Jesse

So as I'm sure you all are clearly aware, I am not a very good blogger. I like to blame it on the fact that my life has been taken over by the demon that is the Accounting Junior Core, and none of you probably want to hear the new funny debits and credits jokes I've learned. Yup, you could even say my life is just so taxing. Ok, I promise I'm done.

So after my post about how much I love my brother Ben, it became a topic of interest for my siblings to complain to me or other family members about how I did not love them as much as him. Now, being the favorite of the family, I can understand their need to compete for my attention, but I've decided in order to heal the wounds of contention that threaten to tear our family apart, I'd do a series of posts on memories I have of each of them, starting with the oldest - so that way everyone agrees it's fair. Wow that was a long sentence. But I hope by doing this my siblings will realize I love them all equally - or detest them all equally, depending on my mood.

Jesse

Meet my brother Jesse.

Background: Jesse is the oldest in our family, is married to the beautiful Rebecca (BC, I've already introduced you to BK), and has 4 children - 3 boys and 1 girl. "Real Fact" #287: I am closer in age to his oldest daughter than I am to Jesse.

Jesse is a computer nerd for a living. Seriously, I've talked to him a million times about what he does, and I still can't put my finger on it except to say he's good at it. Sometimes my roommate will come home from work and tell me he's been on ksl again.

Top 5 Memories:

5. When I was about 13ish, my brother Jesse taught me html code/whatever it's officially called, and I created my own website! Now if only I could remember the web address now . . .

4. Jesse used to own an iguana, and I remember how cool I used to feel being able to go into his room in our garage and just hang out with him, pet his iguana, and play on his computer. We did have mice in our garage so I was always scared to touch the floor of his room, but that didn't keep me out!

3. Back in the days when CD's were becoming the new thing, my brother was already ahead of the computer world and was burning CD's. So being the loving brother he is, he burned one for me of all of my favorite songs that I still have to this day.

2. When I was about 10 years old, I asked to go out to Utah for my birthday to visit my brother Jesse who lived out there with his wife and new daughter. A lot of people are probably thinking, "what a waste of a birthday present!" but honestly I definitely think I got the better end of that deal. I still remember how cool I felt hanging out with my cool older brother and living his cool adult life.

1. My earliest memory of Jesse comes when I must have been 7 years old. I don't remember much from that night, but I do remember him coming into my room when I was about to fall asleep and explaining to me that he would be serving a mission for our Church, and what that all would mean. He explained he'd be gone for 2 years and wouldn't be able to go to my baptism, but that what he was doing was really important. So even from a young age, I always had a good example to look up to, and knew just how important our religion was to him. With such great examples I never had any reason to go against what I had learned.

BenJAMIN

So I started this post a long time ago pre-Junior Core, but I still wanted to let everyone know how much I love my brother and how much he has done for me.

This is my brother. Aka Brudah Ben/Ben-JAMMIN/Ben-hamin. He has a beautiful wife Rebekah (aka BK) and a new baby son James.

Now what you readers may not know is I owe a lot of my success to this brother. A LOT. He's the reason I have my job at the BYU Law School, he helped me switch over to the accounting major when I had a crisis the first day of classes last year, he got me onto the winning team for xTAX, he let me steal his mutual fund idea and picked out the fund that I used, he's shown me the tricks to getting good grades and what teachers/classes I should take in college, he invited me over to play when I had nothing else to do, he's the reason I got my internship this summer, and he set me up with a SWEET high interest savings account where I could make 3 times as much interest as I was before with no downsides (if you want in on this, let me know and I'll hook you up!). And he did all of this without asking me for a single thing in return! Amazing, right?! (Although he did used to joke about me paying him 5% of all of the money I got as a result of his help . . . )

Ben graduated from BYU this past April with a BS in Accounting, and a Masters in Taxation, and he's now moving on into the next phase of his life where he'll be working and raising his family in Virginia. This means that he is no longer around the corner from me where he can help me with all of my school/life problems. So I just wanted to let him and everyone else know that I'm going to miss him, and how amazing he is, and that's why I'm devoting this post to my brother Ben!

The Top 5 Reasons I Love Ben Stay

5. Over the years Ben has given me great advice: dating, school, Church, work, you name it and he's given it!

4. He helps me know how to improve myself. I give him a hard time about this one a lot because sometimes it sounds like criticizing, but I know he's only doing it because he wants the best for me and wants me to succeed.

3. Ben is always willing to help. Whenever I was stuck in a predicament out at school, he was there to help get me out.

2. He's just like me! Yup, Ben is basically me in boy form. Out of my family, I am the most like him in terms of both personality and brains.

1. The number one reason I love Benjamin James Stay is his amazing wife BK. She is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet, and gives a mean haircut too!

Nationals

Just to let everyone know, Generation Tax made it into nationals, which means we will be taking a trip to DC in January! Now that's Xtreme Taxation!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, I decided to do a post on what I am thankful for right now.



Top 5 Things I'm Grateful For This Thanksgiving



5. Football - I love football. It is so entertaining to watch AND to play, something that is rare among sports. If I could, I would be in the NFL women's league, except for the fact that I'd be shattered into a million pieces.


4. Macey's - I love this grocery store. Everyone in my apartment complex tries to tell me that Smith's is better and cheaper, but I have yet to find anyone that shops as cheap as I do and eats as well as I do. Even if I did, I don't think the love I have for that store would ever fade. I can find anything in that store in 36.7 seconds, and I bet that 27% of the time, that item would have a little yellow sale sticker. And if that wasn't enough, how about the 25 cent ice cream cones you can get with the starving student card so that you're not hungry while you shop and end up with half the store in your cart.


3. Missionaries - So yes this one may be influenced by the fact that my best friend is currently serving a mission right now, but even that put aside, I am grateful for missionaries. I had the unique opportunity of going to the TRC at the MTC to help teach some missionaries in Spanish, and I was just blown away by the courage of these young men. I guess I never totally realized what being a missionary entails, but these boys were sick, stressed out, scared out of their minds about speaking Spanish, and at one point one of the boys talked about how much he loved his family and how they are a blessing to him, and it brought tears to my eyes because I finally realized how hard that must be for these guys (and girls), to not be able to see anyone familiar for 2 straight years. So yes, I am very grateful for missionaries.


2. Going to BYU - I am SOOOOOO glad for the opportunity I have to go to BYU. It is getting harder and harder to be accepted into the school, and I am so glad I was able to do well enough in high school to have this opportunity. It is a great school, very cheap, and creates an environment that I can enjoy free (mostly) of out-of-control parties and shenanigans. I love being able to take religion classes, and love that my soon-to-be major is number one in the nation. I feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds! (Anyone notice the Hannah Montana plug in there? No? Yes, I know I'm a little old, but she's just so dang adorable! And I love Billy Rae.)


1. My Mom - I know this is so cliche and cheesy, but I am thankful for my mom. She always has a good attitude, and she is wonder woman. I especially love that she taught me how to budget, cook, sew, and clean, something that I think fewer and fewer teenagers are being taught today. I am also especially grateful that she will be here in a week and a half to "surprise" me for my birthday!

Other things I'm grateful for: Flat-rate priority packages, Mother's Animal Cookies, baby nieces and nephews, X-Men, good grades this semester, J-Dawgs (Thanks Megan for introducing me to them!), the Twilight series (don't judge me), a big family, older brothers who have already paved the way at BYU and teach me the tricks and secrets to being successful, bows, my ward, musicals, family traditions, and sleep.

Generation Tax

So I'm not sure if the blog world knows this yet, but I have changed my major over from molecular biology to accounting (I know, I'm still a little embarrassed to admit that because of all the grief I have given accounting before). My dad and my brother have been bugging me for years to do accounting, and they only stopped this year after I told them how adamantly I was against accounting and was going into cancer research. Well my theory is that the second they stopped trying to make me be like them, I realized the true value of the major (I'm not going to lie, the frequent free food involved was one of the major factors that made me switch over. Nobody takes molecular biologists out to dinner for free).

Well anyways, Ben, being the cool big brother he is, decided to recruit me for his xtax team this year. Sure it may have only been because he needed 2 sophomores on his team and I fit that description, but I try to convince myself it's because he just loves me so much and wanted to spend as much time with me as possible since it is after all his last year here at BYU. Well either way, he recruited me and we set off on our adventure.

The Competition: PWC's Xtreme Tax aka xtax

The Team: "Generation Tax" or as we have been nicknamed, "GenTax"

The Members: Benjamin Stay (the leader), Lauren Inouye (the brains), James Barker (Mr. Classy), Tyler Juergens (Golden Boy), and Crystal Stay (Baby Sis')

The Mission: To rid the country of Tarafina of pollution and save its valued natural resources through the election of Alfredo Dumont, "The Green Choice Candidate" who, through alterations to the Tarafina tax code, will take down all polluters alike.

The Victors (Try not to dwell on the lameness of my outfit, I don't have a suit yet)

So our group of 5 competed last Friday against BYU's best - the accounting majors. There were 15 teams competing this year, and let me tell you, they brought their a-game. Well of course being Team Stay . . . I mean team Generation Tax, we pulled out victorious and won the grand prize. The rewards? $250 and a chance of going to Nationals in D.C. They only pick 5 teams out of 80 schools that compete, and we will find out if we have made it the week of December 8th, so wish us luck!

My Very Rational Fears

So when I started this blog, my original intention was to keep myself busy during my summer as an intern, and I did not think that it was going to go very far, but I was mistaken. My number of readers has tripled from 2 to at least 6 now, and I have been spurred by two of my readers for another post. So I am reviving the blog, and bringing it to the collegiate level.



So I don't really have anything interesting to write about. I have been thinking about it for a while and will most likely come up with something worth writing in the future, but for now I am going to go with a suggestion from my brother Luke. He told me to do a post on irrational fears I have.



The only problem is, my fears are VERY rational.



So here we go! My top 5 completely rational fears.



5. Braids- When I was in gymnastics, I would occasionally wear braids because they succeeded in holding my hair tight enough to keep it in for 4 hours of intense physical activity. Their flip-ability rating was very high in my books. I soon discovered however that every time I wore them, something dreadful happened. It first started out as not doing as well at practice, then I would mess up at meets, and the culmination was the day I broke my arm, all of which occurred while I was sporting braids. From that time on I have probably only wore braids once in my life, for fear of a piano falling from the sky and dropping on my head since each time I wear braids the disaster level only increases. French braids however do not fall in the braid category for me. For some reason, the fact that they are securely strapped to my head and not flailing about provides me some comfort.



4. PDA - Public Displays of Affection. I hate it! I don't mind it so much for other people, except when they start kissing in front of me, but in my own personal relationships, the fear is insurmountable. I dated a boy last year for 7 months, and there were probably only 3 times total that I even held his hand in public because of my fear, and it was NEVER in front of a crowd or anyone I knew. I don't know where this fear came from (my theory is it is a result of 3 older brothers teasing me about boys, and a fear of letting them know that I like a boy), or why it doesn't apply to anyone else, but even just thinking about committing the PDA felony gives me the heebie jeebies.



3. The gremlins - I saw this movie once when I was younger, and I STILL have recurring nightmares. 'Nough said.



2. Cars - Cars are probably the scariest things in the world to me. For some reason, I just absolutely hate them, no matter how safe the driver. When someone offers to drive me somewhere, initially I think to myself, I'd rather drive us because I trust me more than you, but then I think, I don't trust myself that much, so usually by the end of our conversation I'm convincing them to walk there instead. It is almost guaranteed that if I am driving in your car, I will be grasping onto the armrests for dear life - as if they're going to do anything for me in a car crash.

1. Throwing up - So when I said cars were the scariest things in the world, I lied. Throwing up is the scariest thing in the world. You'll think I'm kidding when I say this, but I kid you not. I would rather die than throw up. When I have the urge to throw up, I stay put for hours on end fighting it down until it finally reaches the point where I move an inch and the vomit goes flying. I NEVER make it to the bathroom for this reason. I try to convince my body that it doesn't need to throw up, but I always lose. In the end I usually feel better, but the pain you go through is completely not worth it.

Megruth

I'm not sure how many of you all know (actually, I'm sure you all know since I'm pretty sure my readers are still all within the family unit), but I have a wonderful sister-in-law named Megan.

I'll start out with a little history about Megan and I. Once upon a time, my brother Luke IMed me informing me of the Spice Girls reunion tour. I got very excited, and he told me that they would be going to New York, and that if I wanted, that I should go see it with him and Megan. Now for those of you who don't know Luke (once again, I'm almost positive you all do), it was a big deal that he mentioned a girl. In fact, it was probably the first time in my life I had ever heard him talk about going somewhere with a girl. So of course I drilled him about her, trying to embarrass him by saying she was his girlfriend and that he loved her, but lo and behold, he did not deny any of this! I was astonished! From that moment on, I knew I'd love Megan. Anyone who can get Luke to willingly go to a Spice Girls concert is a keeper in this family.



So anyways, on to the good stuff. Megan is an AMAZING photographer. Fact, not opinion. She does not do the point and shoot stuff that I see in most wedding photographs, but rather takes a creative spin on each shot, capturing the best moments of each wedding/event. I've decided to share some of my favorite photographs she's taken, and you can see even more here.

Top 5 Problems with the Chinese Gymnasts

My first installment of the infamous "Top 5."
So here we go.

5. The Uneven Bars: Granted this was not the fault of the Chinese, I'm still adding it to my top 5 because it irks me. So in my opinion, Nastia's routine was slightly better than the Chinese girl's, but of course I'm going to be a little biased. So that aside, they tied, good for them! So they both get the gold right?! WRONG! Before I say my complaint, I need to explain a little bit about Gymnastics scoring. So there are 6 judges that submit an execution score (the perfect ten part of the 2 part score), and the highes and the lowest scores are automatically thrown out. Fair enough, this helps eliminate bias. The remaining 4 scores are then averaged, giving the final score. Well in the new rules, in the case of a tie, the next lowest judge score is thrown out, leaving only 3 judges to determine the score of a gymnast. JUST 3!!! How are you supposed to get a good real estimate with just 3 people's scores? You're not. In my opinion, they should have added back in the highest and lowest scores in the case of a tie, thus leaving the score up to a whopping 6 people. But even more than that, they should have just given them both the gold, they both did an amazing routine! That's how they do it in other sports! (This reminds me of my days as a gymnast. I tied a girl for first on my floor routine with a 9.8, but since they didn't have enough ribbons, I got bumped down to a red fancy ribbon that they give the 2nd place people since this girl had a higher all-around score. It crushed my poor 10-year old self.)

4. The Little Girl's Floor Routine: I don't know her name, but I'm sure even if I did I wouldn't know how to spell it, but the little Chinese Girl who got the bronze all-around medal, her floor routine made me want to puke! The commentators kept telling us, oh! Look how she just pulls the audience into her routine! Well personally I thought it was too cheesy, fake, and truthfully, all-out creepy! I had to skip through it a couple times because it weirded me out so much. It definitely didn't have the grace and spunk of Shawn Johnson's routine, but I guess for a 12 year old, that's the best she could do.

3. Balance Beam: Did anyone else feel like the judges must have watched a different balance beam routine for Chung whatever? She had a bazillion (that's an exact number) balance checks and bad form. Sure she did not put an American gymnast out of medal contention, but she took the spot of some other more deserving gymnast. Her score was WAY too high.

2. The Vault: On the event vault finals, the leading Chinese gymnast FELL oh her landing. Not just stepped, not even hopped. Full out fell on her rumpsky! And she still medaled knocking Alicia out?! Sure her start value was higher, but I'm pretty sure Sacramone could have done that vault just as horribly as she did! I mean come on, how hard is it to fall? And if the fall wasn't enough, let's add in the fact that her shoulders weren't squared to the vault when mounting, her hands hit the table at different times, and her legs were off in the flips! The only good that came out of this one was listening to Bela give those judges a piece of his mind!

1. The Age Controversy: I'm not sure how familiar people are with Olympic Gymnastics, but recently they have placed an age restriction on the girls competing, stating that they have to be turning 16 the year of the Olympics to compete. Competing at a younger age gives the gymnasts a huge advantage as they have smaller bodies that are easier to flip around, and have usually not hit a devastating growth spurt to throw them off balance. Well, that little Chinese girl has lost a tooth . . . a baby tooth! And you're trying to tell me she's 16?! They should be stripped of their medals and try again when they grow some hips.

Ring My Bela!

I love this man

I don't know whether it's because of his always enthusiastic allegations against the Chinese or his crazy Romanian smile, but this guy knows how to make me laugh. And little did you guys know, he helped start up the gym I went to as a little girl. Yup, I'm famous.

True Life: My life as a Temp

So this summer I've had the bittersweet opportunity of working as a temp worker. For those of you who don't know what a temp is, a "temp" worker works for a temp office who then finds companies looking for temporary help during certain seasons or for a couple of months. The temp office then hires people like me out to these companies, and makes a few dollars an hour off of my working. Normally these jobs are nothing special, but they do pay a pretty penny for those of us who need more money than a retail job can offer, and you do normally get regular business hours which is nice. And overall I've been pretty well-pleased with my job this summer.

That is until this past week.

So for the past 2 months, I've been mostly just doing data entry and organization for this company I've been hired out to, and let me just tell you, it has been thrilling. <-- That my friends was a little taste of my sarcasm, fyi. I have literally been bored out of my mind, watching as my brain turned to mush, but I kept telling myself, well, it can only get better from here! WRONG! So I finished up all of the data entry and organization my boss wants me to do, and now he's having me address, stuff, and mail 5000 letters!! You heard me (or I guess read me) correctly, 5000! I have to look up 5000 addresses for 5000 companies and mail letters to 5000 people! Oh and get this, I have to lick the 5000 envelopes . . . with my tongue! Because this company isn't fancy enough for those envelope moisteners. Luckily I only have 2 weeks left so I'm doubting I'll even get through 2500 envelopes. Stupid temp job, I don't know if my tongue will ever heal.

Good news is that I have money in my bank! That's right Fergie, I don't have to get my broke booty home after all!