Christine

Once upon a time, life was pretty good at Wyview Park. Everyone was making friends with everyone else. We felt so comfortable and content.

And then, we heard that a new girl was moving in. We wondered about her. We facebook-stalked her. We caught glimpses of her. And one day, just before Halloween, we met her.

One of my friends txtd me: "The new girl is here!" I grabbed my bowl of food and ran to her apartment.

"Oh hey, guys!" I said. Very casually. "How's everyone's day going?" Obviously no one would suspect that I was just there to meet the new girl and form an opinion of her. Especially not when she came out into the living room and I practically barked, "HI! Are you the new roommate? I'm Heather."

She kindly pretended like I was normal and said hi back and introduced herself. Her name was Christine.

She looked like this:

We loved her immediately. 

Freshman year was only made better by Christine moving into Wyview. One time, she organized an activity where we made caramel apples. And I'm not sure how, but somehow, this picture came out of it. And I'm so happy it did. For obvious reasons.

Christine is a super-fun friend to have because she is always up for a fun activity! The fall semester activity our freshman year was themed something princessy or knighty or royal in some way, so a bunch of us dressed up as princesses. Amazingly, Christine made her Sleeping Beauty costume. She is so talented and stuff!

Another time, we went to whiteout night at Studio 600 in Salt Lake. It was so much fun! Oh, even though half of us didn't get in because all we had for ID's were out student ID's. It was still fun dressing up for it!

Christine and I weren't roommates when we were freshmen, even though we might as well have been. (I think I slept in my own bed.....maybe 3 nights a week. The rest of my nights were spent on either Winnie's couch or Christine's.) But we repented of that and lived together our sophomore year! I remember flying back to Utah, walking into my room, and finding little post-it notes all over. They said things like, "All of this shelf space is yours" and "You can switch sides if you want, I don't mind either way :)" and "I missed you! Welcome home!"

Another point I feel like I should make: Christine is stylish and photogenic. Sometimes when she was my roommate she would have me pick her outfit for Sunday and it was always kind of like a grand privilege because she has such cute and classy dresses!

Christine is awesome because she is spontaneous. We did a ton of random fun things together, from dancing in the rain to Leggers on the couch to hitting up the Lehi Rodeo. And they were all so. fun. 

I am so happy that Christine went with me to Florida to work at Disney. We had an amazing time together! We danced with some Moroccans, went to Universal Studios, laid out at the pool to listen to general conference, struggled with the crappy internet, and got wonderfully tan. Christine was a lifeguard, so obviously she got the most tan. And the boys loved her. One beautiful Australian boy even took her to Universal Studios!

We were in Florida for Valentines Day, and when I got back to my apartment after work, I found a pink heart-shaped lollipop and a handwritten card on my bed from Christine. It was such a sweet card and you better believe I still have it! 

When we were in Florida, we weren't going to school. I love Christine as a student, too, but when she doesn't have school to worry about, she is only just fun. All the time.

I love these pictures because, look! Christine is always willing to make a face or do a silly pose for a picture with me. She doesn't act embarrassed or always offer to take the picture so she doesn't have to be in it. Which is valuable!

Tan tan, can you do the tan tan?

 Christine is wonderful because all of my other friends like her too! When Caitlin, Christine and I went to the Lehi Roundup, we all had so much fun together. When Nicole came out to visit a few weeks ago and Christine practiced how she could approach a random hot stranger on the beach, Nicole couldn't stop talking about how hilarious Christine was. When Christine met two of my guy friends, they thought she was hot. Obviously. 

Christine is inclusive and diplomatic. I love how she plans things and invites me to them! I also love how she is thoughtful of other people's feelings. One time, my friends were teasing me about how bad I am at directions. Just to put it out there, I am terrible at directions, and I didn't really mind the teasing. But then Christine piped up and said, "Actually! Heather really impressed me in Florida, she was good at driving there." It was just a simple thing to say, and even though I wasn't on the verge of tears or anything, it made me feel so good to get that little bit of credit!

Christine is always there for important events. She is super-busy with work and school, but she has come every year to Tucano's for my birthday. When we plan something, she is there. I love that I can count on her :)

Christine is cool because she is lots of different things. She is fun to go dancing with! She is easy to have deep conversations with. We have great conversations and boys and kissing! Then we sit next to each in church and be reverent. She is a great mom at amusement parks! She also takes the best pictures on the teacups. She looks great with blonde hair! She looks fabulous with dark hair! She can't be stopped!

Christine is an example to me in so many ways. One way is her selflessness! Check out this recent blog post of hers for proof of that. And then follow her blog, because it is greatly entertaining. 

 New girls don't always become lifelong friends, but with Christine, I would say we all got incredibly lucky. Next year, we will both be graduating, and I can't wait to take a million more fun pictures together in our caps and gowns! Especially because I'm sure they won't be the last pictures we take :) Happy birthday Christine! You are awesome!

Sarita Bonita Chiquita

Sometimes when I meet new people, they ask me where I fall in my family. Sometimes, I have them guess. And more often than I would like to admit, they guess that I am the baby.

The thing is, I am not the baby of the family. The baby of the family has reddish hair, not blonde. She is a basketball champ. She started blogging at a much younger age than I did. And she just turned ten today.

Sarah started out cute. She had strawberry-blonde hair and big blue eyes. We loved having another baby, a baby we could dress up and dote on and adore, and she loved being that baby. She laughed all the time and somehow, despite all of us clamoring for a chance to paint her nails or feed her or dance with her, she didn't turn out spoiled.

She had these two super-cute outfits when she was about three: a fluffy little skirt and a shirt to go with it. One was pink and one was green. She loved wearing them and dancing in the living room to "Supermodel," the song from the Lizzie McGuire movie.

One time when she was a baby, she was running around the island, being chased by Joseph or Jacob and just laughing her head off. All of a sudden, she stopped running, stopped laughing, and squatted down, looking very concentrated. The broder stopped. "Sarah?" he asked. She made a little panting sound, then stood up and started running and laughing again.

I guess when you got to go, you got to go!

One day when I was in college but was home for the summer, I took all the kids to get their hairs cut. The haircut lady put this streak of blue in her hair so obviously we had to have a photo shoot right when we got home!

Two years ago, we had a family reunion in Midway. All the girls shared one bed which was SO fun. I discovered then that Sarah moves around a lot in her sleep, and she is suddenly endowed with super-strength. If she wants to move, she does, and nothing will get in her way. I don't know how, but apparently, I slept through this.

On the flight home from that trip, Sarah got hot chocolate for her beverage. As the cherry on top of a disastrous plane ride, it of course spilled all over her. Since she didn't have any other pants, we just had to strip off the ones she was wearing and wrap Mom's jacket around her. I think it makes a very stylish skirt, don't you?

Something that I love about Sarah is how funny she is. She says the funniest things sometimes! I love talking to her on the phone and hearing about her day at school, or the boys who like her, or the latest drama with her friends. When she was about 2 or 3 we would browse through the Avon catalog every time it came and pick out our favorites on each page. She talked like a teenager then, and now, I feel like I am talking to one of my friends when I talk to her.

There is no question that Sarah is the most athletic girl in our family. I think her athleticism is Heavenly Father's blessing for my dad serving in the bishopric or something, because none of the first four girls did much of anything with sports. Sarah, on the other hand, loves basketball and soccer and pretty much any other sport she tries. She is, without question, the best one on her basketball team. (Don't worry that she fowls out on a regular basis ;) and we all love watching her play!

Sarah has a huge heart. She just knows how to love people and show them. She is a good listener; when she's talking to me, I never feel like she's just waiting for her turn to talk. She is genuinely interested in others. She is honest, sensitive, and sincere, and you can tell when you talk to her.

Contrary to what you might think from this picture, Sarah likes when I do her hair. I remember when I worked at Club Libby Lu and she was so pumped when she got to come in and get a makeover. She's just being sassy in this picture.

Sassiness is not a bad thing if you do it as cutely as Sarah does it. One time, when she visited me in Florida, she met my friend Sean. I don't remember what he said, but she thought it sounded a little flirty and decided he needed to be called out on it.

Hand on hip, eyes fixed, she bobbed her head and said, "Oh, I see, you crushin' on my sister?" in a way that reminded me that a lot of her friends are these cute little black girls. Sean wasn't crushin' on her sister, but he still turned red and laughed about it for weeks afterwards.

Even though she's almost 8 years younger than Julie, and the rest of the sisters are only about 2 years apart from the next sister, Sarah fits right in with us. She easily floats from the sisters to the brothers to her own friends.

Sarah had a unique experience when she came to Disney World. Having a sister who worked there and had just tried out for Cinderella, she knew more about how the park worked than lots of other kids her age. But at the same time, she was so much fun to go around the park with. She is super-energetic and was so enthusiastic about everything.

This is when she accidentally splashed me when getting out of the pool. I think that she mostly likes being the youngest, but thinks it would be nice if she had a sibling more her age who always wanted to swim in the pool with her when her boring older sisters just want to sit on the side and dip their feet in.

One day, a girl in our ward broke up with her boyfriend. Actually, he broke up with her, and she ended up at our house for dinner that Sunday. We had a great dinner, and afterwards, she wandered out of the kitchen, unnoticed by most of us. Sarah of course noticed and followed her to the living room.

When I went in there later, the Single Lady was lying on her stomach on the couch, saying something about how "I just don't understand, everything was going so well!" Sarah was nodding and "mhmm"ing sympathetically, her hands expertly karate-chopping a rhythm up and down the Single Lady's back.

Now, whenever I have a bad day, I wish that Sarah was there to give me a nice massage and "mhmm" sympathetically at my pathetic story. She's not, but the memory of that still cheers me up when I need it!

Sarah makes me feel like a million bucks every time I go home to visit. She doesn't try to hog attention; she tries to throw it all on the person who is having a special day. If I'm visiting from college, I am that person. If Nicool is having a birthday, she is that person. I literally think Sarah doesn't even think about herself when it is someone else's time to eat off of the Special plate.

This Christmas, my dad dropped a coin in the garbage disposal. Or at least, he convinced himself that he had. He tried getting it out and couldn't, having big man hands, so he got Sarah out of bed (it was probably about 6:50 in the morning) and asked for her help. She traipsed downstairs in her pink t-shirt and hand-me-down-from-the-broders tiger pajama pants, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, hopped obligingly up on a chair, and felt around for the coin.

I thought it was so cute that I had to take this picture. All I know is, if Dad asked me to do that, I can't promise that I would be so sweet about it. And that is why Sarah is cooler than me.

She loves doing sister photo shoots. Here are some gems from past sister or family photo shoots:

At Disney World, a guy walking around Animal Kingdom made up this song on the spot for Sarah. If nothing else, he at least got the name right: "Princess Sarah." Enjoy!

Love you Sarah!!! I am so proud of you and brag about you all the time. I can't think of a better way to finish off the Connor Clan. I hope you know how amazing I think you are. I love you forever!

Cultural Diorama

For my TELL 400 class, we were required to gather 3 things from our house that represent us and our cultural identity. Here are my three things:

Label: an East Coast girl who loves writing, memories, and sunshine.

1. sunglasses

These are my favorite sunglasses. I got them from Forever 21 a few months ago and wear them almost every day. These sunglasses represent who I am because I love the summertime, girly things, and good deals. This past winter, I left the frigid state of Utah for sunny Florida and I've never regretted that decision. I just love sunshine and Florida had that in abundance.

I am an East Coast girl, born and raised in Maryland, and I grew up in a fairly well-off community. I chose these sunglasses to represent that because big sunglasses are kind of trendy and a lot of celebrities wear them. My sunglasses have a floral design printed on the inside of them, which I like because it adds a touch of girliness. I love being trendy and dressing up, and I've definitely been accused of being girly (I won't argue with that!). At the same time, I hate spending lots of money. I think these sunglasses were about $6, which is just the kind of price I like for sunglasses.

2. camera

This is my camera. It’s not anything fancy, but it gets the job done and I love it! My mom loved taking pictures when I was little; anything was an excuse. I remember going to the dentist with my sisters and we were all dressed up so we could take pictures by the Washington, D.C. temple on our way home. I’ve always loved taking pictures so I didn’t mind. My older sister, Kelly, also loves taking pictures, and we both feel that almost any activity is worth it if we get good pictures out of it. My friends always tease me because I have over 2000 pictures on my Facebook, but I just feel like pictures are a great way to preserve memories!

3. pen

My favorite kind of pen is the Pentel Profile pen - really specific I know, but if you've ever used one you will understand! - but any pen could be used to represent who I am. Besides teaching, writing is my passion. I loved writing stories when I was little and I still hope that one day I will be able to publish a book. In the meantime, I keep a blog, write in a journal, send out missionary letters, and work in the Writing Center on campus.

I also chose a pen to represent education. Doing well in school was always expected and celebrated in my family. Both parents were willing to help me with homework whenever I needed it. My dad is the smartest man I know and was always my go-to man for help with anything involving math, science, or religion. He taught me, through his example, that education is extremely valuable, and intelligence is worth the hard work it takes to attain it. My mom is very creative and always gave me good ideas for big school projects. She didn't finish college but is always learning something new on her own. Still, she always tells my siblings and me how smart she thinks we are and encourages us in all our academic pursuits. Seeing how my parents value education taught me to value it the same way.

Aside from my family's influence, I come from a community that prides itself on it's public education system. I went to school in Howard County my whole life, one of the best school districts in Maryland based on the Maryland School Assessments. More than 90% of the students who graduate from Howard County schools continue their education following high school, a statistic that few communities even come close to. The public library five minutes away from my house is recognized as one of the best in the nation.

As a child I didn't realize how lucky I was, but I can see now that I was greatly blessed where education is concerned. I was given all the resources I could possibly need to succeed in school. I grew to love education, especially when we did anything that involved writing, and now I'm on my way to becoming a teacher!