Top 10 Ranking

Yay for our BYU Cougars!!! They are #8 in the AP Poll and #7 in USA Today. How great is this?! And if both BYU and Utah go undefeated until they play each other, it will be that much better when the Cougars beat the Utes.

Also, I love how the game announcers sometimes say how many players on the team are eagle scouts or return missionaries. A lot of the players are also married with children. BYU sports is a great missionary tool and I love that the players are good examples!

What an awesome year this is so far for our cougars :)

New-ness all around

Will and I had a lot of fun finding some great deals around town. Check them out here!

Also, I've been staining my bed this past week and I'll finish it up this week...keep checking back for before-and-after pictures.

I'm kicking you out!

We went to see our house the other night and found that we had a visitor already waiting for us. She will definitely NOT be staying for long.

Hale Centre Theatre

Will and I were able to enjoy a night at the theatre on Saturday thanks to Bill and Patty's generosity. They gave us their tickets to the Hale Centre Theatre's play Wait Until Dark. It was so fun to see the play of a movie we both thoroughly enjoy.


We love Audrey Hepburn's performance in the movie, and the theatre did a great job of mirroring the movie. We especially enjoyed how well the theatre did the dark scene. If you don't know what I'm referring to, you'll have to watch the movie.




(Here's the website for the theatre in Arizona, but there is one in Orem and West Valley City if you're interested in getting tickets for a future play. I highly recommend their musicals.)

Winner...

I won the water-drinking contest. Don't worry, no one was harmed (or had to vomit) in the process of competing.

I finished the night with 67.6 oz. of water. For my prize, I chose to go out to dessert. Now all I have to do is decide where to go. Any suggestions?

I have a few ideas:


I think I'll end up going to Applebee's for this little lovely:

Competition

Last night, when Will and I were lying in bed, he challenged me to a competition. He had me promise to participate without knowing what it was beforehand, and being the competitive person I am, I agreed. What competition?

a water-drinking competition

We put rules on it, of course: (1) you can stop drinking once you get to 80 ounces, (2) all drinking has to be done by the time Will gets home from school at 7:30, (3) every ounce has to be written down or it doesn't count.

The only problem is that I forgot about it until 4 o'clock. That gave me about 3 hours to drink as much as I could possibly muster. And only now as I write this am I remembering that I'm supposed to write it down. Grrr.

We each picked our own prize for winning, and tomorrow I'll post the winner and their prize. Wish me luck....and now I have to go to the bathroom for the 4th time in 3 hours.

Review: Mara, Daughter of the Nile

Having read Mara, Daugher of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw about 5 or 6 times, I think I'm qualified to give this book a review.

Plot: Mara, a blue-eyed slave girl in ancient Egypt, is sold by her brutal master to a mysterious stranger. This new master, who is a hig-ranking officer for the Queen of Egypt, unexpectedly offers her freedom and riches, but demands she complete a task that may cost her life. Mara is determined to grasp this chance, and agrees to the bargain. While completing her duties, she meets suave Sheftu on a river barge. Sheftu is determined to get the queen's brother, the rightful heir to the throne, back in power, and employs Mara as a spy for his cause. With Mara's now-conflicting responsibilities, her loyalties are divided. As a spy for two sides working against each other, should Mara follow her master and take the freedom and gold he offers, or free Egypt of its burdens and follow her heart into the arms of Sheftu?

Wow. What a plot, huh? That's only the beginning of the goodness. This book has captured my attention multiple times, and I honestly can't wait until the next time I get to read it. Every time I pick it up, my procrastination with other tasks increases. (That's the sign of a good book, right?) The dialogue-description ratio is about even, so the reader doesn't get bored or confused with excessive amounts of either. I recommend this book for young readers in junior high all the way up to those just wanting to be entertained by wholesome and enthralling media.

Let me know what you think of the book!

Next review: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco