i'm Marci -i crave color. color brightens my life. a day with out color is a day i don't want to be awake for. i love the effect color can have on my mood. i love color so much that often i will wake up in the morning and decide that i am not going to match that day because i want to wear 27 different colors in my outfit. on those days i usually end up getting a lot of stares and interesting looks from those i don't know. i don't care. if it makes me happy-gosh darn it i will wear it. it's funny though- if people do know me they don't even think twice about my outfit. they just smile and continue with their day.
recently i went to the festival of colors. it is a hindu holiday when they celebrate the arrival of spring by throwing colored chalk on people. we drove up to a beautiful white hindu temple and surrounding this temple were thousands and thousands of people waiting to be colored. i was so excited. i bought my scented chalk dust and joined the crowd of eager people. walking around i already started getting covered in chalk dust. the colors staining what used to be my plain white t-shirt filled my heart with warm fuzzy happy feelings.
after goofing with friends for about an hour the big moment finally arrived. we started the count down at twenty. at about "five" i inhaled my last few pure breaths. "three, two, one".....CHAOS. Dust erupted into the air. it was so thick you could see nothing but color. it dominated all senses. you could not hear anything because the dust muffled the screams erupting from every person's mouth. you could not breathe. everything smelled of the rose scented dust. not one person had any exposed skin that was not covered.after the dust settled barely anyone was recognizable. there were no black or white people, shoot; there weren't even any black or white shirts. thousands and thousands of people were all the same- covered in color. i was in love with the moment and i couldn't help but smile (some people's teeth were covered in chalk; it was quite funny).
this experienced just further proved my love towards color to myself. i loooove love love it. i love it to the point of looking like an idiot but ya know what? i'm okay with that. all in all color makes me amazingly happy and i take advantage of that when i can. i figure if it's not hurting anyone else then who cares what people think. if they think i'm nuts cuz i'll wear a purple bow on my head along with neon yellow shoes then they just don't have to look at me. :)
i'm Marci- i bleed blue! in honor of march madness my blog this week is on my school spirit! i always take great pride in anything i'm involved in. for instance: awarded most school spirit in HS, love my little arm-pit-of-nowhere-hometown with all my heart and am proud to be from there and i can't help but love any sports team (no matter how badly we do) i am part of. now i'm filled with byu school spirit and have no shame whatsoever for being here. i love my school and am proud to say that i go here.
i love the fact that you can smile at anyone and they will smile back. i love that you know you have at least one thing in common with every one here. i love that our beloved gospel is a common topic in each class. i love that i don't feel like i have to cover my ears or eyes walking around campus. i love that byu makes it a point that everyone has a family here, no matter how far from home they are. i love that going on dates is an everyday activity and not just a special thing for dances or special occasions. i love knowing most of the guys surrounding me have gone on missions or are giddy to go on one. i love that the book of mormon is required text for some of the classes here. i love that there is a piano in at least 60 percent of the classrooms. i love the weekly church, spiritual building meetings, ward prayers, fhe, devotionals and religion classes and the monthly ward activities, break the fasts and ward testimony meetings. all in all i love it here.
i think that if anything is worth your time to be a part of, you should be proud to be apart of it. i don't care what it is- school, community, occupation or club- if you're in it, you can be proud of it. if you honestly can't say you are proud of it then maybe you should re-consider what you're apart of. to live your life doing and being involved with things that you love and of which you aren't ashamed is the best way to live.
i'm Marci- i'm a dreamer. growing up i have gone through many different desires for my future but the ones i have now have been my dreams for years now so i think they're here to stay. ever since jr. high i have wanted to be a biologist. i went from wildlife biologist to marine biologist to a zoologist and now i'm completely set on accomplishing the latter. as mentioned in earlier posts, i love photography. at the end of my senior year, one of my teachers suggested that i become a wildlife photographer. i almost kissed her at the suggestion and wondered why i'd never thought of it myself. if i could be a wildlife photographer in africa studying mammals i would have my dream job. unfortunately this is not a job in very high demand. many people look at me and can't imagine me living in a tent out in the world for months at a time collecting data on a big ole tiger but i think it would be the best job ever. how amazing would it be to have a job where you were out in nature appreciating all of God's creations? i'm not only excited to actually have the career but i'm excited to learn all about biology. i love knowing how things work and so biology has always been interesting to me.
my career is not my only dream. ever since i can remember, i have wanted to go to italy. i am assuming that my mother's stories about living there are the cause for this desire. i don't really want to do the tourist visit for two weeks and see all the sites and then leave. i want to live there. i want to experience what my mom did. i want to meet people and make friends. i want to get my fresh produce by sending a basket on a rope down from my balcony with money so the vender can pack it and send it back up with my desired variety of fruit and vegetables. i want to spend three hours eating dinner. i want to learn their culture and their language. i want to take pictures there. i have no idea when or how i'm going to do this but i have made a promise to myself that i will get there someday.
i think dreams are a vital part of life. when the going gets hard, sometimes dreams are what get us through the day. a person with out dreams is a person not looking forward to life. dreams start with a simple thought that we turn into a fantasy. we all have had our silly little fantasies. many of them come and go with time. the ones that stick with you are the ones that become dreams. some people develop these dreams and then laugh at themselves for even considering it. people- if you do this to every dream you're setting yourself up for misery. so please, dream on! if you're willing to work your dreams can come true. just give me ten years time and you'll see that mine have!
fi'm Marci- i'm a sister. unlike most sisters i am a sister to seven kids. yeah i know, right.... at first being a little girl i was tormented because of this. whether it be my older sisters not letting me wear my favorite head band, my older brothers not letting me sing "twinkle-twinkle" or getting the covers ripped off of me until i turn out the lights at night, i had it ALL. i have so many stories about my siblings that seemed very traumatic (at the time) but now we all get a good laugh at them. :)
Casey: my first mom away from mom; but wasn't she all the kids' first? so i was born four months before casey's high school graduation so i don't have a ton of memories with her growing up. i have always remembered this specific one for some reason, though. she was home from college for the summer. i was watching television in her room (the den, yeah that's how my family rolled back in the day) and she came in and had to get clothes out of the dresser (which was holding up the tv). she was standing right in the middle of this crucial show and i said "caaaaaasey (imagine the childlike whine), i can't see!"....moments pass....."casey move!" what does Casey do? she turns around stares me straight in the face and starts moving in front of the tv. i would call it more of a dance actually.
Carey: my second ma away from ma. she shared a bedroom with me for like two years...including her senior year in high school. every night for those two years carey was the one to put me to bed. first we would clean up all of my toys and sing barney's all time famous "clean-up, clean-up." then we would read the same book (i don't recall the name) and we would sing "twinkle-twinkle" as we gazed into the glowing stick on stars on our bedroom ceiling. after my prayer (during which i prayed for blessings on all of my siblings and each toy individually with my eyes peaked open to make sure i didn't miss any) she would wind up my favorite snow globe (she had quite a large collection) and kiss me goodnight with a "love you banana-head!" what a sweet sister.
Erik: for some reason i do not have many memories about him. I actually remember his college girlfriends more than anything else but seeing as his wife reads my blog on occasion...i will keep those memories to myself ha. other than......wild hair with overalls, tacky tramp stamp, hairy clogger.... hahaha. lets just say he somehow got lucky and ended up with the best. Sorry Erik but old school memories are lacking.
Rachael: Oh boy. i remember sitting on the hammock with her and Karley. they told me to go tell mom that "I'm U-G-L-Y because that spells pretty." i remember she was bored one day and threatened to take pictures of me naked unless i dressed up really fancy so she could use me as a model. i remember wanting to play with her on Sundays but right after church she would sleep for hours and then when she'd wake up she would be a grumpy witch. i remember being soooo excited to play softball with her one beautiful sunny day but right as we were outside with our gloves on, a boy called and she talked to him until dark instead. i threw the softball up in the air to myself for two hours until i realized that she would never stop talking. i remember when she got her appendix out i snuck her chocolate and painted her toe nails while she talked on the phone to other people and ignored me. i remember her making me play skip-bo with her for hours and i lost every time but she still wouldn't let me leave. i remember when she was babysitting me and i was getting tired she told me to splash some water on my face and drink some doctor pepper. then later when we got locked out of the house i had to climb up two stories on the back of the house up the scaffolding to my bedroom window. ha what great memories. of course she made up for all these lovely memories while she lived at home for my junior and senior years of high school.
Karley: oh the memories flood in. i remember her telling me to clean her room and promising me money if i did. i never got payed....i remember me wanting her little puppy that she got for easter SO BAD and i even offered to trade her my unicorn. she said the only way i could "have" her puppy was if i left both my unicorn and the puppy in her room at all times and only play with the puppy when she said i could. i remember trying to room with her after carey moved out and she made me get out of my fouton and turn out the light even though all she had to do was roll over and lift up her arm to turn off the light. if i wouldn't do it she would yell random threats at me and start throwing pillows.
Todd and Zack: yes i must group these two together because they were always together when i was young. lets see.... i remember them not letting me sing "twinkle-twinkle" before i went to bed when i was trying to room with them after getting kicked out of karley's room. (i ended up in mom and dad's room after that. lucky them.) i remember them saying "oh marci we just want to see if these hand cuffs work" and then cuffing me to the door and running downstairs as i screamed bloody murder. i remember them only allowing me to play baseball with them if i was the person who ran and got the balls that they missed. i remember them slinging apples at me as i ran for my life through the orchards from them. i remember them tickling me until i cried and screamed while they were babysitting me. i remember locking myself in "marci's world" (don't ask) while being babysat by them. i remember them only allowing me to watch them play video games if i did not make a sound or touch a single thing. hahaha.
it's funny that the memories get meaner and meaner as i went down the list. i am amazed at how much our relationships have evolved since my younger years. i would rather spend time with my siblings than be with any other people in the world. something i have realized over the past few years is that God really wants me to get to know them all individually. while i was in sixth grade carey and her three children moved in with us. carey left to college when i was very young and so having her at home for those hard years in my life was very advantageous. i got to know her so much better and i was able to spend a lot of time with her.
i think just as i was entering high school erik moved back in town. this was so wonderful because he and his family came to sunday dinners and my sporting events. i loved having more family home. erik always seemed so concerned with my life and i always knew that if i wanted to spend time with him he would make an effort to be with me. it was always a special day when erik would invite me to have a brother-sister date.
a few years later rachael moved in my junior year of high school. she moved in right as i was about to go to wvc and i was terrified. having her there made such a difference in my life.i would have to say she became my third ma away from ma. she showed me the ropes of college, put up with me when i was grumpy and went to all my sporting events. we have built such a strong relationship and i'm so grateful that she came home.
when i graduated from high school and made another huge step into my future i got a new set of sibling support. moving to utah to go to brigham young university was absolutely terrifying but it was such a relief to know that i had todd and casey near by. casey was gone from home probably before i even recognized her as my sister. having these years with her to truly get to know her has been and will continue to be (as long as she still lives in utah) a blessing. she is always quick to let me know that whenever i need her she will drive to me and help me out. i love getting to know her true personality. growing up she was always just the amazing artist who gave really good presents but now i know her very well and i'm so happy for that.
todd is just a goof and i love having him here to hang with. once he even came see my intramural games. i always enjoy having a brother to be retarded around. i'm not going to lie- it's nice getting to know a brother after his mission. they tend to be a lot nicer.
having zack home from his mission has been an absolute joy. he has become one of my best friends here and i surprisingly love spending time with him. at first when he got back i think the main reasons i saw him were because i would buy him food and because i set him up with one of my girl friends. now, though he still gets food from me and is still dating my girl kelsey, we just enjoy each other's company. i love that he acts like just who he is no matter who he's around. it's so nice to have abnormal nelson blood out in mormon land where everyone tends to be a little bit fake and many try to act "normal." i remember one of the first times i hung out with him was when i went dancing with him, some of his friends and kelsey. at the end of the night i was one hundred percent shocked that i could honestly say i had fun with him.
karley and i for some reason haven't really needed any experience like these to become close. because of our similarities we easily bond even from across the country. we are always able to act one hundred percent stupid around each other and it's such a relief. we are both good at not caring what other people think about us- though she has mastered this skill more than i- and we can't help but laugh when we're around each other. i love her forever and i feel it's a blessing whenever she comes to visit and i can be stupid with her.
God loves me so much because he has put me on earth with such amazing people. there is so much to learn from my siblings- each one provides different knowledge. i love looking back and seeing all that we have been through together and how much closer it has made us. i am so grateful that i have all seven of my siblings. they're so wonderful. i love that we all stick up for each other no matter what. we, as a family, have each others' backs. i always feel so safe and happy when i'm surrounded by them all. people- families are proof there is no way that God does not exist. families are proof not only that He exists but that the loves us. i can't imagine my life with out every one of these people having been in it. thanks guys for being there and not being afraid to be dumb with me. i love ya.
