lost a great quantity of teeth in a short period of time. He makes more money from losing one tooth than I do in one fiscal year.


These are my cute girls! Lauryn, Katelyn and Megan are daughters of another cousin of mine and they give the best hugs. Last time I saw Lauryn, (the oldest) she asked her grandma if she could go do pilates in the backyard. She needed to work on her abs.

Obviously I hang around many children that are far cuter than I could ever hope to be. Somehow, I carry on despite of their cuteness and I love them dearly!

I am still carrying on in school, I can't believe the first block is already over! Eu gosto de falo na Portugues, eu muito intelegente:) I just finished cleaning my apartment and everything smells like lemon scented windex. That is the most exciting thing I have to report.

One more photo... I SAW A LLAMA ON CAMPUS!

Well, technically it was an El Paca (the Veterinarian guy corrected me when I shouted Llama! from 20 feet away)

Gift giving for Men.

My dear brother Taylor is one of those few sweet people who take the time to laugh at my jokes. In fact, Taylor is the very same person who first persuaded me to start a blog. Enough background about that, just know that he assigned me the homework of blogging today.

In my lifelong quest to seek and share helpful hints, I shall now share a hint with men who are forever querying about what to give the women in their lives. Along with the help of a former roommate's clueless boyfriend, we came up with the "4 S system"
There are always four adjectives that you cannot possibly fail with when buying a woman a gift. Sparkly, Smelly, Sweet, and Soft. Just remember the 4 S's and you will be set.

Sparkly-
Certainly it is no secret that like raccoons, women seek after the shiny things of life. Jewelry. Need I say more?

Smelly-
This is a broad category that should not go without notice. Candles, perfumes, those lurid pinky lotions and even the occasional tasteful potpourri mix would not be inappropriate. This gift also does not require or bind you with any commitment to the recipient as smells eventually dissipate.

Sweet-
Once again, I think the benefits are self evident. Remember, chocolate=good.

Soft-
The giving of a soft gift reminds the recipient of your softer side. Soft gifts can range from cozy warm blankets to a thoughtful pair of socks for your mother.

I certainly hope this helps anyone scrounging for the perfect gift for the perfect female in their life. Four S's. Now don't forget, and go shopping!

As for my last blog post, that movie quote was from The Little Rascals. Just in case you were uber curious.

Crawling my way throught the valley of death.

Last week I blogged about having a really great cold. I should have never aired my suspicions about swine flu because now I also get to enjoy the benefits of pepto bismol on top of all of that cold medication! Six days of blowing my nose like a fog horn and now I am also a barf encrusted jumbo jerk (if you can name that Movie, I'll owe you). Cough! Cough! Moan....

On to a happier subject, I got to see all sorts of family last weekend! It is always really great to see Brooke and Taylor, even though they don't even live an hour away from me:) Of course there is the big hooplah of seeing Taci and Jake, who I don't get to see very often at all (those darn Idahoans). They are all so great and I love getting loves, hugs, and great college advice from all four of them!

Funny experience of the week:
Between sessions of General Conference on Saturday, I went to Taco Bell with Taci and Jake. While ordering your typical taco, Jake asked the cashier for advice on a newly featured burrito. Looking at Jake, the goatee wearing, 20 something already going to seed says, "Oh, I wouldn't know, I don't eat fast food." Frankly, it was really hard not to laugh after we decided not to be offended. Word to the wise- even if you are working at a dead end Taco Bell job in Sandy, you shouldn't mock your customer's food choice.

Wish me luck on this very germy and bumpy road to recovery!

I have a cold, but I like school

It is now general conference weekend! Hurrah for Isreal!

I have now survived about five weeks of my insane fall semester of 18 credit hours and I feel busier than a man turning out balloon animals at IHOP. My Portuguese is coming along fine and I really really love my English classes.
My ward is pretty good and I have learned a lot about men and their failure to communicate when it comes to planning.

So far the saddest experience of the past six weeks was when Freshman approached my on BYU campus and greeted me like I greet mentally handicapped people. Sure, my hair was frizzy and my brow was furrowed from studying Portuguese, but still the effect was horrifying and now I can laugh about it. That means you can too. How would you react if someone stopped a conversation with friends and walked up to you and said "Hey Buddy! How's it going?"

I have a really bad head cold right now and I sound like a congested Spongebob character. I have to blow my nose so often that nobody in my family wants to sit within 6 feet of me. That is probably for the best, because I'm going to assume I'm going to come down with Swine Flu next week. Don't let me sneeze on you and certainly don't take of my offered baked goods for a while.

My darlingest, favorite sister popsicle Taci has just magically deleted a blog she had already posted. How did she do that? but she just gave me her password to go fix it. From now on, just assume I'll be posting some very helpful household hints on http://deanladean.blogspot.com.

Whitney, Alisha and Franklynn

Forgive me for the sentimental nature of this blog, but I have decided to write about some of my dearest and closest friends. At the end of the day, good things and bad things have happened but a really great support system has come through!


These three people are all remarkable and they touched my life in different and profound ways. I met them all in middle school, so so very long ago...

Alisha Larson!



Alisha and I met in seventh grade when we had to walk from one class to another (aww.. so cute!) Silly enough, three years later we became very good friends. She was our 'designated driver' in high school and I can't even count how many times she drove me around to choir concerts, home from school and to a million dollar movies. She has the funniest laugh that comes in spurts and does this excellent fake punch. One of my favorite memories about Alisha is when she drove to Nephi on the way home from Provo. Thank you Alisha for your sense of humor, your loving nature and your beautiful self!

Franklynn Stott <3



Franklynn just makes me smile. This picture is from the night we went to Homecoming together and this is by far my favorite dance picture! He likes to say that when we met, we hated each other, he likes to say that about all four of us. I can't even say that is true, but I do remember the first class we had together and I thought he was a pill:) I made him sign a behavioral contract to switch seats because I thought that he talked way too much. Now I talk too much! When you text his name it comes out Franklymo and so now that is the name we affectionately refer to. I have far too many funny moments about him, but I'll never forget when he told someone that "We aren't active people". The best ever. Guess you had to be there. Franklynn, you always make me feel better on a sad day and you are a fantastic listener.

Whitney Fehr :)


Whitney and I live right across the street from each other and didn't realize it for more than 5 years! such a waste, I still say it. Whitney's house is where we would basically lived for the entire space of high school. Her family is hilarious and amazing, second only to her. Whitney was basically our glue and to this day I don't know what high school would have been without her. Many of our best times were just sitting around her table after school, Franklynn eating crackers and me drinking water. Basically three years of my life involved drinking water at the Fehr's and playing Frisbee at the local elementary school. My favorite Whitney memory was when we had a cake and pudding fight at a park and she was so covered in chocolate that I began to doubt her nationality. Thank you for the hours and hours of laughs and all that water!