Cheerio!

Last blog post before I go! I will miss you all and I expect to hear from you! See you in 18 months!

Mission Information or Parcel Post

It's coming up fast! I'm leaving the 30 of this month and I want you all to write to me! I will be in the MTC for approximately 19 days, so if you send me anything before November 18, send it here:

Sister Andrea Winn
England Birmingham Mission
England Missionary Training Center
Temple Way
Chorley, Lancashire
England PR6 7EQ
United Kingdom

After about the 18 or 19, please send it to the mission office until I have contacted you letting you know my real mailing address. Packages will always go to the mission home, the address is:













Sister Andrea Winn
England Birmingham Mission
187 Penns Lane
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands
England B76 1JU
United Kingdom

Note that I specially included the part about packages. I do expect them. The only things you cannot send to me are meats, explosives, animals, toxic materials, and the like. Other than that it is free game. When sending packages, however, please send them via U.S. Mail, as Royal Mail is a bunch of mail snobs and only accepts mail from certain people I guess. Postage should be about $1.50 for regular sized letters.














I will have e-mail eventually from what I'm told, but I have no idea how that works, so let's just do snail mail until I find out what the deal is. Love you all, and expect at least one more post before I go!!!

Winn Children

As a tribute to how awesome my family is, I decided to see what we would look like with afros. Turns out we look real great!



Create your own FACEinHOLE

Burger Bob's

A great part of my employed life has been spent at a wonderful institution known as Burger Bob's Drive-In. It was my first job as a sophomore in high school, one of my summer jobs last summer, and my current place of employment while awaiting my departure to England. Because of the important place in my heart occupied by this business, I feel that it deserves both a haiku and it's own special post on "The Blog."

Haiku to Burger Bob's Drive-In:
Burger Bob's is a where
burgers, fries and shakes abound.
Good job Burger Bob.


Trip to Georgia!

We had a fabulous trip to Georgia a few weeks ago, and it was, I repeat, fabulous. Mom, Aubrey and I spent two weeks out there, one of the weeks was spent baby-sitting Lucas and Kaden while Jess and Cari were on a cruise (lucky!). Those boys are so incredibly cute!!! Dad was able to join us for a few days at the end of the trip. It was so nice to have a break from life, I think I may have read probably 6-7 books while on this trip. Jess and Cari had a great time on their cruise (lucky!) and didn't even run into the hurricane that was raging elsewhere on the southeastern coast. While there we walked along the Savannah River (I totally saw South Carolina), went to this amazing establishment, Jump City, ate at a Waffle House, shopped at a white-trash grocery store, and were the recipients of hurricane rain. It was awesome! I am sad that we couldn't have lived there forever, it was such a fun trip, but apparently there were things to come back for. Yay for Jess and Cari's house!!!



Mission

Big news, I have e-mail in my mission, so give me your e-mail address if you want to ever hear from me! :)

Still Excited!!!!

Ok, I am totally excited for this mission thing!!!! As it is slowly getting closer I am getting more and more excited!!! I have spent a lot of time researching the area, and it is so beautiful. I thought I would share some really pretty pictures of some of the areas I may have the opportunity to see!!!

Birmingham England!!!!!!!!

Wow! I got my mission call last night!!!!! We tried to web cam with Jess and Cari and Mom, dad and Aubrey. It took a while to figure out but we finally got it! Then I opened her up! It said I was called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I would be assigned to labor in the England Birmingham Mission!!! I report to the MTC in Preston England on October 31! I can't believe it! I am so excited to serve a mission, and go someplace I've never been before, and I won't have to worry a ton about not knowing the language!!! It includes Wales, and I've heard Welsh is pretty tricky to understand! Also English accents are way cool! This is so amazing, and I am so excited to get out there!!! If you have any good mission tips let me know!!! I know in the MTC I can only write letters, and I am not sure about the mission field. If you want to write me a letter though, I am pretty good at getting back to people, we'll have to see what this mission schedule allows though. My address is...

Sister Andrea Winn
England Birmingham Mission
187 Penns Lane
Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands,
England B76 1JU
United Kingdom

Pretty long I know. I just thought I would share the great news!

Update

I talked with my bishop on Sunday and he told me that the stake was searching high and low for my papers and they were no where to be found. Bad news. But... I had a thought in my mind that my old bishop may have kept a copy of these documents that were lost. I expressed this feeling to the bishop, so he went to look in my file. Lo and behold, there were the copies. I ran super-quick over to the stake offices (as fast as I could go in heels) and gave them a new copy of these papers. So, as of last night they were able to go in. I am not sure when my papers will go in for real, but it should be the next few days. THEN I'll get my mission call. I am so incredibly grateful that Bishop Hardy kept a copy of those little guys. I am expecting to get my call by next Thursday or so, if not I'll call the stake to see how things are going. So now the dilemma is over and I am SO glad. It was lame. Turns out the same thing, or at least similar thing, had happened to my bishop, my brother, and to a boy in my ward, so they all understand my feelings. Also lots of other people that i don't know I bet. Well, that's the update!!!

Lost...

So the newest development in the mission area is this: my mission papers have yet to be turned in. I had supposed that they were turned in on June 22. Today is July 12. This morning my bishop informed me that he found out that the stake had not sent in my papers yet. Funny how that happens, I called the 23 of June to make sure that they submitted them, and according to them everything was turned in just fine. Apparently, one of the men who works alongside the stake presidency was supposed to mail in my medical and dental paperwork. Didn't happen. He went on vacation or something... I wasn't paying much attention at this point. All I know is that this fellow thought he had my papers in one briefcase, when he looked, they were not there, so he is supposing that they are in his other briefcase. If not, I'll have to get new papers filled out by the doctors and dentist. I have yet to be informed of the current status of this man's briefcase examination. He may find them today and send them in, in which case, all is well. I may, however, find out tomorrow that he can't find them, then the real work begins and it may take a good chunk of time to actually get these forms. Then they'll call me on a mission. Right now I'm sort of angry, and the more I think about this problem the more angry I will get I think, so I am trying not to think about it. This happens all the time I am sure, so others know just what I am going through, my bishop for one. My brother also had to wait a ridiculous amount of time to get his mission call. So, I guess all my frustrations have been sufficiently vented. My papers will eventually get turned in for real, and I will eventually find out where I am going and when, then I will go. And do.

Pretty Girls

So, the Winn girls have this amazing trait of being able to make possibly the ugliest faces known to man. You'd think we look so nice and normal, until now...


Fourth of July Pictures

Fourth of July Jubilation

I went home for the lovely holiday of Independence Day. It was very interesting to think that I might miss next year's Fourth of July if I happen to get called to serve outside the United States... interesting. Anyway, it was a super-fun weekend, the fam went to Wallowa Lake near Joseph Oregon, and it was beautiful. We went boating, Aubrey learned how to wakeboard, and I attempted (unsuccessfully), and we saw some real neat stuff. Here are my pictures!!!

Imagine...

Imagine I go on a foreign language mission. Now I'm not saying out of the United States, just foreign language. I'll say some words now in various languages and I think we should see what suits me. :)*

¿Dónde puso usted mi maíz dolce? (Spanish)

Est à quelle heure le défilé de mode? (French)

Ich denke, dass Miley Cyrus dumm ist, und muss hinter zu Mittelstufe gehen. (German)

Amerei realmente del dolciume proprio ora. (Italian)

Kijk voor de tulpen uit! (Dutch)

Minha cor menos favorita é verde. (Portuguese)

Так долго и спасибо за всю рыбу! (Russian)

Jeg forstår ikke hvorfor noen liker komisk bøker. (Norwegian)

我不认为我会从来能学习中国人 (Chinese)

これは最後のものです。 今私は終わりです。 (Japanese)

So there are other language possiblities, but these were the only ones I could find. Sorry. These languages sure are neat though!

*I don't actually know any of these languages, I got these translations from freetranslation.com, and mostly they don't seem to be very good. Don't judge me!

Top 10 Events of Spring 2008

Spring term is quickly coming to a close, and it is now appropriate to look back on exciting spring term events.
10.I got a 93% on my first test of the term
9. I got a 96% on my first final of the term
8. I got a new calling- activities committee member
7. I read a whole lot of amazing books, about 75 to be precise
6. I got two new roommates, Jessica and Natasha
5. I got a new job, and it is great
4. Pudding Twister
3. Seven Peaks Lifetime Rewards Pass
2. SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!!!!!!!!!!!
1. I am getting ready to turn in my mission papers- SUNDAY!!!!!

Hilary Clinton... a Haiku.

Hilary Clinton
is out of the race for now,
I am overjoyed.

Online Madness

Things often get slow at work, and when times are slow there are a number of websites that are frequented by myself, along with my co-workers. Facebook is probably the most-visited site in the entire world of student employees, particularly at BYU. Many are logged into facebook the entire time they are at work, taking periodical glances to see if anyone has "facebooked them" as the saying goes.

Another website that brings the office joy is wikipedia. This amazing site tells you everything. Today I performed a wikipedia search on President Cecil O. Samuelson, and it greatly enriched our current topic of conversation. (note that "wikipedia" is not yet a verb. Give it time...)Viewers are able to look up one topic, connect to a link on the topic's page, and spend hours of fun just weeding through the information in this online dictionary.

Lastly, google.com brought joy to the office today. We not only "googled" each other, but we put our settings in different languages. There are not only your common, everyday languages like English, Spanish, and French, but there are more bizzare languages included like Klingon, Bork, Bork, Bork, and last but not least, Elmer Fudd. Several minutes of fun were had experimenting with these different languages. A hint: if you find that you cannot find "English" in the list, go to Elmer Fudd, it is usually identifyable and one can find English from Elmer Fudd quite easily.

It is peculiar to me that we choose to write on each others' facebook wall rather than speak to each other, that we seek out each others' names on a google search engine rather than ask each simple questions about our lives. Wikipedia is perfectly explainable though. It is also odd to me that I am writing all this in a blog rather than telling it to you to your face. Technology truly has changed our world.

Pudding Twister

I write some really pointless posts, and this is going to be one of them. Truth be told, I get bored these days, hence the lame blog entries. You're the one who keeps reading it though, not my fault. :) So... today my ward played pudding twister. We got pudding, and put it on twister boards. The twister thing lasted about ten minutes at most, then the pudding fights began. It was SO messy, but so much fun! I even got pudding in my ears. Yuck. Pictures will be posted soon. That's it.



Shots....

As many of you know, I am working on my mission papers right now, and while one is in the midst of this process, there are shots to be had. As many of you also know, I am scared to death of needles. Bad mixture. Last Friday, I had a physical that included blood being drawn. I was such a champ! I didn't even cry. True I whimpered a bit, but seriously, who doesn't, or at least who doesn't want to? But, then today I had TWO MORE SHOTS!!! I got the preliminary shot for my TB test, and my last immunization! Well, I have to have two more follow-up shots, but I am well on my way! It's an exciting time in my life, practically overcoming my fear of needles along with filling out mission papers!
Speaking of mission papers, I would like everyone to comment on my blog and let me know where they think I will go. Two guess maximum. I can't turn my papers in until June 30, which is quite a long ways away, but I'm sure the time will go by fast, and I'll keep you all updated!!!

Cinco de Mustache :{o

Monday, as many of you know, was a lovely holiday known as Cinco de Mayo. May is a lovely month in which many things are celebrated. The fifth day is only one example. Mustaches are also celebrated by many during this beautiful month of Mustache May. Monday night I held a Cinco de Mustache party at my apartment and it was a hit! We all wore mustaches (mostly drawn-on, but still amazing) ate amazing food (some related to mustaches, like the cake) and played mustache-related games. A great time was had by all and more Cinco de Mustache parties will undoubtedly follow in future.

Children's Literature

I kind of have a problem. I really enjoy children's books. In the last year I have bought about ten, but that is only because I have had to have incredible self control. Today I bought my books for my classes and I got mad because they didn't have one I needed, so I made up for it by buying myself a new kid's book. (It's great, it is called "Some Things Are Scary: No Matter How Old You Are" by Florence Heide, and it is very cute). Also, I'm in a children's literature class this term where we are going to be reading about 60 books (mostly picture books). At this point I'm holding back and going to the Provo Library to read these books (I got my library card today!!!) and I'm not going to buy any until after the term is over. So, as I read each of these books I will be giving a short report on my favorites. At the end of the term, many of these favorites will be added to my book collection. If you have any favorites, please let me know! I hope you find some of these books to be some you haven't read, and I also hope that you will find them and read them.

Spring Term

Spring term started Tuesday, and I'm taking 4 classes this term, Children's Lit, Foundations of Education, Judaism and the Gospel, and Beginning Golf. I love them all. This term is really quite an easy load, so I have time to have fun and not worry about being too busy. I am actually getting the hang of golfing believe it or not. Also, Thursday in class Max Hall, BYU's quarterback, used my golf club because he was passing by our class and wanted to hit some. It was awesome, I met someone practically famous. Also a few days earlier I met Cecil O. Samuelson, President of BYU, finally after working on the same floor as him for 4 months. It was very neat.

I've started a new job, so I'm working two jobs. Both are really easy and I work with incredibly nice people. Job #1 is with Treasury Services, where I process checks. Super easy. Job #2 is for Rebecca Waldron, the assistant to Brian Evans, the CFO and Administrative VP of BYU. I sit and read for a few hours while she goes to lunch. Even better, I get paid to do those things!!!! I got a raise on Monday, $0.35 even!!!

I got two new roommates last week, Jessica Hickman, and Natasha Sirrine. They are both super nice. We get along really great and I'm glad we're roommates. Jessica is from Moses Lake, Washington, where my old roommates Deidra and Carolyn are from. Natasha is from Riverton, Utah. They both have boyfriends and the boyfriends are very nice. Jessica is going skydiving tomorrow and I'm jealous.

Monday is May 5, and there will be Cinco de Mayo parties going on all around. I have decided to stray from that path and host a Cinco de Mustache party. Everyone will be wearing mustaches and celebrating the greatness of mustaches. I'll write more about that after the party.
Well, there is the beginning of Spring Term for you, I know I have an exciting life, don't be jealous. :)

School's Out!!!!!!!!!

Today I took the last final I will ever take as a Sophomore in college. Two years left!!! Things went well with my finals, my lowest score was a 75%, which is much more than I can say for past semesters. Plus it was in a hard class, so I'm really pleased with that score honestly.

Another big event of today was the dumpster fire. Deidra (my roommate, for those of you who don't know) got a call from her brother while we were watching a movie. He asked her what all the fire trucks were for. Then he told us something about a dumpster. So, naturally we ran outside to observe our dumpster, burning. Sort of at least. There was fire inside it and the firemen had done a marvelous job of beginning to put the thing out. Because it wasn't that exciting and it was also slightly cold, we went inside to finish our movie.

Lastly, a sad thing has happened. My roommate and dear friend Deidra has decided to move home to Washington for the summer. Why she chose to do that I'm not sure. She leaves in a few hours and I am very sad. I get two new roommates, but who knows if they might end up to be crazy??? It has happened before! I have met them though and they seem really nice and I'm excited to get to know them better. You'll hear more about them eventually. But at this point I'd like to say that I will miss Dee-dee, as she is most affectionately known by Melodie, very much and wish her the best of luck in her escapades up in Washington.

I'm an Artist Too!!! :)

So, as an assignment for my Humanities class I painted this lovely picture, imitating Claude Monet. I got to use Melodie's watercolors, some real, some fake. It was an exciting experience, and the painting turned out pretty good actually. These pictures make the painting look better than it actually is sadly. Just so you know, it is currently displayed on my fridge. It is the only original. Copies cost $300. Or we can bargain...

Global Warming... a poem by Andrea Winn

Spring has sprung and all around
I see snow upon the ground.

The heat in my apartment is turned way up
And all I really want is hot cocoa in a cup.

It's the middle of April and I'm starting to think
Those global warming idiots have had too much to drink.

While they sit around and tell us about melting ice
I'm starting to think some heat would actually be nice

I'm eagerly awaiting the day
That those dummies come out and say,

"Global Warming was really a lie,
One we were really hoping ya'll would buy."

Well this global warming hoax is getting really old
And I continue to be really cold. :(


(Provo in April)

Ward Talent Show...

So, my ward had a talent show tonight, and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. (if lucky is the right word, I'm not sure...) Anyway, I performed a song called "Falling Slowly" from the movie Once with Neal Davis, Sharolee Hall and myself. It was really scary actually. When we performed in front of the ward it kind of went quite poorly, so we did a re-take after everyone had gone home. :) Also, in the first one, that is NOT a fat roll on my tummy, it must be a shadow or something. The second take has poor sound and you can't hear me singing at all, that's the piano's fault. I really did sing. The three of us are going to find someone with a computer that can record our song better, because we had a really good time doing it and we want a good copy of our masterpiece. I will post the new copy as well so you can hear us at our best! :)

Take One:


Take Two:

All About Conference Weekend



So, our friends Jill and Meredith came this weekend and we ended up going to Salt Lake on Saturday to try and get tickets for a session of General Conference. Well, Jill and Deidra ended up having tickets and Meredith, Carolyn and I weren't able to get tickets because we got to SLC right when people were supposed to be getting in their seats. Too bad. We actually ended up watching it in the car. We had a picnic with fun treats like tongue-tattoo fruit roll-ups and stuff. Then we went shopping at The Gateway. After we got back to Provo, Deidra, Jill, Meredith, and I went out to dinner with Carolyn and her husband Brent, Deidra's brother Garett, and Carolyn's brother Kevin and his fiance Stacie. We went to Red Robin to celebrate Carolyn getting into her major, she's going into special education. We ate a lot of food and had a lot of fun.

Conference Weekend!!!

This weekend is General Conference, and we get to go to conference!!! We may or may not get tickets. There are six of us in the group and three already have tickets. Last time we got tickets no problem, but either way it will be a fun party. Our friends Jill and Meredith came down from Rexburg and it has been so fun. Also, dad's birthday is on Sunday, and I hope he likes what we got him!!! I think he will. :)

Easter Egg Eggstravaganza!!!


I went home for Easter this year and one of the best parts was coloring eggs!!! We colored and colored and colored. Mine were the best. But just in case anyone was unsure about that, dad judged our eggs.
We also put together a little Easter egg hunt for Brody. He loved it. The best part was that he kept banging all the eggs together when he would get excited.

I Kinda Feel Left Out :(

So... everyone has all these cool blogs and I don't. To solve this problem, here is my blog!!! Don't get mad if I never have anything on it, because I don't really have much to actually talk about. But here it is anyway. Ta-da!!!