Spring in Seattle!

Springtime is Seattle is coming. It has been a very well expected event, however it is not as exciting as the change to spring in Minnesota. In Minnesota it is very pronounced when spring comes because the snow melts and when the temperatures get up to 40 it feels so warm. Here it is exciting to see the flowers and trees wake up, but it is much less contrast in temperature and amount of rainfall. But I love it, and I've even learned some great lessons this spring. After living in Washington for 20 out of 22 years, I can now officially distinguish between a camellia bush and a rhododendron bush. You would think I would know what the state flower would look like compared to others, but apparently I didn't.

School is going well and the spring quarter is already into week 4. I am taking a biology class that goes into plant physiology in the first (really, they can talk about plants for 5 weeks, it is possible!) and animal physiology in the second half. Then I have organic chemistry lecture and a lab. Last week we did some experiments and reactions using yeast and we all had a fun time joking how the University is so nice to teach us how to ferment our own alcohol!

My house is going well with my 8 other roommates. We call it "The Manor House." Because the different houses in the wards that have LDS people living in them all get their own unique names so everyone can keep them straight. There are names like the Big House, the Girls Big house, the Tree house, the Thai house and many others. The other day one of my roommates came up to me when I was by the sink and asked "Is that your plastic pitcher right there" I said "Yes." He said "Ok, because the other day I saw it sitting out and it was full of water." I said "Yeah, I use it for my orange juice and I was letting it soak with soap water on the counter before I washed it." He said "Yeah, I found that out. When I saw it, I was so excited someone made lemonade and left it on the counter. So I poured a glass and took a drink and realized that it wasn't lemonade at all...I almost threw up!" I started laughing pretty hard because when I put water in it, the leftover orange juice does give it a yellowish tint. haha! That is what he gets for trying to drink my "lemonade!"

Institute is fantastic here and this quarter I am taking a Book of Mormon one class covering the first three books in it. I am still on the institute council and we just had a big fiesta as the opening social for spring quarter. Me and my roommate Bryan did not win the nacho eating contest. :( Last quarter a group of business students from BYU-I came to Seattle to interview for summer internship positions and we hosted a dinner for them at the instittue. I put together a little "Seattle/Institute Highlight" video for them to get to know Seattle better and I'll put it up so you all can see what the institute is like and more of how it works. It really is a neat place!

I spend most of my time when I'm not studying with my friends I call "The science squad." This is the science squad making our gangster/crazy faces.

I love these people a lot!! We are all sophomores and pre-med so we call ourselves the science squad. My roommate Bryan is on the right and Maren is on the far left. The really amazing girl between me and Bryan is Maggie. We have been dating for about 2 months now and she is from Provo, Utah. Truthfully, more of my free time is spent with her than the others of the science squad, but I'm okay with that! We have been going on really fun dates, the most recent being the Puyallup Spring fair and an amazing surprise date she planned where we toured Boeing in Everett where they make the huge planes and went to Paul Allen's historic plane museum. It was fantastic!

I love you all!!