Life as of late

Fact: I hate to blow dry my hair! Opinion: The worst part of a blog post is uploading pictures! Solution: Blow dry your hair while uploading pictures! It worked quite well!

Well, I think it's time for a new post so here we go. This is how we feel now that finals are over. We are oh so happy and relaxed!Fact: Christmas shopping is a lot funner when you have a camera. Question: What is the use of these weird things except for taking pictures with. Honestly, I would never pay $10 for a glittery cone that I could make myself!

They have these things everywhere! This one was at Dollar Tree. I still wouldn't pay $1 for something like this!

It's a Party on Rhonda's Head!

This is the latest creation from the Sunday night hair party.

We had my mothers birthday on Tuesday. My grandma made yummy dinner for us to celebrate. Rhonda, Brad and myself got her a huge Wok so she can cook all the stir fry she wants.

We also had my birthday which reminds us that it is only 1 week to Christmas! I had a lovely lunch with Kaela on Monday to celebrate early. Lucky me, I got to work all day and train one of our new Brasilians. My mother was so wonderful and made Cherry delight for my cake. This is truly an act of love because she doesn't really like anything cherry, and she even put an extra can of cherry on it just for me!

We've also been spending quite a bit of time at Barnes and Noble. I've always been addicted to that place! If I had all the money in the world I would buy almost everything they have there!

Rhonda has completed Ella Enchanted for the 10th time! She thinks we need to have a party. I've read Ella Enchanted, Have a Little Faith, and Our Search for Happiness. See what a little extra time can do?

Lastly, it's finally starting to get busy at work. As you can see we're folding lots of boxes!

I hope that everyone is having a happy holiday season! I hope all of your Christmas Shopping is done!

And this is Rhonda now. Merry Christmas from me too!!! Fact: I love Christmas!
Opinion: You should too!!

A Combined Effort

So me and Linda were home together the other morning. We had a lot of fun in the short amount of time we had together. And we wrote a song. Most of it was my idea, but Linda definitely came up with the foundational stuff. So here is an ode to a co-worker of ours. Enjoy!

(This is to be sung to Lion King's "Can you feel the love tonight.")

Can you smell the smoke tonight?
It is where you are.
I need some pennies, RIGHT NOW!!!
And I'm wondering where you are...

So many things to tell you,
but you won't even listen.
Don't you know that smoking's bad for you,
and we need you in the kitchen?

Sometimes I don't like you,
But I won't tell you that.
Why can't you be a real good manager
kinda something like Pat? OH!

Can you smell the smoke tonight?
It lingers by the food.
I'm sorry to break this to you,
but you really don't smell good.

I hope you all enjoyed our little work of genius. Now, if you are feeling like you need to comment, please don't use the name of the individual we are referencing in the poem. For some reason that would make me feel bad. So, let's call him Ben. :) Happy Tuesday night to you all!!
~Linda y Rhonda~

Changes

Just so you know I am not dead. Look there I am with one week left of fake student teaching.
Well, last week was a week of changes! If I was an American Girl Doll this would all be in the book Changes for Linda.

First, I finished fake student teaching. While it was stressful, I loved it! I loved all my little kids! It was so hard to say goodbye! I went and bought my favorite Loft House sugar cookies for my goodbye treat. Preschoolers don't understand the phrase "I'm not coming back." We had talked about it being my last day all day long and then I gave them cookies at snack time. One little boy came up to me and said, "Miss Guthrie these are the best cookies ever you should bring them to us again." Yeah, they didn't get it. Today is my first day of freedom and I miss them all like crazy. I wish I could post a picture of my cute kids, but that's not allowed. I'm thankful for all that I learned from Mrs. Leopold, she is an amazing teacher! She really loves what she does, and she was a great help to me.

Second, I was released as the 2nd counselor in our Relief Society Presidency. Can I tell you that I couldn't wait! I was so excited to be released, I was excited to move on. That was until they actually released me. The second they released me I almost burst into tears. When you are set apart in a calling like that you are given strength and power. I could literally feel the difference the second I was released, and I didn't like it! I was on the verge of tears all day, they had us bear our testimonies, and that was a disaster! I think I'm the only one that cried, thanks a lot genes!! Anyway, I'm way excited for our new presidency, and I'm excited for my new, easy calling, I'm one of the ward choristers. Our other chorister works for Anasazi and is gone two or three times a month so I'll be leading lots of music.

Third, my good friend Jenny's husband died. We all knew that it was coming soon because he had been sick for a long time. I actually never met her husband, but I love Jenny to death. It is hard to see a friend be in pain and try to keep on a strong face and keep going for the sake of her family. I need to talk to her, I need to tell her death isn't the end, but I don't know how.

Other than those lovely changes, life is great! The semester's almost over, I only have two major assignments to complete, and I only have one final that I really have to stress about. I'm so grateful that I am here on this earth at this time, and that I can have so many learning experiences.

My favorite thing...

When I'm at school, I have one thing that I love better than anything else. It's not when my last class gets out on Friday afternoon, starting the weekend. It's not when my teacher says that the essay I didn't finish isn't due until the next week. It IS when I'm sitting in the institute building lonely, sad and bored, and I look up to see Brad prancing up the stairs. Definitely FAVORITE part of college!
~Rhonda~

P.S.
Please observe that this post has no reference to music! Except for the last word of the previous sentence. :) I think I'm a winner.

Tra la la!

Just for my mother, I am making a post without a musical reference. It will be difficult, but I can do it. Today my jeans are super long. When I went to buy pants, they only had two of the kind I wanted in the size I wanted. One was regular length (PERFECT) and these ones are super long! I figured it wouldn't be too bad. I mean, I'm kinda tall. BUT now I walk around and feel like I'm in 5th grade again! That was when I had hand-me-downs that were too long and I had to roll them up three times. Oh wonderful years of childhood! So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm feeling childish today. I really want to just run around campus singing, laughing and dancing! "The child is in me still, and sometimes not so still!" Today it's not so still! Ha ha ha! Enjoy today!
~Rhonda~

Ode to the Institute building

(To the tune "My hat, it has 3 corners")
This room it has three Christmas trees. Three Christmas trees has this room. And had it not three Christmas trees, it would not be this room.

The institute building is all decorated for Christmas. Do I love it? YES!!!! I absolutely love it!! It takes everything in me not to bust out some Christmas carols every time I walk in here! It's the most fantastic thing. I really need to take some pictures, because it is something worth seeing! I'll work on getting those pictures. Until then, happy Thursday to you all. In my opinion, Thursday is the best day of the week. It's a long and slightly incomprehensible explanation as to why. So I'll just say goodbye and let you enjoy the day! Goodbye!
~Rhonda~

Another little verse.

Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling little toe. You are broke and now I'm crying. Thanks for dieing little toe.
Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling little toe. Why'd you do it and put me through it? Thanks again my little toe.

~Rhonda~

Just a little verse.

Oh what do you do in the institute building, when you are super bored?
Do you watch people walk, or creepy blog stalk, or sit in a chair and just die?
Is that what you do? So do I!

~Rhonda~

Perhaps I shall write a blog...

...but if I do, you must promise to read and comment on Linda's that is right before this one. Go ahead, read Linda's. I promise there is no vitally important info in here that you are gonna miss. So stop here and read Linda's. Thank you. I fear I don't have much to say, but I'm all alone in the institute building with no one to talk to. So I guess blogging will suffice. Today for my ASU 101 class, we went to a career exploration fair. They had people there in little booths that we could talk to about different majors. Sure it was a good plan for the class, but we had to be there for an hour! There was only one person I was even interested in talking too, and her table was way too full the whole time! It was a bummer. And, oh my gracious, it was sweltering in there! I swear it was like 115 degrees. And guess who made the mistake of wearing a long sleeve shirt today. Yup, that would be me. Pretty much, I guess I fail. But I did crack some jokes with my teacher, and talk to this guy about engineering just because I thought he was attractive. I guess there were some good times. I also saw my buddy Tanner today. He's looking as healthy, wealthy, and wise as ever. It's good to see old friends.
There is this guy sitting in the lobby with me and he has very nice looking hair! Also his eyes are rather beautiful and his shirt looks pretty handsome. When I first got here he was intently studying his scriptures. That definitely won him some attractive points! He even looks kind of normal. Not like most they guys I see that just "know" they are attractive. I swear they think, "I'm so hott! No girl can resist me." It's those popular, popular, popular kids that make me crazy!! Bleh. Anyway, back to positive thinking. Maybe Brad should find out what kind of gel this kid uses, because his hair looks rather fine. Hmm....
This girl is sitting in here too and she's wearing these shoes that I think she must have borrowed from one of Nephi's sisters because they definitely look like Book of Mormon shoes! Except they're BRIGHT yellow! Pretty crazy. Oh no, she scratched he computer. Tragedy!! I guess she dropped it while coming down the stairs of the parking structure. That really would be sad.
Um...cute kid just went downstairs, but he has to come back because he left his backpack and scriptures up here. Maybe he went to get his lunch. Maybe not. I guess we'll find out later. Ok, he's back. But only with his computer. I don't know what he was doing down there. Oh well. I'm just a stalker. I don't need to know everything.
Blue and orange, do they really go together? I mean they kinda clash, but it does look a little cool. I don't know if I would be brave enough to try it out.
I just realized that I"m not wearing earrings or my CTR ring! AHHH!!! Blast!
Ok, I think that's about enough for now. If you have read this whole blog post and failed to read and comment on Linda's first, I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. Go do it now, and I will forgive you. Ok, that's all. Happy Tuesday!

~Rhonda~

Why I love Preschoolers!

Preschoolers are seriously some of the best member missionaries I have met. They are not afraid to say anything. Here are a few of my favorite examples from some of my favorite preschoolers:

At the breakfast table:
Student: I can't wait until I'm eight!
Me: Why?
Student: Because then I get baptized!

While sitting in the middle of circle:
Girl: My family is going camping tomorrow.
Boy: Fathers and Sons?!?!?!
Girl: No!

While eating snack and talking to the teacher:
Boy: Do you know that Jesus has a body. Some people don't think he has a body, but he does.
Teacher: Well, everybody believes different things.

Randomly throughout the day:
Boy: My mom said I'm not old enough to have a girlfriend. I have to wait.

Randomly in the middle of class:
Boy: Do you know that I'm going on a mission when I get bigger?

At circle time:
Teacher: Who knows what day it is today?
Class: Monday!
Teacher: And what do we do on Monday? (we change jobs)
Girl: Family Home Evening!


And, my success story for the week. There's one little boy who will not sing in class (and we sing a lot!). So, my goal this week was to get him to sing. While we're waiting for everyone to come out of the bathroom we sing songs. For some reason one day this week my teacher wasn't with us so I was in charge of the singing. I decided to teach them "Do as I'm doing" and the boy who never sings says, "Hey, I know this song, we sing it at church!" and he sang it with me. Success!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Only two days until conference is anyone else way, way, way excited?!?!?!


Other exciting news, it's finally cooling down, I didn't sweat to death chasing all my preschoolers around the playground. Also, I love my preschoolers! They entertain me! I'm learning so much and have the most fantastic mentor teacher ever! She is so supportive and is always giving me resources that I can use as a teacher. When I hear the other girls in my class talk about their teachers I am so glad to be where I am. I know that I have been truly blessed to be in this class at this time!

Happy Conference Everyone!!!!!!!

Death and Recovery

This is the follow-up blog from the last one, so if you have yet to read the blog before this, do so now. Thank you. You don't want to read this one if you haven't read that one yet. It's kinda necessary for the whole effect of the story. So, go read the other one.
So, as you know, my teacher had died. She didn't show up to class, and Shaniqua pronounced her dead. I don't know what gave her that authority, but she made it sound official. So I get home and am all worried about my teacher. Did she really die? Was she taken captive by insane cannibals? Was she abducted be aliens? I had no idea. I wake up Friday morning, wondering what the day will bring. I check my email before I go to school, as usual, just hoping there will be something to tell us what happened. An obituary out of the newspaper, an article describing a horrendous plane accident, anything to inform me of her whereabouts. Lo and behold, I found this...

"Hi all,

My apologies for missing class on Thursday, but I had quite a trip! After the wedding, on Sunday, I became violently ill and had to be taken to the Belize hospital where I stayed until yesterday, so obviously we didn't have class. I will be posting your ODA for this Tuesday from Chapter 9. No more trips for me! Hahaha! I promise!

Shelley"

AHH!!! She just waltzes up to her laptop and types out a quick little message while I am here losing sleep over the woman's well being. I'm glad she's ok, and it's good to know that she's not dead. This is basically what I got from her email, "Hey guys! I'm not dead! I just decided to take a little side trip to a hospital in Belize. I had a great time and am tempted to go back during Christmas break. I know you were all thinking I had died, but calm down. Oh, and here is your assignment. It's due Tuesday. Don't spaz." Some teachers shouldn't get paid so much.

~Rhonda~

Death

I'm pretty sure my English teacher has died. She went to her friends wedding, located somewhere outside the United States. Before she left, she was pretty good at answering all of her students emails and any questions we might post up on blackboard. But this past week, she has been missing in action. As any upstanding ASU student would do, I completed all of my assignments for the online portion of the class. Except one. We were to write a paper about an issue of the world that we were interested in, just an informative paper. Then we were to post it to blackboard to be peer reviewed. We in turn had to review someone else's paper. I did all of this without too much groaning, and finished all of it on time. Now came the point where we needed to turn in the completed essay. BUT there were no instructions as to how we were supposed to turn it in. And I'm pretty sure she didn't tell us anything in class. Everyone in the class was freaking out, trying to find out if anyone else knew where to turn it in, so I wasn't the only one with issues. I figure the smartest thing to do was to just print out a copy and bring it to class on Thursday to turn in. I get to class early, as usual, and sit down in my same ol' seat. People start filing in. All of them looking very downtrodden and slightly concerned. Finally I turn to one boy and asked him if he had known where to turn the paper in. He said that he had "no flippin' idea" (edited, of course) and so I decided he was a crank and I wouldn't talk to him anymore. But then everyone started asking me if I'd known where to turn it in. I told them I didn't know either. So we were all in a state of slight panic. Except John who didn't even know it was due (what a nerd). One girl in my class, who could pull off the name "Shaniqua" very well, turned to me and said, "What do you think happened to her?" And I was confused and asked her who she was talking about. "Our teacher. What do you think happened to her? She usually emails us all back when we email her, but no one has heard from her all week." I told her that I really had no idea. "Maybe she's sick with the swine flu." That was my only idea. Shaniqua just shook her head, slowly and deliberately. "No", she said. "She's probably dead."

~Rhonda~

The funnest Monday I've had for a while...

So my mom made a mostly fabulous post on our family blog. I'm planning on blogging about the same thing later on, but for now, you can check out that one. It's pretty rad, I must say. I quite love it! Look up egu3fam.blogspot.com. You won't regret it!

~Rhonda~

Random stuff

So right now I'm sitting in the institute building at ASU, just chillin'. I've seen many people walk up the stairs who have (I'm sure) the most interesting lives! I've been making up stories in my head for a few of them. But I keep hitting walls where my imaginiation gets stuck, and doesn't know which way to turn. There is a boy, well, I guess we should call him a man, sitting across the room from me with a mac laptop. Is his father the head hancho at the Mac company? Does he live in a huge mansion of a house? He's kinda balding, so is he super stressed all the time and pulls out his hair? Or is the receeding hairline hereditary? Why is he wearing glasses? Does he only use them when reading? Or does he need them all the time. Does he prefer contacts or glasses? At what age did he get glasses? Does he like to wear those kind of shoes, or were they the only ones he could find this morning as he was running out of the house? Does he grow facial hair because he thinks it's attractive, or because he is hiding a funny looking mole? Who is that girl he is talking to? Why is she wearing a scarf when it's 120 degrees outside? Is she cold?Obviously they haven't seen each other in a long time. According to their conversation she is "really happy to see him." Did they go to school together as children? Was he her first crush? Does she still like him? Did she move away to Idaho their Junior year of high school without ever telling him how she felt? Or does she really think he's a creep, but he already saw her, so she can't ignore him and now she feels obligated to say hello? Anyway, back to him. Does he look familiar to me because I've been analyzing him for the past 15 minutes or because I've seen him at stake conference? If only I knew the answer to these questions.


(Interlude by Maddi Moffat. She also walked up the stairs...Who is this guy? He looks familiar? How old is he?...has a receding hairline and all. "Hi, you look familiar. What's your name?" a few minutes go by trying to figure out how we know each other...A*** B******...nope, still don't know you. That's nice. Then I proceed to sit next to this crazy girl who is writing about funny people...A new guy walks up the stairs in a red and white striped shirt holding a gatorade bottle. Why is that guy drinking gatorade...is he sick? Does he think it tastes good? Is he really health conscious and needs his extra electolytes?...love Maddi)

As I was saying...if only I knew the answers to all this confusing questions, then I could go on with my life and be happy. But I fear I'm being held back by the thought of these unanswered questions. My life will never be the same. The end.

~Rhonda~

And if you are a blog stalker, and happen to be the person I'm talking about...please don't take offense. I was just trying to occupy my time with thoughts that would provoke my imagination. You look like a really nice fellow, and maybe someday I'll talk to you after stake conference. Ciao!

Correction

Just to make things a little more clear: In our last post we said we've read 113 books. That's the total amount of books the people in my house have read. Yes we can do math. Sorry for the confusion!

Is Summer Over Already?

Because we like one of our cousins posts so much, and because certain people keep telling us it's time to update our blog here you go: Our Numbers of the summer!

1 (or 2 if you count Scott)- Trips to Utah. We had a blast as discussed in a previous post!

1- Weddings we've been to. Isn't Ashlee so beautiful!?!?! We actually had two cousins that got married too, but we didn't go to their weddings.

2- Missionaries. It's so great to have Brad home. We love him so much! We miss our dear little Scottie who is learning Spanish all by himself through the new Pilot Program at the MTC.

2- Cavities. They were both Rhonda's, but she claims they are not her fault because she grinds her teeth or something like that. I don't remember her exact excuse, you'll have to ask her.

3- Times we cleaned our room. I don't know how many times we tried to clean our room and it didn't happen.

4- Times we've seen the movie "UP". Rhonda saw it three times and I saw it once. It was a good movie, I liked it a lot.

5- Pairs of shoes. Rhonda likes shoes, and I needed shoes. Can you guess which shoes are whose (I think that's the way you spell that word)?

9- Pairs of Pants/Shorts purchased. Biggest surprise of all Rhonda only bought 4 pair, and I bought 5. I think that's probably a first!

9+1 clicker- Books bought at ASU. That's just the first instalment, I still have 2 more classes to buy books for. GRRR!

18- Trips to ASU. The breakdown: 1-Rhonda Orientation, 15- Linda to summer school (I missed one day for Ashlee's wedding), 1-Trip to get Brad's scholarship figured out (it did no good), 1-Trip to buy books and get our parking permits for Institute. HOORAY for Institute parking!!!!!!

113- Books read. Actually that's the grand total of books read, our personal break down, Linda- 23 (that includes 2 textbooks for summer school), Rhonda-6. We still have one week of summer though so that number is bound to change!

Last but not least 7160.50 combined total of money ?happily? given to ASU to further our education.

I think that pretty much covers our summer! We had lots of fun and created some fun memories!

The new do!

This is my father. It is because of him that this post is possible. Me and Linda were sitting in our room, just chillin', and my father comes marching in. He shows us this huge wad of hair that he had pulled out of the bathroom sink. He told us that we needed to be more careful and keep our hair out of the drain! So what do we do? We decided since we are wonderfully obedient children, we would cut our hair!! Aren't we good problem solvers?

Ok, so my father really doesn't have nasty looking hair like this. When we came home, we brought our chopped off hair to donate. My mom thought it would be really funny to put it on top of my dads head. So this is my hair on my dads head! I found it extremely funny! And yes, we did get permission to post these pictures! Enjoy!

Linda, as you all know, has really thick hair. She cut her hair to donate to locks of love. The 4 ponytails on the left are ALL Linda's. Inspiring right? And then there is mine. Just one measley little ponytail. Oh well. It's only to sell the the merchants. The lady that cut our hair said that someone will get a really nice wig from Linda's hair. And then as an afterthought she said to me, "And someone can have some really nice bangs out of your hair." I thought it was funny.

Here is beautiful Linda before the tragic run in with an ax.

And here is me. Vwala!

And both of us. Aren't we darling?

Look! We match!

Before the chop.

And....after! Please ignore the ponytail bump in my hair. Thank you.

Me before.

And after. Bleh with the ponytail bump. Boo hiss!

Linda before.

And after!!! Isn't this the cutest thing you ever has seen?!?!?!

I LOVE IT!!!

So cute!

Ta da!

And look, it still fits in a ponytail! YAY!!

Us togethah! And we really like the new looks!

Thanks for reading. This is Rhonda Guthrie, over and out.

~Rhonda~

A New Post

We went on Vacation! It's very exciting to go give a final presentation for summer school, and then jump in a car and drive to Utah!Eww, I look gross! This is at the first bathroom stop in Flagstaff.
Rhonda has decided to wear this hat everywhere she goes. It's an ASU hat, you'd never catch me dead in a hat like that!


While Erik did this in Flagstaff...



Scott did this.

Erik found this broom for Anamin when sweeping up after sparklers. He felt like he got the short end of the stick.

We're so excited to light fireworks!

Stacy and the sparkler! We like being in Utah and lighting fireworks!

Jack really likes root beer!

and glow sticks!

Our 4th of July Picture:

We went to the Oqurrh temple open house. It was really neat! It made us look forward to taking all our friends to the temple open house here when the temple is finished.

Rhonda was being rebellious and wouldn't take a picture with me!

BUT, I convinced her! (She felt like a sinner being rebellious on temple grounds)
It was really fun to have Erik, Stacy, and Jack come with us. They are party people!

Rhonda had lots of fun with all her girl cousins. Sorry there's no picture of the arm wrestling, they're on Stacy's camera. (Notice the twin-ness of Kara and Rhonda. And no, it wasn't planned.)

Most memorable quote:

Uncle Wayne talking to Uncle Dale on the phone: "Dale, the policeman says you have to wear a seat belt, it's the law!"

and:

Stacy: "Do you know what your mom made me do?!?!"

Thank You Huber family for letting us invade your house for a week!