Happy Fourth of July!!!

Isn't Independence Day such a great holiday? It's fun and informal. There are no required cards or gifts or anything frustrating or expensive. It's a national holiday so everyone here can celebrate it, and you can pretty much celebrate it however you want. You can have a picnic or a barbeque (what we did) or go to the movies or the park or on a bike ride (also what we did), with friends or family, lots of people or few. There are parades and other fun events to see as well. There's lots of great food staples, all of which we had, including hot dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, and, of course, apple pie (picture is of the one I made for today)! And best of all, the day is topped off with spectacular firework shows! Isn't this a great holiday or what?

Anyway, aside from having a really fun day, lots else has been happening too. I got back a week or so ago from Texas A&M crammed with information and traditions and spirit. They definitely know how to efficiently pack everything you need to do in a day and a half. I am almost completely set to move down there with mailbox, student ID, bank, meal plans, etc. and classes registered. That last one was unexpectedly the easiest part because my college, which has a select number of students it lets in, knew exactly how many there were in the college and just made all of our schedules for us. I'm taking 14 hours of only major courses - no general ed... yet. I may have to add one in before school starts, depending on my AP scores (which should be arriving in a week or so...). I have an architecture lecture class, two design classes, a construction science class, an arch. history, and another arch design lecture type class. Oh what fun. All I have left is to get my room and roommate assignment and move in come August. To think, it's already July! Time moves too quickly at times.

So, the rest of my time at home, one thing my mom and I have been working on is my senior quilt (pictured). The Young Women in my ward and the leaders decided to make all the senior girls (yes, all seven of us) quilts for college, free of charge. But seeing as I'm not in YW anymore but in Relief Society posed some problems. I was never at any of the quilting activities to oversee my quilt. So, we took a few precautions in order for it to turn out nicely. After picking out all the fabric (well, sheets) and yarn and batting, I spent a couple hours meticulously marking where the ties should go so it would look even, especially on stripes. Then, we found out the sheets weren't even on the sides, so my mom told them she would finish the sides off so she could trim it and even it out. We gave them all the materials, and all they had to do was tie it. We got it back, tied on my dots though sloppily, in the wrong color yarn, a yucky yellow, even though my quilt is completely blue! And they didn't even give me back my yarn we bought. So, after weeks of repeated askings, we finally got the blue yarn back and proceeded to take out every tie and re-tie it. Then my Mom finished it. So, basically, we got a free quilt so long as we did all the work. And even though it took forever, it looks a whole lot nicer than all the other girls' quilts and I now have bedding long enough for college.

Now, with that huge project out of the way, I proceed to try and finish my scrapbook, among other things. Oh! I also got a (very) part time job! One of my friends is planning to be a music education major and just found out she has to know how to play piano. She knows how to play the oboe, flute, and french horn from 7 years in band but never learned piano. So now I'm giving her basic lessons two to three times a week so she can be more up to speed with her peers and classes. I don't know how much she can learn in only a month and a half, but she's definitely willing to try. And now I can earn a few extra bucks a week without having a dreadful cashier job. It also has been really good for me, helping me to review things I haven't had to do in years like minor scales and such. It's certainly better than 25 hours a week at Garden Ridge in a hot stuffy warehouse.

We go to Branson next week so I'll be sure to post some pictures from that vacation. Oh, I'm sure looking forward to eight long hours in the car on Sunday... though we did check out Harry Potter books on tape for the ride. :D