Oh Billy Boy.

So....
yesterday i met one of the former US presidents! Mr. Billy Boy Clinton came to SOU to campaign for Hillary. Both him and Chelsea were in the Student Union courtyard at 5:30pm and spoke about Hillary's plans until about 6:15. It was quite the experience. I loved every minute of it. I actually stayed after he was done talking and shook his hand and got some upclose pictures of him. Its pretty crazy. I always remember not liking him because of the whole Monica scandal. But as i've gotten older i've found that even though those choices he made were completely gross, and unacceptable He was probably one of the best presidents we've had in a long time. No, not perfect. Our economy was booming. And now....not so much. It was weird meeting him. He actually looked me in the eyes when he shook my hand though. which i was really surprised about. anyhoo... Here are the pics i got.

holy moly....

I got sent an e-mail from my oldest sister saying ever so kindly "UPDATE YOUR BLOG!!!!"


so here i am :-)
(love you syd)

and heres the cliche..."SO MUCH HAS CHANGED SINCE MY LAST POST!"

In my last post, i posted pictures of me and my room mates and some neighbor boys that i thought were friends.
well...they aren't. turns out i was just a sucker for their game of "im a nice guy...i just want to meet a nice girl" but it was all an act...they turned out to be pretty shallow. and FULL of drama.

My room mate(hayley, 19) turned out to be..........................19.........she's a good girl...but just has a lot of growing up to do as did i at 19...when you think you know everything.
she's left for study abroad in mexico for the term which i think will either bring her back thinking she knows everything even more...or it will really be a good learning experience for her.

as for me...

I have grown up a lot also. I've learned that people let you down. and i tend to give second chances to people who don't deserve them. But through out a lot of drama, of he said she said bull$%^&*....i have finally put my foot down and cut a lot of bad people out of my life...or moved them a safer distance away from my heart. which i have also found out is extremely sensitive.

I think over my junior year so far...i have cried more this school year, than any other, but i have also laughed more. I have never been farther away from God, but recently never felt better about my pursuit in knowing him. Not so much in the way of "i read my bible ever day" but in my everyday out look on things, and my everyday conversations with him....asking him what things mean, how come this? why is this that way? i have found a lot of science that backs up the bible...which is exciting for me. im not sure why. i've always known the bible to be true. i have never doubted it...but i guess i always wanted something more than just "believing" ive always wanted something tangible. i think we all do at some point. it makes it easier to witness too. with out being annoying. like..."have a God day." ew.
(but if you do say that i'm not judging you...its just not me. )


i went home for spring break. it was a good break. i felt like i got to reconnect with Lauren in ways that her and i have been missing for a while now..due to whatever...age, life, school...
i also have felt closer with syd as i get older too. Her and i seem to be more and more similar than i ever thought we would be. As i see her go through the beginning/nerve-wracking stage of her awesome pregnancy i see a strength and confidence in her that has been i think defeated for so long. With james i see him just glowing. i see him excited. anytime our family talks about "the baby"(which is a lot :-) He is first to tell when her next appointment is, what names, how many weeks syd is, when she's due...etc. he's THERE. in tune with everything. its cool to see that passion and love in him
Eric has opened up a lot. He seems to to be sharing a lot more personal opinions, he seems less afraid to be politically correct, or less afraid to say the wrong thing...i dont' know if that makes sense. I love being in the loop of his romantic life too.
And me and mom...oh man...so many battles. so many arguments. so many times i just would have given ANYTHING for her to leave me alone! But i know that if she hadn't been there...i would be screaming for her. She sets a high standard. and i think im deathly afraid of failing her. But recently, by just saying...im embarrassed, or im afraid, she sees im not being "distant" im just trying to not be a failure....her and i relate on a lot of levels too. About never feeling good enough...i feel like i'm always apologizing to her for messing up. But i think my mom is the best example of unconditional love besides Christ.

So, even though pretty much ALL of my friends have gone...i have never been more thankful for my family.

Im also extremely thankful for Mark(the boyfriend) He's been with me since the beginning of my downfall with all my friends here at school and even though its been absolutely ridiculous at times, he has always listened. Which is what i need sometimes...just someone to listen. and give me a bear hug at the end of it all.He's had the perfect balance of being protective, but ALWAYS respecting my independence, which everyone knows i HAVE to have;-) He's met mom, and lauren so far. i really want the rest of my family to meet him. He's also met Jeff and Molly. i didn't waste any time there. I basically was like...ok, here he his. what do you think...and based on what they said, i went from there. Jeff and molly both really liked him. Which says a LOT. haha.


well...now that i've filled everyone in....im off to bed to start the longest day of my life work 6:30am-9:50 class from 10-4....then homework. or my death bed...whatever comes first.

Much Love.

I can't believe i'm in the 5th week of school! it has gone by so fast! But in between school and work I have found time to hike each week. There are tons of hiking trails around here and they are all amazing. Here are some pictures of the hikes i've done the last 3 weeks. Pilot Rock is incredible. once you get to the top its a 360 view of Mt. McLaughlin, the city of Ashland, Mt. Ashland's Backside, applegate river, and Mt. Shasta. Absolutely incredible. That hike was pretty scary this last sunday, it had snowed a bit already but melted then refroze. so the rocks were VERY slippery and not to mention COLD on my bare hands. Once you get to the top its so worth it. anyways...enjoy!

this summer has been crazy. I have a new room mate, Hayley. Some new people moved into our apartment complex that we've been hanging out with. Marlon, Patrick, and Kiel play football for SOU. they are hilarious and keep my life entertaining. Brigitte, Courtney, and Shayla are tons of fun as well. I work with brigitte so its fun to have her around at work and home :-) here are some pictures of them.
me and Hayley
Me, patrick, and hayley at our dance party
Me and Patrick
Patrick and me and me and Kiel(kyle)


me and marlonCourtney, me, shayla, and briggite

MY COMPUTER IS FIXED!!!!!!!!! more blogging to come soon.

ODE to Grandpa John.

My grandpa John's Birthday was recently so Carrie rented a room at the country club. Part of me thinks that he would enjoy just a a BBQ and beer. But i have no doubt in my mind that he'll still appreciate it. We(grand kids and kids) were asked to write a memory that we have of Him accompanied with a picture to compile in a book and give him. Lauren and Sam were going to read them at the Dinner. This is mine i sent in. It turned out to be a bit long. But i didn't care :-) so...thanks to syd and her infamous "ode to..." here is my ODE to Grandpa John


Picking just one memory to encapsulate my grandpa John seems nearly impossible. There are so many to pick from and grandpa has not been limited to the typical grandfather role. He has had an impact on my life in many different ways. To me, he is a teacher, protector, adventure seeker, comedian, giver, and father figure. Grandpa has taught all of us many things that we would not other wise know. Because of him, I know how to downhill ski, ride a jet ski, start and ride a manual dirt bike, turn on and off oscar in the pool, set up a tent, change a tire on a car, check the oil, and clean off the corrosion buildup on the battery of the van. I know how to power wash a driveway, and start a blower. I also know what to do if I get lost on a mountain in the snow, the names of the mountains in eastern Oregon, and how to tell what direction I’m going when I’m outside.
All of these things are life long lessons that I would only know because I am a grand daughter of John Taylor and I wouldn’t have it any other way. One memory that I want to share is a time when I was about 9 or 10 years old. Lauren and I got to spend a weekend with granny and grandpa. We arrived and did our ritual to see who could get in the pool first, swam all night, ate dinner, and headed to bed. Even though there is a perfectly good bed in “Debbie’s room” Grandpa brings out the mummy sleeping bags and foam mats for Lauren and I to sleep on. We go to bed listening to the silence of the house, and the rumble of the train. Early the next morning I awake to coffee grinding and the TV blaring, I roll over and try to get some more sleep, but I know what’s coming…”DAY LIGHT IN THE SWAMP!!!” the rumble of grandpas voice travels down the hall as I hear him shuffling towards the door. The door opens, the hall light streaming in and I peak my eye open and see grandpas shadow stretching across the room. “DAYLIGHT IN THE SWAMP!!” as he shakes my body with his foot. A while later I come out of the room and see a hot pot of cream of wheat on the stove waiting for me with every condiment I could dream of. Me and Lauren eat and get ready to go to work; of course all I want to do is stay home and swim all day long. But, the shop is always fun to explore. I come outside ready to hop in the car and head to the shop. Grandpa tells me to go put on some jeans. “But why?! It’s gonna be hot today, and I hate jeans…” but of course I do as I’m told. I come back outside to find a motorcycle sitting in the drive way ready to go. Lauren makes it known she wants to ride on it, but both granny and grandpa tell her she’s not old enough. Granny and Lauren take off in the “red car” and I walk up to the motorcycle, my heart is racing, this thing is huge. Grandpa disappears into his garage and reappears with 3 helmets to try on, all adult sizes of course. Finally we find one and he hoists me up on the bike, he joins me and explains how to turn this particular bike on. My heart is still racing. What if I fall off? What if I can’t hold on? What if we crash?! Grandpa pulls out of the driveway quickly wrap my arms around him and hold on as tight as I can, but not too tight…I would never want grandpa to think I was scared. We pull out on the highway and my fears fly away with the wind. I even let go of grandpa, and hang on to the handles! We pull into the shop, and I’m on top of the world…I got to ride to work on a motorcycle…with MY grandpa. We park the bike, and he yanks the helmet off my head. Next, he pulls a 4-wheeler out from the big garage and takes me and Lauren on a ride in the grass out back. I was sitting on the back and Lauren in front of grandpa, he took us around the mini course until something started smoking…Laurens Shoe had been resting on one of the pipes and had started to melt. She was screaming. Grandpa quickly killed the bike, ripped off her shoe to check for burns. Grandpa always has a way of moving so quickly.
Many times after this memory I can count him showing up out of no where on the ski trail when one of us whipped out, teaching us how to get back up, or all of a sudden diving into the pool because Patrick fell in on the deep end. Patrick wasn’t under water for more than 2 seconds because Grandpa was there. I know grandpa will always be there, teaching, and waving us off with his famous Hang lose wave. The memory of riding to work with grandpa on that motorcycle will always be with me. Because that day I was the coolest person in the world, and knew then, that I had the coolest Grandpa in the world, and no one could beat me on that.

Happy Birthday Grandpa! Thank you for always being there. I love you.

Bethy.

soooooo.....
apparently the saying

"beer before liquor never been sicker"

Is true.