BYU

Another day down! Last night, Teah had a rought night. She woke up the whole house - her crying goes through the vents and sounds like it's being broadcast from speakers all over the house. We gave her some medicine, and lots of company. First, I was in there. Then Will joined us. Finally, Ma came down. She woke up again a little after sunrise, and I went in to sleep with her. It was so cute! She loves having me there when she's going to sleep. I lay down next to her, and tried to go back to sleep. She pulled on my hair and told me stories. Finally, when she was tired, she lay very still....then, suddenly, she looked at me and laughed out loud. Then she went to sleep.

Will and Da went to play tennis this morning - it was a tie. Afterward, Will, Teah and I went down to Provo to wander around the BYU campus, Will's alma mater.

While we were in the driveway, loading up, Elsie's neighbour (Sherry) came over to admire Teah and show off her own 4-month old boy. (What a cutie!) We talked and talked and talked....and Will asked her her maiden name, in the course of the conversation. She said it was Israelson. He kind of looked at her funny and said, "Do you know a Jenny Israelson?" Ha! Jenny is Sherry's little sister! Turns out, Jenny was in choir with Will in high school, and actually took him to the Junior Prom! (Girls preference, for junior prom.) Elsie has promised to dig out the pictures for me. What a small world! Will had probably seen Sherry before, when he used to go to parties at Jennie's house back in the day. She are the chances she would marry the cop that lived next to Will! So, that was our coincidence of the day.

The campus is much bigger than I realized. He showed me around some of the buildings he took classes in and we walked through the Art Museum. There is a beautiful exhibit on Christ right now. We went to the Bookstore and got Teah her first little "BYU Cougars" t-shirt. Will was so proud! Then, we went over to the Visitors Center and caught a tour of the campus. A nice young man named Matt drove the three of us around in an oversized golf cart and told us the history and stories of the campus.

Some things I learned:
1) BYU teaches 66 different foreign languages. That's way more than most universities.
2) Yes, the guy that invented the television (Mr. Farnsworth) did his first experiments at BYU and was LDS.
3) So was the guy that invented stereo speaker systems.
4) The building that houses the Visitors Center (until July, when the Gordon B. Hinckley Visitors and Alumni Center is completed) was originally the home for the Presidents of the universerty, until 1980. It's a beautiful home!

After that, we went to the Museum of Life Sciences and saw the largest collection of game taxidermy I've ever seen! There were little dik-diks and gnus and wildebeests and giraffe heads and zebras and a ligre (yes, a ligre). Bubba actually laughed when we walked past the wall with the hippos and rhinos. Will things she may have been a hippo in a past life. ???

To round out our experience, we went to the BYU Creamery for some SERIOUSLY delicious ice cream. Beware: if you order ice cream there, "one scoop" really means two. So, a "double scoop", to be shared by two people, of course!, really means four large scoops of ice cream in a bowl that might comfortably hold 2/3 of a scoop. The ice cream was delicious, and cheap! Oh, so cheap - where else can you get four scoops of freshly made ice cream (mint cookies and cream and party time cake batter) for $2.50. My waist is certainly glad I don't life closer to the Creamery!

We also drove past the MTC - that definitely brought back some memories for me. The MTC certainly looks different, from the outside. There are signs at every entrance, discouraging visitors. "Missionaries and invited guests only past this point." I remember, inside though, that it is like an entirely different world!

Tonight, we feasted again on Elsie's delicious cooking, and Teah had tofu for dinner. The girl loves to try new things!

Oh, and I figured out what it means to be too "cold" in your stomach. Sleeping too little, not drinking enough water and eating fried foods can all make you "hot." Two nights ago, I drank a "cooling" tea, then last night I had a "cooling" jelly. By tonight, my stomach HURT. Ma made some dessert with ginger (a "hot" thing) and I'm feeling MUCH better!