L-Squared

 (SUPER long post...sorry!)
or Rissa Roo, Ralissa, Riss.... Larissa. 

Larissa Lynn Smith; by sheer happen stance was in a singing class for the first time in her life in Altoona, PA (What up PA?!) so she could go on a choir trip to NYC. When she transferred to Cedar High in March of 2004, our dear and beloved Mr. Verl Prestwitch, interpreted that to, "Larissa LOVES singing and would want nothing more than to be a part of our all girls choir, Lyricals." She was excited. So she joined us in the land of Mr. G. She sang alto, so we were different parts, but I invited her to come and eat lunch with us; I did not quite know what her name was at this point. Every time someone would ask her her name she would not even open her mouth wide enough that we could hear. We heard Marissa, Karissa, Clarissa...all the while, she did have a cursive L on her jacket...maybe it was for her middle name? Turns out it wasn't (well I guess it could have been since her middle name is Lynn...), it was actually for her first. And I still have no idea how I came to know her name was Larissa.

From this point, I do not really remember how we came to be the best friends that we are. Maybe because she missed my birthday party to play Twister with the sister missionaries? Or maybe it is because she did not know any better and became, in her words 'my shadow', for her first few months here.Or because we both are 100% amused by the most ridiculous things and feel the need to have our jokes go on 45 minutes longer than normal people do, and 40 minutes longer than they should...but we are ALWAYS still laughing at ourselves at the end? Or maybe it is because she knows how much I hate my ears being nuzzled and she always threatens me with such actions? Or because together we have had some of the most life changing experiences available to us and are forever different people because of them? Whatever the reason, we continue to be best friends.

Riss and I have done pretty much EVERYTHING together since we met. From San Diego and Nashville to NYC and Ghana. From football games, slumber parties on my tramp to her letting me drive the metro when I was 15 and had never even been behind the wheel of a car before! From Del Taco at midnight to working front reg and sandwiches at Wendy's. The amount of memories we have together is a little overwhelming, in the best possible way! Carrie and...that is all that needs to be in that sentence. Denny's, the Bug, biting my nose and extreme water fights.(Lisa drowning you with my sprayer...) From DUN to flirting with trees; SPARKLING CIDER and DDR (Brick...House). Service with a Smile and FCCLA has never been rocked so hard! "We go together..." and "Oh those suuummer nights" are indescribable! She makes me laugh like very few people can and I love her for that. I have learned a lot about myself and about serving others since Larissa moved to Cedar and I am beyond grateful for the lessons she taught me I could not have learned anywhere else.
Here are a just a LARGE smidgen of the bajillion photos we have together, please feel free to laugh. I realize now I have seen better days! :)

Larissa got married a couple weeks ago (I was going to post before it happened...but clearly that did not work out like I wanted!) and now it is going to be different. Not in a bad way, but Garren already told me that I could not sleep in bed with Larissa when I spent the night, and already that is a change I am going to have to adjust to! ;) He is now her #1, which going from her calling me 10 times a day to me not hearing from her in a week is going to be an adjustment, and as sad as I am about that, I am beyond thrilled for her and Garren. I love seeing them so happy with each other! I am so glad that they could be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. What a blessing it is to be both of their friends.

Once upon a time when I was a junior in high school I became obsessed with writing poetry...some of them were like THIS in ridiculousness, and others were better, deeper, and just way more enlightening to read. But one of these that was not so much like that, was a poem I wrote in Junior English...if you ask Mara and Larissa about it, they will tell you it was a hate poem, but I swear it wasn't! It was more about me being jealous of them and they interpreted it wrong! :) But either way, I am ready to redeem myself and this one is REALLY not a hate poem and maybe a little cheesy? But that is what I do. Enjoy! 

With you, it's all about

voiceless communication-

always knowing exactly what to say,

but never actually having to say it.

When no one seems to be listening,

you hear.

When I hurt but don't show it,

you know.

When I turn away to hide my tears,

you see.

You know everything there is to know about me.

You know what worries me,

and what keeps me up at night.

I never have to tell, you can just sense it.

---

Within my book of memories,

Are special thoughts of you.

And all the many nice things

You often say and do -

As I turn the pages,

And recall each single thought,

I realize the happiness

That knowing you has brought.

There are memories of the times we've shared,

water fights and Carrie.

Driving around in the Honda,

only sometimes was it a bit scary.

There are memories of all those notes,

we would write back and forth, (the ones in spanish were the best! :)

When we would just get together,

And talk of this or that.

And when I recall these memories

As I go along life's way,

I find they grow more precious still

With every passing day.

It took us little time and effort

The bonding as strong as glue.

I now promise never to untie

The strings I have tied with you

We are never left on the outside,

Lovingly we entered each others domain.

Smiling. laughing and forever teasing

But forever friends we then became.

Love you Riss!!! 

Don't you hate it when...

you have like 5 blog posts started and you do not want to finish any of them because it is just too overwhelming? Yeah, me too. So instead, I am just going to blog about some really great pictures I came across today.

I do not know if you guys picked up on it or not, but I am a little bit obsessed with my family...and by that I mean, a lot bit. One time last year we went up to Mutual Dell to go sledding, have some amazing food, and just bask in the company that we provide each other with. Well, it just started out as a little snowman that was going to double as my boyfriend and fiance so we could take some engagements (since I can't get one I just figured I would make one out of snow? I assure you, this is completely normal) Well, one thing led to another and all of a sudden.. apparently my family is a LOT more worried about me finding someone to marry then they let on...and we had a full fledged masterpiece on our hands!

Here are the beginnings... I did have a few requirements, he did have to be taller than me...and although I wanted him to be brown, when Bricky poured his hot chocolate on him to make him that way, his elbow disappeared. So I decided I could settle for white. 

Looking on as my masterpiece of a boyfriend is created...

Fixing a few of his 'blemishes'. :)

Three hours later...

Meet my boyfriend... Franky!

(Pretty sure he had a different name the day we created him..but I do not remember it. 

We clearly did not last!)

Before I knew it, things with him were progressing QUITE nicely! ;)

I obviously said yes, and engagements were taken!

He is just so funny...

The masterminds behind the whole thing...their artistic ability does not cease to amaze me! They are humans of many talents, that is for sure! I am pretty sure that if the aunts had not been calling us in for dinner, we would have had a nice ride to go along with my fiance! They ran with this thing.

And, here is my grandpa. I just wanted to add this in because he is so stinkin cute! The head patriarch of the Haynie family! What a guy!

Welcome back to College...

Dern! The month of March came and went without any posting! Now it is not even going to show up on my sidebar...I hope that does not confuse anyone with their months!

Well, it happened again. I went out and tried my very hardest to not mess up children's thinking and ruin their lives forever...and I think I did a pretty good job!

For those of you who don't know, I was assigned to teach the sixth grade at Rosamond Elementary in Riverton. If any of you talked to me anytime, in the entire semester basically; you would know how intimidated and nervous I was to teach sixth grade. "How can I teach them? They are already smarter than me?" "Have you read over their curriculum? Pretty sure I have not even heard about it since I was in sixth grade." Those and a plethora of other discouraging statements could be found coming out of my mouth.

Turns out, sixth grade is the BEST thing ever. I could finally use sarcasm in my humor (turns out 2nd graders don't respond well to it... and I am not that funny without it. Shocker right?) and have my entire class laughing in a matter of seconds.

I have this issue/gift, that I am very quick to love and it comes very easily, with most everyone. I automatically love people. Blessing and a curse? You better believe it. I get instantly attached to people, especially my students and love them with everything I have, for the time I am with them...and then our time comes to an end. It was obviously the very worst for me when I so rudely got ripped away from all of my beautiful Ghanaian children; but it is not just then. It happened with my second graders, and again with my sixth graders. It is amazing to me how quickly I come to care, love and want to protect all of these children. I would give them everything I have to make sure that they have the life that they should and deserve. As teachers we are faced with so many different jobs, and most often it is hard to fulfill all of them, even though you want to so badly. Case worker, therapist, psychologist, referee (this one is sometimes a little dangerous!) are just a few of the many roles you are expected to succeed at. Is it hard? Yes. But so worth it when you see those children you love excited to be at school. Excited about learning. Those kids that trust you enough to tell you about everything about themselves and know you love them enough that they can come to you when something hard has happened in their lives.

It truly was such an amazing experience; and so far I only have talked about my students. My cooperating teacher this practicum experience was amazing! She has so many incredible qualities that I could only dream of developing when I am a teacher.  She pushed me as a teacher, but not so far as to make me uncomfortable in the classroom. She allowed me to teach lessons of my choice and let me be myself in the classroom. We became instant friends and I learned so much from her. I am SO grateful that I had the teacher I did. If you are wondering where to send your students for sixth grade...and you don't mind the commute to Riverton... Mrs. Cowan's sixth grade class. She is the best! :)

On my last day, my kids and teacher threw me a little going away party. From day one they have all known about my obsession for BYU Sports and because it was basketball season...this was always our main topic of conversation. Somehow all of my background knowledge connections in lessons revolved around Jimmer, his vertical (when talking about measurement of course!) and many other BYU b-ball connections. My students loved it...and I obviously did as well! Because of this, this is what my going away cake looked like! They are adorable and I love them. I always feel a little sad that you can not see pictures of how adorable my students are, but it is all about privacy these days, and I really do not want an angry parent suing me! Just know they were cute.

Driving to and from Riverton everyday gives you a lot of time to talk and get to know the people you are driving with real well. I have been given the greatest opportunity the last 1.5 years to come in contact with some of the best girls I have ever met! We all became insta-friends and when a class is canceled or it is a long weekend, you can frequently hear us talking about how long it has been since we have seen each other...you could say we are all a little attached. AnnaMarie and Shelley were in my carpool and I just adore them. We had the best conversations and laughs and it was perfect to be able to talk to someone everyday who was going through very similar things to what you were. My roommates can only handle so much teacher talk.

Aren't we cute?!

Basically, I have been given the greatest opportunity by being able to be in the classroom teaching these amazing kids. I gave them a going away gift of a BYU Football shirt and CU lanyard, oh the perks of being president, with extra gear. :) They loved it...well most of them. One Ute fan told me that he would never be caught dead wearing a BYU shirt...except for me, because that is how much he liked me. haha I was flattered! We took a group photo and it made my life!

I love sixth grade, and am really sad it is over. College is way lame and not near as exciting as elementary school...but I think I have talked about that before! ;)

Just Because...

 ...I wanted you all to see how cute we are! :) Absolutely adore my sisters...and Star!

All the Single Haynie's, All the Single Haynie's...

5 of the 7 Haynie girls. 

Tara, Saryn, Kendra, Becca and Bri (Bree)