Why College Is Better Than High School

Today I was sitting at a table outside the building of my first class drinking my coffee and I started thinking about how college was almost over for me. I started comparing it to my high school and how I felt when I was done with high school...five years ago. I started to make a list of all the reasons I like college waaaay better than high school. I did not like high school at all. I'll miss college. High school can stay in its grave.

1. Most of this list is based on two things: Freedom and no longer being a minor. So both of those things will be at the top of the list.

2. Flexibility. For three of my four years I only went to school 2 or 3 times a week, instead of 5. Only this last year have I had to go all 5 days because of classes that I absolutely need. And even then, I went 5 days a week, but not for 7 hours a day. This also means that for most of your college career you can avoid 8 a.m. classes if you want.

3. Class choices. I got to choose what I wanted to take (for the most part). Sure there were a requirements to meet, but it was no longer "take U.S. History for the seventh time of your academic career." I took Modern European History and U.S. History since 1868 (cause whoever made it to the Vietnam War in high school? I didn't. I think the farthest was World War 2 junior year).

Even within my major I got to choose out of at least 3 classes to meet requirements. There were always choices! So good! Helps you like what you're learning, and if you don't, you have no one to blame but yourself.

4. Longer breaks and semesters. I love that I didn't have year long classes anymore. Having semesters also meant longer breaks by default. I had a full 3 months for summer. And would have a month off for winter break. None of that 2 weeks crap we had in high school. In college summer started in May. In high school it was in June.

5. No curfew. This was due to my minorness and my parents. Once I was in college I didn't have a curfew, although I didn't take advantage of it all that much.

6. Open campus. This is also due to protecting minors but I hated how you couldn't move around unless you were a senior in high school. You had to stay locked behind gates. In college the campus is 1. Bigger and 2. More open. And both college campuses I was on were beautiful.

7. You can eat in class. I only had a few professors who had a problem with food and drinks, but most did not care. It was nice to be able to not have to take time out of the day to eat, but be able to do it while I took notes.

8. No monotonous homework. The homework made sense and you could see the point of it. I know that high school trains you to be able to do the work yourself. To take notes. To learn how to spell and read comprehensively. But it was nice to not have to practice those things anymore.

9. People do their homework! Not everyone, but a lot of classes, like my English classes, people did the readings so you actually got something out of the discussions. It also helps that there were more people in the class.

10. No one really cares if you're not in class. Some professors still take attendance, but if you really don't want to go to class (or if you were up all night at work and feel like you can't make your 9 a.m. class), there is no one that will force you to go. Since we pay for the education, most professors make a speech about how we only short change ourselves. I go to as many classes as I can because I want to learn, but it's nice knowing you're no longer committing a crime by playing hooky.

11. Not as much drama! Probably has something to do with not having as much extreme amounts of hormones in our bodies anymore. At least in the people I knew, we didn't care who was drinking, who was doing what drugs, who was sleeping with who, etc. We didn't care as much about the gossip, thus not as much drama with people talking about others. Maturity had to have something to do with not as much drama also.

That's all I can think of right now. I know there are more, and perhaps I'll add to my list once I think them...

Only one week left till I go back to school.

For my last semester.

(Who knows if it will actually be my LAST semester though)

Ok, last semester as an undergraduate.

Cause I think I want to do yoga classes through VC so that I actually go.

Plus, it's cheap.

Doug and I have been learning (again) to have solo time. When we were dating, Doug had a hard time understanding why there were times where I wanted what I called "me time." I'd just read in my room, watch something, write, take a bath, etc. I'd spend time alone away from people. It had absolutely nothing to do with him, or the people around me. I didn't need a break from them, I just needed to make time for myself also. The reason Doug didn't understand it was because he naturally got it since we mainly hung out at my house. When I'd go to bed and he went home, he'd play xbox or talk on the phone with friends; and the drive itself was alone time (especially when he lived off the 33).

I remember when we got married, a couple weeks in, he made the comment that he finally understood what I meant by needing "me time." And he made the connection that he had naturally gotten alone time because of our situation and him living on his own. At that point both of us got our alone time because of our conflicting schedules. We'd have some hours to hang out, some evening, but many hours where we had time to be on our own. (Although we still would miss the other; funny how that works).

Luckily, lately our schedules had been lining up, so we got to hang out a lot. And Doug went to Vegas, and was with people 24/7. And then he came home to a struggling, needy wife who latched onto him cause she missed him (it's always easier for the person who was away than the one who was left haha). So we learned again how important alone time is. (Which is what I have right now as I write this, waiting for Doug to get home so we can hang onto these few hours before he's back to work).

It's been a weird week for both of us. A lot has been going on, and I think we both feel a little helpless (I do at least). This week's just been emotional. Both with internal struggles and external happenings.

I'm so thankful for a husband who can understand me and be there for me. I'm glad I can tell him anything and he loves me just the same. I'm glad I have someone to hold me and encourage me.

Last night I found an old journal I didn't even remember writing in from two year ago. I started writing in it again. And I'm pretty excited.

Vegas...CES 2011

Doug here...

I went with some co-workers to CES this year to give out bibles. We printed up the gospel of John and sandwiched it with testimonies and information about Christianity. We gave out about 3500 of them this year. We had a booth where as people could come up and watch videos about who we are and what we do. Our whole message was letting people know that Jesus loved them. It was really exhausting and physically demanding but we were able to work the booth each day. I met a lot of people that are in the Gaming industry, told them about what I do for Gamechurch. They were really warm and friendly and excited for us to be in the industry. This has been the hardest week being away from Rochelle but it was for a good cause. I was happy to be home with her last night. Praise be HIM who was glorified this weekend. Also, everything went off without a hitch. No illness/accidents or injuries!

Tis done!

Allison and I hung out tonight. She made me write up a Pros and Cons list so we could decide whether or not to dye my hair.

Then we went to Target and picked out some dye. She thought the one that I had would be waaaay to red, and I definitely didn't want that!

Then we came back and dyed it!

Before. I liked my blonde hair, but it'll come back :) I needed a change

Dye in! As we start to put it in, Allison says, "This is the first time I've ever done this!" Yeah...might've mentioned that before. But she did fabulous :)

When it was in, it kinda looked purple. And then also reddish. We were going for a reddish-brown. When I rinsed it out too it was full blown purple water. haha I was worried for a second...

Done and done!

I sent Doug some pictures and he approved. He knew I was dying it though

Here's to 2011, as a brunette!

Doug's gone to Vegas till Sunday. So of course I miss him. Probably more intensely because I know I can't see him till then. We're not very good with separation.

It makes me think of the things that Doug introduced to me. And I smile.


I dunno why I had never had Life cereal before. We had Kix, Cracklin Bran, Honey Nut Cheerios, and of course various sugar cereals. But never Life. And it is good stuff! I buy it whenever I see it on sale!

Doug bought me a Nintendo DS for my birthday one year. We both really got into Brain Age and Super Mario Brothers. And of course Sudoku. It's great for trips and we can play together on our separate DSes

This is Doug's favorite movie. Our movie tastes are very different. He likes war and intense movies. I like more drama and good chick flicks (cause there are a ton of junk ones out there.) He was shocked that I had never seen it before though so of course I had to watch it. But I liked it. Every time it's on tv at my parents or wherever we end up watching it. Even though we have the dvd.

I'd never driven a truck till I drove Doug's (unless you count Hume's 80s work trucks without power steering). I remember how it felt like driving a boat and I was always so scared when I had to drive it! But I also liked driving it. Now it feels no different than my Jeep, although much longer than my Jeep.

Oh Halo. I had never even played xbox until Doug and I were dating. We spent many many afternoons in my parent's library as we played through the first, second, and third Halos. We did the campaigns, and then he trained me to play multiplayer so I'd be able to hold my own when we played against friends (and when we braved the online scene.) I got good at fragging and sticking. Now we have ODST and Reach. But those first three are special. Lots of good memories as we bonded over something that was a big part of his life.

Another video game. Although Doug didn't exactly introduce it to me. But it was his. He tried to get me to play, but I was too much of a coward. I was scared of making a fool of myself and being just terrible. So one afternoon when he was at work I picked up the controller and played by myself, just to see if I could do it. He called me on his break and I said, "You'll never guess what I'm doing right now." He didn't, either. But when I told him he laughed and said it was awesome. We played later together and many nights after that. We got Devonna and even Joe into it. We even split the drum set with them.

Dates. Doug introduced me to dates. Although I had had boyfriends in high school, I'd never been taken out on a date. Dressed up, hair curled, doors opened, man pays and drives, the whole deal. He was shocked when we first started dating and aske me if I wanted to go on a date down the hill with him (We were living at Hume.) I love that Doug treated me how I had re-learned I deserved to be treated during my time at Hume. And I love that we still go on dates! It's something that should never stop in a relationship.

Like movies, our music tastes are a little different from each other (although I think I've influenced him a bit.) This is a band that he introduced to me though. They played at his work one night and he couldn't stop talking about how good they are. Their style is a little different, but close to the music I really like. I like most of their songs. My favorite is "Cheers to Loving Me." Any time I listen to them I think of Doug, but that song especially.

Aaaand, another video game. Hey, like I said, they're a big part of him! (At least I'm not playing World of Warcraft...yet). This is Zombie Apocalypse and it's an arcade game; I'm not sure where he heard of it. We played with our friends mostly but we'd play for hours (especially the 7 days of hell mode.) It was really fun, and really addicting. And because of this game, there are thumb nail marks in his xbox controllers (sorry!)

I love that Doug has such a heart for God and loves his ministry and his work. I just miss him when he's gone.

I'm still debating. I'm scared to dye it again (although the dye I have is dark auborn brown, not dark brown like seen here 2 years ago.) It just takes sooo long to go back to blonde and I'm scared if I bleach it it'll fall out! Opinions welcome. Although, Allison, I already know where you stand :)

New Year's 2011!

We had our friends over for New Year's Eve. It's one of those holidays that I really like spending with friends and family.

I made a cake and also Doug picked up some lil smokies for me so I could make my family's traditional snack. Herring's traditional for my family too but I don't care for it too much anymore :)

We had Champagne and Martinelli's to toast in the New Year. We only had 3 champagne classes though, so the other four drank champagne out of our regular glasses lol.

We tried out our new Trivial Pursuit Team game. It was pretty fun! Better than the other Trivial pursuits I think. Think Cranium but trivia...

James and Kaity brought a new board game for us to try. It's by the makers of cranium but called Scribblish. It's pretty much the game of telephone and pictionary all in one. You draw a card that has three options of what you can draw. You choose one, write what the card says, then draw a picture. When the timer is up you roll and die and pass your scroll in the direction you're told. They then caption it based on what you drew. Then you roll the die again and pass your scroll again. The next person has to draw a picture based on what you drew, without being able to see the previous pictures and captions. It was hilarious! Here's an example...one of our favorites from the night!

Started with "I can juggle bowling balls"

Someone only saw the pictures and came up with "Man with cookies on the brain." The next person only saw that caption and drew that...and so on

Our amazing friends

All of us drawing

The game pieces that makes it possible to not see what other people wrote and drew

We watched the New Family Guy "It's a Trap!" I think the other Star Wars Family Guy Episodes were better. We had to stop in the middle because we had five minutes till midnight. We opened the champagne and Martinellis and poured. We don't have t.v. so we got a countdown on our computer. We counted down 10-9-8-7...and then yelled "Happy New Year!" We toasted each other, drank, and played Auld Lang Lyne. We talked about what we had accomplished during the last year that we were proud of. Then we ate cake.

I'm excited to see where this year takes us and the adventures and blessings that are to come!

Utah Christmas 2010

This past Christmas we spent in Utah with Doug's mom's side of the family. Doug's mom's sister, Jeni, and her family (Jordans) hosted the family in Eden, Utah. I finally got to have a White Christmas! We had an awesome trip. I liked getting to know everyone better, since I hadn't had much time to hang out with them when I met them at a cousin's wedding, and at our wedding.

I had to work the night before we left doing a floorset and didn't get off till 5 in the morning. I came home, showered, and got ready to leave. Sleep deprivation and miscommunication resulted in me forgetting my coat at home :( I had it on top of my suitcase, but had to open it to put our toiletries in. Doug grabbed my suitcase for me, but we both forgot about the jacket that was sitting on top of it. Ooops.

Our friend Andrew gave us a ride down to the airport (Thank you!) and we were off! We didn't have to get radiation or a groping. I saw that half the lines went through the regular detectors and half of them went through the xray machine. So we chose the regular detector line. We did that on the way back too.

We met up with Doug's mom and her boyfriend, John, at the airport. We got breakfast (Cinnabun) and then we were ready to board.

No sleep!

I slept for most of the hour and a half flight. After we landed we got a rental car and drove up to Eden, about an hour and a half away. I slept for most of that car ride too. When we got there we went to the Jordan's house for a bit before we were shown where we stayed. Such hospitality! We got to stay in a friend's timeshare. It was sooo nice. Fireplace in the room, beautiful view of the valley, washer and dryer, and a kitchen! Jeni also borrowed a jacket from a friend for me to wear for our trip. So thankful for that! The first night we hung out with the Jordans and played a DVD version of Family Feud, which had really weird answers!

The next day more family came. The Whites arrived form Mammoth and had driven all the way out there. Kyle and Ryan (both were in our wedding) and their parents were there. And Kyle's girlfriend, Joy, was with them too. (We reallly like her).

Hanging out at the Jordan's house

We got a little restless so we went for a walk through the nearby neighborhoods (Which weren't there ten years ago)

It's cold!

We found a hobbit house! Don't know why it was there...it was in front of someone else's house which you can kind of see in the background

Joy and Kyle in the background. It was soo pretty there!

That night (Christmas Eve), we went to Snowbasin Resort to watch a torch parade and fireworks. Santa was also there for the kiddies giving out candy canes.

Having fun in the gift shop.

Waiting for the show to start!

The Torch Parade. They skied down holding flares. It looked really cool

Some of the fireworks. It was foggy out so we saw a lot of bright clouds haha.



After the show we went to Ogden. They have a Christmas Light Town set up in a park. There were lights everywhere. And different companies and families put together playhouse dioramas (that's the best way I can explain it). Some of them were really cute and some of them were really creepy (to be demonstrated in a bit)

You can see some of the houses in the background

Sooo pretty and Christmas-y

See? Creepy. Hansel and Gretel...hmm.

We got some hot chocolate to keep warm

There was a train in this one. And you would start it by pushing a button. Reagan would've loved it

The next morning we went to Powder mountain to ski and snowboard. I was going to learn how to snowboard but decided I didn't want to hold Doug back. I wanted him to be able to hang out with everyone and not be stuck with a beginner. Plus, there weren't bunny slopes on the mountain (not like at snow summit and Big Bear). And it might have been just me, but their greens were like our blues. I hadn't skiied in about ten years though so I was a little worried about that too. But it came back to me pretty quickly. I just followed my instincts.

On the ski lift.

It felt like we were on top of the world

Doug took pictures of the view all around. We were told that you can see four different states from up there, but we don't know which ones are which.

Us at the top of the mountain

Ok, I didn't take a picture of him after he fell. Haha we were waiting for the rest of the group at the top and he was hanging out. That's one thing that I'm jealous for. Snowboarders get to sit down whenever they want!

Us at the bottom of the mountain

The sun was setting as we made our way down to the lodge to go home. Soo pretty.

I feel like this picture doesn't do it justice at all!

We went home and got cleaned up before going to spend Christmas night with the family at the Jordan's. We were instructed to wear ugly sweaters :) We bought some on ebay for the occasion. I figure that we'll have many more ugly sweater parties to come. Doug had already worn his a few times to parties that he went to and to youth group.

We did a mug exchange and then played Family Feud again. It was the adults verses the seniors. The adults won :) Although we were cracking up when the seniors got the category: Things senior citizens buy in bulk. Classic.

The family in their ugly sweaters



On Sunday most of the cousins hit the mountain again. But we were sooore. Our bodies were in shock from using muscles that haven't been used in a loong time. So we made it a lazy day. We went for a walk. We had wanted to build a snowman, but the snow was too dry and wouldn't pack. So we couldn't even have a snowball fight (Although that didn't stop Doug from trying!). Then we watched the football games, I worked on a project, and we relaxed before going to have more fun times with the family.

The pond. When we started the walk you could see the mountain behind it. But the clouds moved in.

The grass at the side of the pond was all crystallized

I love winter trees, especially when they're covered in snow. These weren't at the time though...

Ok, so see those two spots in the snow? They're deer! I couldn't get the camera on fast enough, but they're there! We were walking across the meadow and all of a sudden they ran about 40 feet in front of us. It was amazing! We had seen them earlier standing on the side of the road, but seeing these animals in motion is always incredible

My handsome husband :) It started snowing while we were out there. I was stoked! Beyond stoked actually. I love falling snow.

California couple in Utah. I look like a Russian.



I love winter trees. Did I say that?

We decided to go back in, but I took a video of the falling snow.

We monitored the parking lot to see how much snow fell

It finally started sticking a bit to the ground!

We couldn't stop looking at the snow falling outside. Plus we had a nice fireplace going and mugs of hot cocoa. It was a perfect Sunday afternoon.

I love snow filled trees

John's a San Clemente man and was excited to use the window scraper :)

Clouds covered the mountains a lot of the time we were there. But it was still so gorgeous. So still and silent

Doug and I like to do puzzles. This is no secret haha. Aunt Jeni had bought a puzzle for people to do that was 1000 pieces. We were determined to finish it before we left. (We weren't the only ones that worked on it though. Almost everyone helped!). And we did finish it. Ten minutes before we left!



The view of the mountain that was right outside of our window. This was the view that we woke up to every morning!

We rode down to Salt Lake City with Doug's cousin Dusti and his girlfriend Candice. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them. Doug really wanted to see the Temple while we were there so they took us there. Dusti had never even been before! It was a lot smaller than we thought it would be, but when you keep in mind that it was built in the 1800s it's really impressive!

The temple with the reflection pool in the foreground. The reflection pool was pretty! There was a nativity in the middle of it (That's what the white shapes are)

We went to the airport and got checked in. We went shopping for a Chrsitmas Ornament to represent our Utah Christmas. Doug's mom also got us an ornament to remember our Ugly Sweater Party. I love it!

The ornament that Doug's mom found

Our ornament from the airport

This has nothing to do with the trip, but this is the other ornament we got this year. I found it in the bookstore and thought it was fitting. Places we've both been. Even though CLU didn't work out for Doug.

So that's our adventure to Utah. We hope to hit the slopes again in California sometime! Thanks to Kyle White for some of the photos :)