Christmas Holidays!

I love Christmas and I'm so sad that the holidays are coming to a close! I've had so much fun this Christmas so far. I've visited my friends in Drumheller, gone home to Cardston for Christmas, went to Vegas for a couple days (details and pictures later once I have a cord to upload all my pictures) and now I'm in Utah at Erin and Darrin's with my family! I kind of feel like a jerk for being so concerned with what my friends are doing and not paying as much attention as I could to my family who I only get to see a few times a year. I'm hoping to pack in all the family time I can now, especially since there's only a few more days until we head back to cold, cold Canada (but to make all you Canadians feel any better, it's pretty dang freezing here too. Vegas was warm, though!). Tonight for New Years, I'll be going to the house of my aunt and uncle, Wilf and Laura, who live not in Utah as well. I'm excited to bring in the new year and see what kind of exciting things will happen this year! So much has happened, and I'm sure so much more will happen as well.

So if I haven't told you before, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My First Race!

So a while ago, my roommate, Anne, decided to sign us all up for a 5k race. She wanted to get a big group of us to go because it was cheaper for a larger group, and being students, we aim for anything cheap.We signed up for the Salvation Army Santa Shuffle which was to take place on December 5th. So the day finally arrived! Unfortunately, the day before the race, a huge blizzard blew into Calgary and made road conditions extremely crappy. As Anne and her sister were heading to the race, their car got stuck and they weren't able to make it. Luckily for Tamara, Catherine and I, we only got stuck a few times and were able to power through in her Buick. Jenna and her sister showed up in a different vehicle.

We started at around 10:20. We were supposed to start at 10:00am but, as you know, weather conditions were bad and we ended up being a little late. However, we kept on going, I ran ahead to see how well I could do and it ended up that we passed a whole bunch of people (probably because they were walking). But after 5.8km, we all made it to the finish line! I think my time was around 30 minutes (the time clock froze) and Tamara made it about 35 minutes. Jenna and Catherine showed up at around 40 minutes I think. Afterwards, we got free Subway subs and lots of treats. Yay for running!

GLEE!

So I've been watching this new show on TV lately called "Glee". It's in its first season and so far, it's sooo good! It's basically about this Glee club who are forced to get a new Glee instructor after their original one was fired and how it all works out. I love it because they redo a lot of popular songs, both new and old, but they all still sound original. They have a really talented cast as well. My favorite character, I must say though, is Artie the paraplegic. He's just so hilarious! Plus, he used to be in a boy band called NLT (Not Like Them) so he's a super good dancer and singer. It's ironic though because he's confined to a wheelchair and can't do any actual dancing. Oh man!

Kevin McHale as Artie in Glee



Kevin McHale in NLT (Not Like Them)

I SAW IT!

Yup, I saw New Moon last night. So good!!! Although the acting was better than the first, some parts were still pretty hilarious. AND OOH JACOB. Can Bella crack her head open in every scene so Jacob can rip off his shirt to stop the bleeding?? I'm pretty sure this movie pushed me way over to the Jacob side of things. Those are just my thoughts though. Think what you may...

Preference!!!

Last night was Calgary's YSA preference dance. It was tons of fun!

I ended up asking a guy named Eric who was in my ward to go with me. I had never spoken to him before, he was just on a random list of guys who hadn't gotten asked yet. My roommate, Jenna, and I decided to ask someone to preference so we just went and asked them! I was so nervous but it ended up working out really well!

Before preference, a big group of us and our dates hung out at one of their houses and we each were allowed to spend $4 on dinner that we would all combine into a big dinner. After we did that, we drove a short distance away to a park to go ice-blocking. It was so much fun! We tried to make a large train of us to go down the hill, but that ended in disaster haha. But we had a bunch of races, a bunch of wipe-outs (I have the bruises to prove it), and a bunch of dirt-stains all over our clothes. Good times!

Then, we headed back to the same house we were at before to get ready for preference. After we had all gotten ready, we all left in separate cars to get to the chapel. Eric and I carpooled it. When we got there, it was all winter theme (it actually reminded me of the types of high school proms that you always see in the movies) and they had a little photo-booth set up where you could get your pictures taken. The dance ended at 12 and then we all went our separate ways. Oh what a night!

P.S. Thanks for letting me borrow your dress, Erin!

Here are some photos!

A BACKSTREET TRIBUTE TO ANDREW- Love Anne

So...preference is coming up. My roommate, Anne, asked one of her really good guy friends to come because she knew they'd just have a good time. She still wanted to find some creative way to ask him, though, so she was planning on writing him a funny poem or something. But they went to school together in Grade 6 and danced to a particular Backstreet Boy song so I spruced it up a bit so she could use it to ask him. This is what I do instead of writing an essay!

To the tune of "I want it that way"


A BACKSTREET TRIBUTE TO ANDREW CUCOU
Sung (potentially) by Anne Woznow
Written by Stephanie Olsen

Friday, it's dance time
Won't it be sublime
But we'd be so great
Will you be my pref date?

And we'd be so cool
Kickin it old school
Give it to me straight
Will you be my pref date?

CHORUS:
Tell me why
I'm writing you this lame song
Tell me why
It's taking me so dang long
Tell me why
I really need to concentrate
will you be my pref date

And be go way back
Further than 2 Pac
Check it, or checkmate
Will you be my pref date?

CHORUS

Yes I've been slackin on my temple trips
Yes I know that it's been a while
YEAH
No matter the distance, I'll make it someday
Just give me a little smile!

I fit in my shirts
Your tickles now hurt
Will you, will you, will you, will you...
BE MY PREF DATE

Yeeeaaaahhhh

Ain't nothin but a dance
Just give it a little chance
I hope you appreciate
Will you by my pref date?

Will you be my pref date...???

October, You Sly Devil!

OCTOBER IS OVER ALREADY? SERIOUSLY??

Besides my mass of schoolwork and lame midterms, life in Calgary has been a lot of fun! There were a lot of fun YSA activities in October. We had an Improv acting night, a pumpkin carving night around Halloween (Tamara, my roommate, and I carved a wicked spider) which had so many cool ideas, and just recently we had a Human Battleship FHE activity!

We also had the privilege to hear a CES Broadcast from Pres. Uchtdorf who gave an awesome talk. He always incorporates good stories in to his talk. He even dissed Shakespeare! Shakespeare!! " 'To be or not to be is not the question.' If I were to rephrase this I would say, 'Knowing that I am a child of God...' ". SO GOOD!

Speaking of being a Child of God...nothing says Child of God like a zombie! With the wondrous Halloween festivities, another roommate of mine, Jenna, and I went on a Zombie walk on 17th Ave in Calgary. The purpose of it was to raise food donations but Jenna and I forgot...oops. But that's ok, we looked pretty gross.

Also, on the day before Halloween, Anne and Jenna (2/3 of my roommates) went to Lethbridge with two other friends to go to a dance since Calgary is lame and decided not to have a Halloween dance this year. It was super lame for the first hour with whole 10 people that were in the gym but it got fun within the last hour or so. The costumes were awesome! Some guy was even dressed up like Inspector Gadget. He had an antennae on his thumb that he could pull out to talk on the phone. He had a retractible arm and a propellor on his hat. AND he walked on stilts the whole night. Talent? I think so.

I dressed up like Cleopatra for Halloween

You can't really see too much of my costume, just mainly that awesome double chin.

Anne dressed up like Medussa...

AND Jenna dressed up like Poison Ivy from Batman. She did an awesome job.

It was a good night!! On the actual day of Halloween, we had the missionaries over, made them carve a pumpkin for us and gave them a crap-load of treats. Nothing say "Return with Honor" like Type 2 Diabetes! Enjoy, Elders!

Brian and Sarah came to Calgary on Halloween to come to an LDS Halloween party at a rented out restaurant. I don't think they really enjoyed themselves too much since it was mainly a dance and Brian's not much of a dancer. I hope they had an OK time though!

But anyways...it's November now...sigh. Here comes the pain!!

Midtermzzz

One midterm down, one to go...for this week! I just wrote my Bio midterm this morning, not as bad as I thought it would be, but still pretty challenging. I spent all week studying for my Bio midterm that I completely neglected the midterm that I have tomorrow. Yay for university!

Oh yes, and I miss Thanksgiving and turkey time all ready :(

I Climbed a Mountain and Didn't Die

So... I went home for the weekend (Cardston) to hang out with the rents. On Friday night we went to Lethbridge and did a little bit of shopping. I got a nice new winter coat! And we ate some pretty good Edo...yum. On Saturday, we went to Waterton. We figured it was the last chance we'd get to go this season so we decided to go. We got some lunch and then decided to climb Bear's Hump. It wasn't too bad of a climb but once we were at the top it was EXTREMELY windy. I was afraid for my life a few times, that's for sure. Here is proof that I survived!

THERE! Now you can see how high it is!

PROCRASTINATION STATION!!

WELL...I still have about a gazillion pages to read for school but...One Tree Hill time with the roommates!! I mean, common, books...or looking at this man?? I'll let you be the judge.

I FEEL OVERWHELMED!

School is up and running. I have 75 pages of Nursing to read for tomorrow, Bio notes to finish for thursday, an assignment for friday, 2 essays for the beginning of next week, plus whatever reading my intructors decide to pile on me next! So glad I'm going home this weekend to eat real food and sleep in a bed that isn't 6 feet high! And REALLY glad I get to go to Utah in 2 weeks for Conference and stay with Erin.

Can school be over now, please?

TOE PARTY!

Oh hey, it's been a while!

I just moved into my new place in Marda Loop in Calgary 2 weeks ago and, so far, it's awesome! My roommates are really nice and we are getting along awesome. I have three roommates, Jenna, 24, Anne, 22, and Tamara, 24. Yup, I'm the youngen!

Today, I've been pretty busy. I helped out for the food drive this morning with my YSA ward and had a really good time! Service is an awesome thing. After my roommate and I got home, we studied for a few hours and then...off to a toe party!

A professional nail artist was hired to paint our toenails and she did an amazing job! Are they watermelons or are they toes?? I dunno!

My parents are going to be empty nesters...haha

SO IT'S OFFICIAL. I'm moving out in 5 days and there's no backing out now...uh oh. This is going to be quite the change since I've never lived on my own before and I'm going to miss my crazy family!! We just had our little family reunion and it was great to have everyone here, although the house feels kinda empty without two little toddlers running into my room at an ungodly hour in the morning and screaming at me...and it's not the same when you're not finding body spray bottles in your pillowcases and sheets (compliments of Darrin I later found out. Thanks!). But it was tons of fun! Now, I have to start preparing to leave for school and live the college life! I sure hope it's all it's cracked up to be, or there's going to be an angry Stephanie rampaging around Calgary.

All I have to say is:

Hello endless hours of studying, goodbye good home-cooking!

CHANGES

Well...quite a lot has changed in the last couple months! We've moved to Cardston, got "settled" in (there are still boxes everywhere) but it's coming together. Cardston is even smaller than Drumheller so I haven't gotten lost yet! Not even once! I swear that must be a record or something. Our new ward is nice....I'm probably one of the 3 under the age of 80 in Relief Society. But it's nice, we get refridgerator magnets and stuff like that ;). Haha nah, everyone's really nice and welcoming. Brian and Sarah live in Cardston too, so at least I can hang out with them every once in a while to keep myself sane! Sarah and I have started working out and going for runs. I've even done the p90x ab ripper a couple of times....GAAAAA!

So I have a new job now! I am now a proud employee of the Big Scoop icecream shop in Waterton. It's a really popular icecream shop so we're usually really busy...oh but it's worth it! Right now, probably my favorite flavour of icecream is Pralines and Cream, mmmmm. We get some sweet pink shirts to wear and we wear aprons and visors at work. On Sunday, it was really slow for the last 2 hours that we were open so me and two other girls decided to transform our uniforms into superhero costumes! Fun times!!

An Ode to Diplomas

Well, right now, I'm in the midst of diplomas and I must say, they are taking away my entire life! Lets see...today I had my math diploma and I spent approximately 10 hours studying the day before. Yup...that's how cool I am. Right now, I SHOULD be studying Chem for tomorrow but instead, I'd rather waste my precious time on here, writing this on my comfy bed which will be gone within a matter of weeks :( moving time soon and I must admit, I'm sad to see good ol' smelly Drumheller go. This hole in the ground won't be forgotten! Haha at least my awesome Bio teacher is buying it, though, so I'm not complaining. Oh yes, and as a comemoration to the grad class this year, we planted a memorial tree for Grad '09...may she rest in peace. My Bio teacher is also the CHANGE (Creating a Healthy And New Green Earth) organizer so we planted the tree as a farewell at our old (but being renovated) school while we are located at another. Anyways...that's enough rambling for now.

Graduation~El Grande Marcho

This is my update for the Grand March part of our graduation in Drumheller. Basically, we walk around a big arena in our suits and pretty dresses for a few hours in front of family and friends. There were lots of really unique dresses, I thought. I didn't see any two that really looked that similar. Everyone looked very stylin'! Especially, my escort, Jake, and I ;) jk. Needless to say, style hurts...REALLY BAD. Not so much fun when you're wearing 2-3 inch heels. It was really fun though. After we walked, we watched a slideshow of each of us growing up and it was so sad to see everyone and knowing we're leaving soon! After about a bazillion pictures outside, the night was over. No more grad! :(

Graduation Day~Ceremony

WELL, today is my graduation day! I put on my cap and gown, marched across the gym floor...and suffered in the sweltering heat for 2 1/2 hours! It was a good ceremony though, there were lots of good speeches, I'm sure many tears were shed, and many awards were also given out. I was awarded the Music Choral 30 Award and the Harold Brown Scholarship. It was a great achievement and I'm glad I was able to win them.

Then, out in the heat again to get a few shots of us in our attractive caps and gowns and then...HOORAY!! No more graduation ceremonies!

GEOCACHING

Ok, so for all of you who don't know what geocaching is, it is basically a game or sport I guess when you look on a website and find spefic coordinates which you then enter into a GPS and it takes you to a prize! You can find cash when you're lucky but it's usually just little nick-nacks or fun things.

Last year, me and some friends were exploring in the hills over by the Suspension Bridge in Rosedale (about 10-15 minutes from Drumheller) when we randomly found a plastic tupperware container hidden in a little crevace. It was such a fluke! It turns out, this was a Geocach and had actual coordinates that you could find it at. We looked inside and found a notebook (which had names of people who had previously found it. People from Edmonton had written their names), some random little keychains and cheap toys, and pencils and stickers. The prizes weren't really very impressive but we were all excited that we found a "buried treasure".

SO...yesterday, another friend and I were on a hunt for some more geocaches. She had looked on the internet for some specific spots where they might be and then off we went! We looked underneath the WLD (World's Largest Dinosaur) but we had no luck. There was construction going on and they may have disturbed it. We also looked behind the petstore and on the Nature Trail (we even crawled in some of the bushes) behind my old school but there was no sign of any! :(

Better luck next time!

BUSY BUSY!!

Well, this past month has been a month of months. I've been in 5 countries this month including Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany for a short period of time but I don't think it really counts, the United States, and, of course, good old Canada. Our graduating class went on a Europe trip on April 10th for 10 days to Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic and it was AMAZING! My favorite place was either Venice, Italy where we did some major knock-off shopping and saw amazing architecture or Innsbruk Austria (the Swiss Alps were breathtaking and the leiderhosen wasn't bad either ;) jk). Unfortunately, I returned from Europe broke...but then it was time to be off to Seattle on the 29th! We went to Seattle on our choir trip this year and had a blast. We went to Kamloops on our first night, then to Chilliwack, and then across the border to the lovely state of Washington. We went to such tourist places as the Space Needle, Pike's Market, and the University of Washington where we participated in a singing clinic and were able to see a musical production called "Sing, Sing" which consisted of Southern Pacific music. It was really good...for the parts I was awake for. I kept nodding off in the first half of the performance, only waking up to clap once a song was done and then...asleep again! Luckily, I was able to keep my perky eyes open for the second half. It didn't help on the way back to the bus, though, when I tooled it on the ground. Graceful, Steph. The Duck Tour was also a fun time. It was a vehicle that could go in both land and water and we were able to see the house that Tom Hank's character stayed in, in Sleepless in Seattle. We also went to the EMP (Experience Music Project) where we made our own rock video and record. Unfortunately, we also had to come home from Seattle, and I had to face my own music. The music of homework and real life. NOW, we are finally performing what could be the most stressful play ever directed in the history of drama. We have had at least 10 people bail or let go because of not showing up but HALLELUJAH, it finally came together! Tonight was our second performance of three. Our last performance is tomorrow and oh, how it is bitter-sweet. I think I'll miss this handsome devil right here -->

I am playing the handsome Captain Smollet. Check out the side burns. Sea wenches are after me and everything. Not sure that's a good thing...

AND speaking of handsome devils, check Dad out.

Anyways, for Mother's Day, I visited mom in Fairmont while she was on vacation with her friend, Joan Emery. Dad was able to come as well and it was actually a pretty good time even though I travelled up there by myself. The hotsprings were divine!! I want some hotsprings within a 1 hour radius STAT.

Well...Chemistry awaits. Either that, or sleep. Sleep seems more appealing at this point.

My Tan Lines

It's a miracle! I have miraculously become tan!! Except...it wasn't really any act of a miracle, I got a spray tan yesterday!

My face looks a little unnatural and the skin can be a little blotchy during the 24 that I'm not allowed to shower or wash my face (sick), but it looks pretty sweet! I haven't been tan in ages!!

This is just a trial run to see if I should invest in this again come Grad time.

The countdown is on...and only 12 days until Europe!! YAY!!! :)

This weekend was a pretty fun one! Our grad class hosted a Rock Show out in Nacmine to raise money for grad. The bands they chose were "decent" at best I thought, although I just enjoyed hangin out with my friends and mocking the last band that played. It was a screamo band so I basically pretended to scream like them and almost lost my voice!

Also had a YW sleepover last night and ate so much Easter chocolate, I almost felt like dying. Mini Eggs are SOO good though!! And Cadbury Cream Eggs are the devil in disguise!

Here are some pictures that Erin asked me to take for her. First of all, we just re-did the counter-tops in our kitchen and upstairs bathroom.
THEN, here is a picture of my grad dress!! HAZAAA!

Last, but not least, this picture is for you, Erin!

Midnight at the Suspension Bridge!

WELL! My friends and I had quite the eventful night last weekend. We left Drumheller on Friday right after school for Red Deer to go pick up one of my friend's friends from Leduc (Ashley's friend, Jeff). After getting back to Drum, the group of us, Kendra, Ashley, Jessi, Sarah, Jeff and I, decided to take a trip to the suspension bridge at about 11-12ish at night. Jeff had never seen it, so we thought it was about time he saw some of the wonders of Drumheller!! (there aren't many)

AND SO...we arrived at the bridge and immediately, everyone starts bringing out their cameras and snapping random pictures, especially Jeff with his massive beast of a camera. Jeff got some "ghost" pictures just beside the suspension bridge. SPOOOKKKYY. After, we actually decided to get on the bridge where we just decided to lie down and chill out. It was too muddy to actually go climbing in the hills so this worked out just fine! THEN on the way home, some cops scared the crap out of me...

ANYWAYS, a fun night!

My Guilty Pleasures

SOOOO, I've just recently realized that I have a thing for chick flicks these days...not only did I see "He's Just Not that Into You" a week or so ago and couldn't stop smiling for about an hour afterwards, BUT I also must admit that High School Musical 3 is now on my list of favorites...along with Twilight. I'm such a girl. ALSO, for anyone who cares, Twilight is coming out on DVD on the 21st, woooo!!

It's about time!

It's been a while since I've written a little spiele about what I've been up to so I thought I should say a little something. My parents just went on a cruise about a week ago and I was left to defend the house. Of course I set up an asortment of traps all around the doors in case any kidnappers or burglars decided to come in! ;)

I must admit, after a few days, I was sure gettin lonely at the house all by myself! I finally reached my breaking point and had to go to the kennel and get my dogs so the house didn't seem so deathly quiet.

Now, I just finished my basketball season. We had Zones last weekend in Three Hills and we placed 6th going into the tournament at 8th place...kinda sucky but apparently it's better than the Sr. Girls team has done in 6 years or so.

AND NOW...I will finish up this little diddy so I can get back to my English research paper....GAA. Does someone else feel like writing a 8-10 page essay on Epilepsy??

So...HERE GOES! I guess I'll start off with an introduction of myself. My name is Stephanie Olsen, I'm 17 years old, graduating from Highschool this year, and I live in Drumheller, Alberta. In other words, I live in a large hole in the ground that lacks the amount of civilization that a 17-year-old would appreciate. Some of my closest friends in Drumheller include Ashley Marcotte, Sarah Thornton, Jessi Martin, and Kendra Blumhagen. I've also become friends with some other people from Leduc fairly recently. I could mention all the other friends I have, however, I think that would take up too much of this page.

Seeing as how I'm graduating this year, I will let you know a little bit about my future plans. After a little research and deliberation, I've decided to become a Registered Nurse and I will be attending Mount Royal College in Calgary, AB this fall. I'm pretty excited, although I am slightly freaking out at the fact that I will be on my own for the first time. Not looking forward to having to do everything for myself, I can tell you that! I'm hoping to be able to stay in Drumheller and work for the summer so that I can be with my friends for my last summer before college.

Ok, so Drumheller is a pretty boring place if you are not already aware. As this is the case, my friends and I have to make our own fun. Most of blog will probably end up being random things my friends and I end up doing! For example, the picture below depicts the gruesome scene of a gingerbread house gone wrong. In other words, we got bored of trying to build a boring, generic gingerbread house that it ended up just being destroyed in a merciless ocean of horribly made icing and assorted candies. Afterwards, I was assaulted with an icing mustache and sent on my way home...well with 3 other girls that I'm pretty much a taxi for.

Well, hope you enjoyed my first entry and there will soon be more to come!