Kaits

Happy Birthday!!!

2011-11-22T07:40:00.000-08:00

Kaitlin celebrated a birthday on Friday. It will be her only birthday during her mission and I am sure it is one she will always remember! She sent lots of pics with lots of different birthday cakes. A birthday cake is such a simple thing, but when you don't have a lot to give, it means so much. All of the cakes looked beautiful and you could tell there was a lot of love that went into their preparation. The Chilean people are beautiful and are so happy! And so is Kaitlin! Happy Birthday!!!

My sister in law Chelsey wrote a great post about Kaitlin and her mission. I need to get it posted here, but in the meantime, click here and enjoy!

My Favorite Quote From Kaitlin's Letters

2011-05-03T07:19:00.000-07:00

"Gosh I'm so happy I decided to serve a mission"

Popcorn Popping On The Apricot Tree Stinks!

2011-04-20T19:49:00.000-07:00

First off, some real exciting news, she had chicken cordon bleu! It used to be the Sunday staple so I am glad they still have it once in awhile. Now they are all fancy shmancy and get Papa John's pizza every Friday. Imagine that!

Kaitlin is loving the spring weather and has been able to do a little studying outside. All the trees are starting to blossom AND stink! Have you ever smelled a flowering pear tree? The kind that make the white "popcorn" blossoms? Well, they actually smell really bad. We have these trees at my house and Kaitlin had to park her car near them a few times and it doesn't smell good! So other than the smell, she is enjoying being outside.

One of her companions is leaving soon and she is sad about that. It seems like they have become good friends. One of the best things about marriage is that you get to choose your companion. It is not so lucky on a mission. You get to learn to love and work with all kinds of different people you might not want to. So all I can say to Kaitlin, or Hermana DeMille, is let the good times roll!

One last thing that tells us she is learning and growing are the words she uses. There are a few words that seem a little misspelled or funny. I think it is the Spanish sinking in. It happens to all who have to learn a new language and that is a good thing. Way to go Hermana! And speaking of funny, Hermana is kind of a funny word, isn't it?

A Letter! But No Pictures!

2011-04-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

Kaitlin is loving the MTC! For now anyways, but I bet she will love it the whole time. She has 2 companions but one will be leaving for the MTC in Guatemala soon. She is learning lots and says there is still so much to learn. During her exercise time she has been playing basketball. Clearly we must not be related. And she loves it! When I was in the MTC we had chicken cordon bleu every single Sunday without fail. So far she hasn't had any, I guess that is another thing that has changed. Drop off at the curb, no chicken cordon bleu. I am glad I went there in the good 'ole days! Just kidding! If you want to write Kaitlin in the MTC this is the best way. She is doing great and sounds just like a missionary. Her letters are already ending with her testimony! Yay Kaitlin!

Off to the MTC

2011-04-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

Kaitlin left for the MTC today. After having to talk/sing at multiple farewells, say goodbye to 5 brothers and 1 sister at the MTC, none of us participated in sacrament meeting with her and none of us were at the MTC to see her off. Times have changed and I guess that just proves that I am old. This morning I did have breakfast with Kaitlin, we met at Cracker Barrel and ate, played the peg game, and bought exotic candy, except Tyler, he got a whoopie cushion.

At the end of breakfast Kaitlin slipped me a little piece of paper with the info to break into her blog! :) So for the next 18 months, I will try to update this thing once a week with my own words. Beware!

Anyway, so after Tyler showed us multiple tricks with his whoopie cushion, we hugged and said goodbye. She is gone and really I am so happy for her! The MTC is the best and I know she will love it and learn and grow a lot while she is there.

As I drove back home, to-do lists were being formed in my head. I put the kids back in school, against their will and took off to do a few things. We went to Kohl's and then to Costco. Tyler sat on a bucket of wheat and made farting noises with his whoopie cushion the whole time. It was kind of embarassing.

I kept thinking about Kaitlin and what she might be doing. Especially when my stomach started rolling while I was shopping and I had to run to the bathroom! I wondered if Kaitlin's breakfast didn't sit well with her and if she was in the bathroom too. I was wishing she could be with us tonight. Then when I was making dinner, salmon, I realized she is probably really glad she is in the MTC tonight because she does not like fish!

Anyways, Kaitlin will be a great missionary! She is prepared and ready. And my mom told her if she baptizes 12 people she will take her to Hawaii when she gets home! Just kidding! It's probably a good thing Kaitlin can't read blogs on her mission. I bet she changes her password when she gets home! Until next week! Hopefully we will have a real letter and I can use some of her own words:)

Good Luck Kaitlin!

Miss List

2011-04-03T22:20:00.000-07:00

Everyone keeps asking me what I'm going to miss most while I'm gone on my mission and I can't narrow it down to one thing. Obviously, the biggest is my family (especially when I had to say goodbye to some tonight and starting bawling) and then friends. Music follows close behind (all the music I can't listen to....like happy/pick you up songs, ect). And then I start thinking about all the tennis matches I will miss.....who's going to be #1 when I get home? Will I still be able to swing a racquet when my year and a half are up? I love movies. It's probably going to be extra rare that I get to play a piano and without EVER practicing it's going to be pretty pathetic when I get back. My entire family is going to Lake Powell this summer...without me. Lake Powell is the bomb. I wonder how bad my wakeboarding will be. I get sick of school pretty fast but I still like it for the most part. And living in my own apartment with friends all around me. I won't be called Kaitlin, Kait,or Kaits anymore. I like my first name. A lot.

I could go on and on with this list. It's depressing thinking about all the things that I am going to miss and won't be able to do for a long time.

But, my brother and sister had great advice for me.

First, my brother said not to complain.

Second, my sister made the point somewhere along the lines that, sure, I may be missing all the above things, but for the most part it will just be everyday, normal stuff that I can do when I get back. It's nothing compared to what I will be doing. Besides, I can pick it up when I get back.

So, I have a few more goodbyes to give (let's hope I can keep my eyes dry) and then I'm off to the MTC. I'll just have to keep telling myself my siblings' advice over and over again in my head.

Where Am I?

2011-03-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

Today I went to the doctor's to get some perscriptions renewed and to get some moles removed. One was on my neck & the other on my back. I've had a mole removed before so I wasn't too worried-just a little pinch and then it's all numb. I don't particularly like needles (especially when they're meant to go into my skin...give me a shot in the mouth and I'm golden) but this really isn't bad. She took off the neck mole first and I was fine. The assistant kept me talking as the doctor began numbing the mole on my back. It hurt a little more than on my neck, but nothing that bad. I've had way worse. But I got a little light headed and next thing I knew I was waking up with two faces peering over me that I didn't recognize. Turned out it was the doctor and the assistant, but I was a little confused when I woke up. I had no clue where I was and had to ask. The doctor had to remind me where I was and what had happened. Eventually, I came around.

I sure don't like the feeling of passing out. It's a good thing I don't have to get the "peanut butter" shot before my mission :)

Sad Day

2011-03-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my last day at work and it was sad. I loved my job. Sure, there were definitely days when I did not feel like going to work but once I got there, I loved it....well, most of it :) I loved the people I worked with and all that they taught me. I loved the things I got to do and the poeple I got to meet. I loved the environment. I'm going to miss assisting at DeMille MacKay Dental.

And p.s. GOOD news! UCDH is going to let me defer!

AND....only 26 more days until the MTC!

Chop, Chop

2011-02-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking about chopping my hair again! Not nearly as short, probably not an A-line, and with my old bangs back.

Something like this...

And here's my hair now for the most part. It's a little longer than this. This was a bad hair day but one of my more recent pictures.

Not sure if I'll do it because I really do love my long hair, I just like my face better with short. The majority of pictures that I have with long hair make my face look even more square/round than it is.

I figure that while I'm on my mission I'm not really going to have anyone to cut it so it can just grow and grow and grow. I won't have style so why not get some before I leave? And by the time I get to Chile, it should be long enough for a ponytail.

What do you think?

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission....

2010-12-15T19:07:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I won't be growing a foot or two, or even an inch at that. So yes, I'm going on a mission! As of this morning, my papers are officially in. :) I can't believe it. I'm so nervous, scared, and excited about it! I can't wait to find out where I'm going. Unfortunately, my Stake President said that lately they've been a little slow in the process so it could be a while before I get my call.

I just decided the week of Thanksgiving to go but didn't really say anything to anyone but family because I made the decision so quickly that I was afraid I might change my mind despite me feeling so good about it.

I started thinking about a mission a little bit this summer but not all that seriously. As August strolled around I started thinking about it more but I decided that I would go ahead and apply to the dental hygiene program at UCDH and if I didn't get in, then I would go. In September I was accepted into the program and I was so excited and happy. I would finally be starting what I've been working towards and have wanted for so long. I pretty much forgot about a mission and didn't think about it at all until General Conference in October. The very first talk Saturday morning was President Monson speaking on missionary work. Oh crap.

I started thinking about a mission again but went back and forth. I had just gotten into my program, paid my down payment. I thought that if I went on a mission I'd be kissing dental hygiene goodbye. I went back and forth so many times and pretty much made up my mind without telling anyone. I told my sister first and I don't know if she realized it but when I told her she stopped what she was doing right there and sat down haha. I think I surprised her. :) Anyways, I got back from Thanksgiving break and started my papers. I finished them in a week and then had two interviews left.

I guess the timing seems a little off. I'm 22 now so I feel a little old to be serving a mission. At first I wondered why I couldn't have just gone when I turned 21. And I just got into my program and paid a lot of money for a down payment which I won't get back. The timing seems horrible. I'm sad I won't be starting my program in May, but honestly, the timing feels so right. I feel like the people I've met this year and the things I've gone through this year were so helpful in preparing me. Ever since I made the decision I've felt so confident and peaceful about it. I even sold my housing contract which is a miracle in Provo this time a year. I hadn't even had my contract up for sale a whole week and then a guy in our ward had a friend wanting to move in.

So I'm going on a mission! Who knows when my papers will get here though. It could be a week to over a month. I'm really hoping it doesn't take that long though. Wish me luck!

Uh-oh

2010-12-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when my sister leaves her kids with me while studying for finals...

Yes, David drew a beard and a curly mustache on his face with marker.

So much for studying. I couldn't stop laughing.

The Nightmares Are Back

2010-12-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

So it's the week before finals and I still have a midterm. What the? Who does that? I'm taking this test in the morning before work tomorrow so I'm drowning myself in Pathophysiology tonight. I needed five minutes to get away and I figured if I closed my eyes, they might not open again until the morning. So I'm here, blogging.

Remember a post of mine from last winter semester finals where I started having nightmares from stress? Well, they're back...and it's like being in "The Ring" film (which I haven't seen since high school).
Stupid stress.

Cilantro Free Salsa? Anyone?

2010-11-16T21:43:00.000-08:00

I've really been craving salsa lately but I'm having a hard time finding any without cilantro. Yesterday I bought some at the store because it didn't say cilantro on the can under ingredients but what do you know, I got an allergic reaction, so I looked it up online and sure enough, there's cilantro in it. I tried googling "cilantro free salsa" but my search only came up with homeade recipes, which I might have to revert to, but does anyone know a supermarket salsa without cilantro?

"Spring Cleaning"

2010-11-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

It's "spring cleaning" time in my apartment. My one roomate is out of the apartment now, but she left it in a HUGE mess and it still smells. Callie and I were able to move back in our apartment Saturday and we've been trying to clean up the mess when we've had time. It still smells pretty bad though and we're trying to get rid of it. Some of the smell doesn't want to leave though so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for getting strong smells out?

Before & After

2010-11-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

I've been growing my hair out for 1 1/2 year now. I cut my hair short freshman year at the Y and then cut it even shorter my sophmore year. Here's my hair before I cut it, the 1st cut, my shortest cut, and finally my hair now.

Before I chopped.

Here's a pic from my phone right after I chopped my hair

My shortest haircut.

My hair now! Not the cutest, it was a bad hairday, but it's finally long!

I just got it trimmed and I'm tempted to keep it at this length but I might just keep growing it to see :)

Anyways, the reason I decided to blog about this was because my cousin, Amber, posted a picture on her facebook of a CUTE haircut she wants. It's super cute! But last night I had a dream that I decided to chop my hair again and as soon as I did it, I was ready to cry. After 1 1/2 year of growing mine out and waiting out the awkward lengths I was so mad at myself for cutting it so quickly. I LOVED my short hair but I really just want long hair right now and I'm so excited that it's finally getting long! :)

Have A Little Trust

2010-10-18T17:39:00.000-07:00

I've had a few things on my mind the past 6 months or so that have really been bothering me. This General Conference Session I decided to write these things down and pray about them a week before conference. I've always prayed about questions I have had before conference in previous years but I've never asked as personal questions as I did this year. I really didn't think that it was likely that they would be answered this time. Besides my worries and wonders, I've been put into a situation this year that is completely new to me, a little uncomfortable, confusing, and even a little scary. I really needed advice and comfort from this conference.

As soon as President Monson started off the Saturday morning session, pretty much every talk discussed my questions and concerns. If I hadn't been looking for it, there's no way I would have had any of my questions answered and I would still be confused and frustrated. I really felt as if each speaker was talking directly to me as if he/she had written their talk for me and I know it was entirely because of my preparation. (And even though my questions were all really personal and only applied to me, they were ALL still answered)

I loved all the talks but President Eyring's talk really struck me. His talk was about trust in God. The subject itself was such an answer to my prayers and questions but it was also another testimony to me of answered prayers. I had really had doubt about whether the questions I had this conference would be anwered because of how specific they were but then President Eyring said this:

"Your needs are great and varied. Each of you is a unique child of God. God knows you individually. He sends messages of encouragement, correction, and direction fitted to you and to your needs."

I already had questions answered left and right before this talk but I thought it was so cool that President Eyring would say this, especially when I chose to ask such precise questions this time around and then doubt.

"You show your trust in Him when you listen with the intent to learn and repent and then you go and do whatever He asks. If you trust God enough to listen for His message in every sermon, song, and prayer in this conference, you will find it. And if you then go and do what He would have you do, your power to trust Him will grow, and in time you will be overwhelmed with gratitude to find that He has come to trust you."

I've always had a map planned out in my head of what would happen in my life. Some of it has happened and is in the process of happening but other things are not happening like I have planned or wanted or are too far in the future to worry about yet. There are things that I constantly worry about and wonder why they aren't happening to me and when they will they happen to me. President Eyring's words helped me realize that I need to trust in the Lord. I may have a timing set out in my head for the things in my life but the Lord has other plans for me. All the things that I have mapped out in my head will happen on God's time, not mine, and I just need to have the trust in Him and know that these things will happen when they are suppose to. I'm going to have to constantly remind myself of this.
As to the situation I've been placed into this year, it's still not the most comfortable thing and is even a little stressful but I've been surprised at how many ways the Lord has blessed me because of it. I wish I didn't have to deal with it and I am tempted to get out of it so many times but I have really felt such peace, love, and comfort from my Heavenly Father. I know He is watching over me through His many servants and I've just got to trust that it will all turn out for the best and I really feel that it will.
So not everything has turned out as I have expected or planned but I know it will all work out. I know I will continue to get frustrated with things when they are not as I planned but I guess I've just got to learn to have trust and faith in my Heavenly Father to know everything will be okay.

My Favorites. And Let's Not Forget The Good News

2010-10-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

So I guess to start off with the good news: I got into UCDH here in Orem and I'll be starting a Dental Hygiene program in May unless I get into another school & choose to go there. I've probably already told anyone who cares so this could be old news, but I'm excited! I'm going to be a dental hygienist!

Since I've been back from New York I've noticed the things that I bought & absolutely love and use all the time.

There's the JimmyChoo

My gold Swatch watch

(Probably my favorite....see Mom, I told you it would be put to good use :) )

My gold ball Ralph Lauren earrings

My BCBG flats

I love everything I bought but these are my absolute favorite.

Its Been A Little While

2010-09-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking off when it comes to blogging but ever since I've been back from New York I feel like it's run, run, run. Tonight I'm taking a quick break from studying to recap the last month basically.

NYC
Amazing. I really loved it. I loved being in the city and would really love to live there for a short while if possible. Only problem is how expensive it is so that's most likely never going to happen. But I can dream. My all time favorite about our trip was the U.S. Open. I couldn't believe I was there. My mom and I got to watch part of Ryan Harrison's match that he ended up barely losing in 5 sets and Andy Murray's match against Dustin Brown. We also watched a doubles match for fun. I never really get to watch them since they hardly show them on tv. Lara and MiKell met up with us later that night and we got to watch Venus Williams & Rafael Nadal. Loved it. I love Nadal :) haha.
The sight seeing was not my favorite so we did a lot of shopping. We all got lots of perfume and purses from Canal Street, fell in-love with Century 21 where we all got cheap jeans like Sevens & Hudsons, went down 5th Avenue where Lara, MiKell, and my Mom all got a necklace at Tiffany's, ate at a cute restaurant inside Lord & Taylors (can't remember the name right now but it was amazing and really cute) and then shopped, shopped at Swatch, and lots more. I hope I get to go back one day. I loved it.

School & Work
I dropped down to part time this semester. I'm working in North Salt Lake Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. I really wanted to keep my job. I love the people I work with and I really love dental assisting. I never have a day where I dread work. I had 12 credits packed into Monday & Wednesday which was the problem for me. I was stressing out so bad when I got back to New York about how I was going to fit in all my homework in from Monday to Wednesday. I'm finished with all my pre-requisites and am applying to Dental Hygiene programs right now so if I get into any I'm quitting school next semester anyways so I decided to drop down to part time. I'm really glad I did too because otherwise I would absolutely no social life and I feel like right now is important for me to have one. I would also be stressing out way too much. I don't handle stress too well. I just put my application into UCDH about a week and a half ago and had an interview a week ago. I find out in about a month whether I get in or not. I'm praying I do. I find myself wanting to check the mailbox everyday even though it's only been a week. It's going to be a rough month.
I have a midterm I'm taking Monday and once I have that over with I'll be starting on applications again. I've got to start studying for a Health Apptitude test for UVU and then I'll apply there, to SLCC, and possibly to Weber. I also made a last minute decision to apply to some schools in southern California and maybe one in Arizona. My professor that wrote my letter has a niece that went to school in Arizona and absolutely loved it. It's a possibility, but Cali sounds a little bit nicer :)

That's pretty much my life right now. I'm living with Callie again this year and so far so good :) I missed living with her this summer. We also have a random roomate. Her name is Brenna and it has been great! She's easy to live with, talk to, and fun to be around.

Hopefully it won't take me so long to blog next time!

It's A Little Scary...

2010-08-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make fondant for cakes for a long time, but I haven't had the time or the money to take a class. Today I decided to just try it alone. Not such a good idea...for me at least. I guess I should have tried to do a little more research and find some helpful tips but I was so excited to try it. Now I know better. I knew it would turn out pretty crappy no matter what but I didn't think it would turn out this bad. My results were cracky fondant which I couldn't seem to keep moist enough. The instructions said to keep your hands and counter really greased with shortening so it wouldn't stick. Whenever the fondant started sticking so bad that I couldn't get it off the counter, I added more grease. And I got greasy fondant as a result.........

I at least had fun making the royal frosting flowers. I had never tried any of the flowers on the cake today and I know they don't look very good but for my first try, I'm pretty satisfied with them.

I used the marshmallow fondant so it would taste better but I'm not sure anyone will want to eat the fondant after seeing it.

Only 43 Days........

2010-07-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

And I'll be here.

And in 45 days,

I'll be here.

Can't wait!

Vanilla Ice, Ice Baby

2010-06-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

Today my nephews and I came home to my parent's house. On the way down they watched a movie and then the last half hour we listened to music. It was so funny to hear them busting out to Journey and laughing too. Then Jacob made the request to listen to Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice, Baby." Everytime the chorus came on, the 3 of them would all of the sudden hush their voices and in almost a whisper sing, "Ice, ice, baby.....Ice, ice, baby." It was so funny and so cute. I love my nephews to pieces!!!

Star Wars, Rocky, & The Flinstones

2010-06-13T17:49:00.000-07:00

This summer as I've lived with my sister and her family, I've heard the theme songs to these 3 shows over and over again. Ethan, Jacob, & David are still taking piano lessons and have been practicing lots. I've loved it as they have asked me to help them with their piano pieces. Pretty sure I'm not a good teacher and I probably don't leave them with that much help but not only do I love them just asking for my help but I love trying to teach them new things or just straightening out the confusion. I've always talked about teaching piano one day and it is still something that I want to do when I have my own home. So although I'm getting a little sick of hearing the Rocky theme over and over again (I hate those movies so I dislike that theme the most :)), I love hearing them get better and better everytime and can't wait until I can actually teach out of my own home.

One Off The Checklist

2010-06-12T00:02:00.000-07:00

We now have the US Open tickets purchased and are only 2 months and 21 days away from going! My mom and I have ground tickets so we can hang out all day wandering from court to court and then later that night, my sister Lara and sister-in-law MiKell will join us for a match in the Arthur Ashe Stadium where the larger matches usually take place. The lady who sold us the tickets said that the bigger names in tennis would most likely play on a Friday night so hopefully we'll get to see someone! So pretty soon I'll be able to check this grand slam off my list and hopefully move onto Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Australian Open! Wishful thinking, but I hope that one day I get to attend them all. Until then, I'm just happy to get to go to one of them!

Oops!...I Did It Again

2010-06-11T11:16:00.000-07:00

Last night Lara's boys had an award ceremony at their school so for dinner, we all just kind of had left-overs and snacks. There were chips and salsa out so I decided to make nachos. Earlier that day, Lara had bought some Kirtland Costco salsa and I decided to try it out...bad idea. Within less than 5 minutes and only a few bites, my throat started to swell up. I figured there would be cilantro in there but it wasn't fresh salsa so I thought I would be okay. Nope. Guess I'll have to start being more careful.

Warm Thoughts

2010-05-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up to a winter wonderland today and even though everything is now green with the grass & trees showing, it's still pretty cold. I can't wait for the warm weather to finally show up and stick around. So to cheer myself up a little bit today I've been thinking about the things I have to look forward to this summer.

This holiday weekend I get to go to my parent's cabin in Southern Utah with my family to, hopefully, where the warm weather is.

My brother Chris & his wife MiKell also invited me to go to Lake Powell at the end of June and the first of September I will be in New York City watching pro tennis players at the U.S. open.

Not to mention the 4th of July in my hometown and the little, unplanned summer vacations :). At least my thoughts were able to warm me up a little, despite the cold weather outside.

Neverending

2010-05-16T19:44:00.000-07:00

The last two weeks I've had a bad cough. I finally started getting over it somewhat until Friday it came back with a vengence. I was hoping it would start getting better by today but as far as I can tell, it's just as bad or worse. Today, church was really embarrassing. It was a new ward and although I was sucking on cough drops the entire time and took cough syrup before church, I was still coughing like crazy. So I'm now starting out week three with a cough. If you have any suggestions to help with the coughing let me know. I'm getting desperate.

Allergic....I Think

2010-05-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

So my sophomore year at BYU I got what I thought was food poisoning. I was up all night throwing up and everything else that comes with food poisoning. However, I had been with my sister all day and eaten the same things as her and she didn't get sick. After that night, I associated me getting sick with cilantro so I've steered clear of it. A few months ago I decided to try it again, and what do you know, I started feeling sick the rest of the day. Luckily I hadn't eaten very much so I never actually threw up, I just felt gross.
Well, I had cilantro again yesterday and later last night my throat started closing up then along came the throw up and everything else. I'm fine this morning, just a little tired from last night, but I'm good. My throat isn't closed up anymore and I no longer feel like I'm going to throw up. At this point I'm starting to think that the first time wasn't food poisoning and instead I'm allergic to cilantro.

It's Just You and Me Now Regg

2010-05-01T15:18:00.001-07:00

I have officially moved in to my sister's home. I've loved it. It only takes me 20 minutes to get to one office and just a little less than 30 minutes to get to the other office. Usually it takes me about an hour or so to get to work from Provo. So now instead of waking up at 5:00 am to get to work in time, I get to sleep in. :) (Although I do have to be to work at 6:50 am so I don't know if I should call that sleeping in)
I've loved hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law. My nephews are the sweetest things ever. I get to have a dog again. I live in a actual house again. I'm close to the gym, there's great places to run around here, and there's a backyard (I'm excited to be outside and do yard-work)!
However, with winter back in Utah, Lara & Kirk along with all the boys took off for Hawaii today. I'm so jealous. If it weren't for tickets being so expensive I'd be with them right now.
So this week it's just me and their dog Reggie. And this week I'm not working that much. What am I going to do with myself?????

Nightmares & Insomnia

2010-04-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick lunch break/finals break blog to break away from the studying.

The last two nights I've had nightmares and haven't been able to sleep very well at all. I'm talking about the nightmares you have as a kid that scare you to death haha. I haven't had nightmares like this since I was younger. Usually my nightmares now consist of some mean guy chasing me and then I jump and wake myself up and then go right back to sleep afterwards. No problem. The last two nights, however, I keep waking up because I am so scared in my dreams and it even takes me a minute or two to calm myself down once I'm awake. These nightmares are seriously creepy. Besides waking up from nightmares, I'll randomly wake up with my stomach in a knot with anxiety. I'll wake up at 4 and feel like I should be studying or something. That or I'm just nervous about getting up early enough to study. So between these two, I'm not getting much sleep.

I don't feel like I'm any more stressed than I usually am for finals but I guess this is just how my body is dealing with it this time, unfortunately.

History of Creativity

2010-04-08T23:30:00.000-07:00

I took the second half of History of Creativity this semester to cover another GE (even though I don't need them). I have loved these classes and am actually really sad that it will probably be my last "artistic" type of class that I will ever take. It makes me really, really sad. It's almost depressing to think about once I am in a hygiene program that it will be pure science and no art type classes (if I get in).
Anyways, remember one of my older posts of the scrapbook I made? Well, that was the project I made for the first half of this class last semester. Here is the project I did for this semester for the second half. I decided to work with the photography/photoshop thing. I chose a few of my favorite styles of art that we studied and photoshopped the originals to look like that style. Then I put all of the photos in a portfolio book along with the history behind the painting style. Not that these look all that great, but they do look better printed out. They also don't look like they took that much time, but photoshop, for me at least, took a long time to even learn how to run the basics before I could even figure out everything else that I did.

Original

Black & White (like the first original photos)

Original

Pointillism
Original
Impressionism

Original

Pop Art (Andy Warhol)

I Miss My Bed

2010-04-07T23:55:00.000-07:00

First of all, I haven't seen a lot of my bed lately. With all the projects due the week before finals, I've seen more of my desk and the library than anything.

Second, I was able to go home for the Easter weekend and I've forgotten how much I loved my bed at home. The sheets are silky feeling, my favorite old feather pillow is there, and it's a queen size mattress (which is amazingly soft) so I'm free to roll. Then I get to come back to my hard twin bed where I often roll and run into the wall and hit my head so hard it wakes me up. That or almost roll out of bed.

I miss my old bed and so does my head.

And totally off subject but something worth checking out....

Jack Johnson is coming out with his new cd but not until June 1. However, his new single "You and Your Heart" is out and is pretty good. Check it out.

Holi Krishna

2010-04-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, Aly and I went to Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork. It's a Hindu festival to celebrate spring. Sounds really weird but it was actually really fun. The traffic was insane getting there and I swear all of BYU was there along with families with small kids. Basically you end up throwing colored powered up into the air with a countdown and at each other. My hair was hot pink by the end of the day.

Here's a picture of what the middle looks like as everyone throws the powder into the air. We didn't dare go in that far because we've heard it's pretty much impossible to breathe because there is so much powder in the air. I'm assuming this photo wasn't taken in Spanish Fork though because I didn't see anyone dressed like that...it was mostly students.

If Only I Could Eat This

2010-03-30T20:34:00.001-07:00

Tonight was my last class in my cake course 2 class. I had to miss one week because of midterms so this cake is seriously lacking flowers but I was still able to talk to the teacher tonight & have her show me how to do the flowers I missed. So I'll have to practice this summer.

So tonight we learned the rope border and the basketweave.

Here's my cake! It's a little ugly but it was just practice and next time I'll make more flowers and different kinds of flowers too. Now I just wish I could eat it.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

2010-03-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

This morning as I woke up to get ready for church, our apartment discovered that our water was turned off. We just had our water heater replaced because of problems with that so our first thought was that it was another problem. So I called a few other people in the building & discovered that a water pipe had broken on the guys' side of the building so they turned the water off for the entire building. So most everyone is going to church today with no shower. Luckily I showered last night after getting back from the Festival of Colors (which I'll blog about later when I upload all the fun pictures), but my hair is no fun. It gets really oily, really fast so even though it looks fine right now, after church today, it'll be a whole different story. So I'm a little frustrated this morning.

But I can't help but be happy today. I started a really strict diet last Monday. I've cut out all sugar unless it's natural like in fruits, healthy foods, ect. I've cut my calories big time, I'm exercising a lot (cardio & weights), I've increased my normal protein intake, I'm cutting out tons of fat, and drinking lots of water. I feel so good! I haven't even been on the diet a full week and guess what??? I've lost 8 pounds already!! So I'm really happy! :)

My New Favorite

2010-03-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

Last night I stayed in to study. Boring, I know. But I have a huge Microbiology test that I need to take Monday/Tuesday and I need to get a really good score to keep my grade in the A range so I can get a good letter of recommendation from my professor. Luckily, I was able to take a quick break with a friend and go to Cold Stone. Normally I really like fruity type mixtures because they seem so much "lighter" than say cake batter or something like that, but when I saw the peanut butter ice cream, I had to try. (I've been on a huge peanut butter fix this semester and I LOVE it) So I made my own concoction of peanut butter ice cream with cookie dough chunks, chocolate syrup, and caramel syrup. YUM! This probably sounds really gross to the most of you, but if you like peanut butter a lot, I promise you this is really good! It's one of the "heavier" ice creams though just to warn but definitely a new favorite! (I think brownie would be really good with this too)

Running Playlists

2010-03-04T21:50:00.001-08:00

I run a lot. Not because I absolutely love it but because it is good exercise. I do like it but if it weren't for the music, there's no way I could just go out and run. Anyways, running for me lately has seemed particularly boring and it has made me want to go through all my running playlists and find my long-term favorites to help me out these last few months of winter. So I started this playlist thinking I would keep it short to just some of my favorite but I couldn't help myself. I just kept going so I could remember these songs when I had more time to put them all on my computer so I can put them on my ipod if they're not already on there. There's more but I'm ready for bed. So this post is just for my remembrance but I hope someone finds at least one good running song from this gigantic list to keep them going the rest of this winter.

1. Cake - The Distance
2. Aqua - Barbie Girl (don't laugh)
3. Toploader - Dancin' In the Moonlight
4. Muse - Hysteria
5. Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko (Radio Edit)
6. Christina Aguilera - Fighter
7. Collective Soul - Compliment
8. The Corrs - Breathless
9. Lily Allen - LDN
10. Lucky Twice - Lucky
11. Muse - Time is Running Out
12. Weezer - Say It Ain't So
13. UB40 - The Way You Do the Things You Do
14. Collective Soul - Gel
15. Josh Gracin - Stay With Me
16. Pete Yorn - Strange Condition
17. Britney Spears - Womanizer
18. Collective Soul - Hollywood
19. September - Cry For You
20. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
21. Vendetta Red - Shatterday
22. Tom Petty - Free Fallin'
23. Chevelle - I Get It
24. Pete Yorn - Life On a Chain
25. Jennifer Lopez - Let's Get Loud
26. Shiny Toy Guns - Major Tom
27. Smashing Pumpkins - Bullet With Butterfly Wings
28. Shania Twain - Any Man of Mine
29. Collective Soul - Heavy
30. Sugarland - It Happens
31. Lady Gaga - Poker Face
32. Ciara - Like a Boy
33. Chevelle - The Clincher
34. Sweet - Wig-Wam Bam
35. The Format - The First Single (You Know Me)
36. Shania Twain - Party For Two
37. Weezer - Buddy Holly
38. Tom Petty - Learnin' to Fly
39. Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
40. The Wreckers - Leave the Pieces
41. Crime Mobb - Stillettos
42. Muse - Uprising
43. Vendetta Red - Silhouette Serenade
44. Aqua - Candyman
45. Radio Head - High & Dry
46. Fastball - You're An Ocean
47. Jimmy Eat World - Sweetness
48. Stefy - Fool For Love
49. One Republic - Apologize (I also like the remix by Lil' Wayne)
50. Ben Folds Five - Best Imitation of Myself
51. Eve 6 - Promise (Radio Edit)
52.Third Eye Blind - Never Let You Go
53. Matt Costa - Cold December
54. My Chemical Romance - Helena
55. The Offspring - Why Don't You Get a Job?
56. R.E.M. - What's the Frequency Kenneth
57. Rascal Flatts - Life Is a Highway
58. The La's - There She Goes
59. Taylor Swift - Should've Said No
60. Tom Petty - Honey Bee
61. Tracey Chapman - Give Me One Reason
62. Vanessa Carlton - White Houses
62. Dixie Chicks - Goodbye Earl
63. Shania Twain - Rock This Country!
64. Rise Against - Re-Education (Through Labor)

65. The Veronicas - Untouched
66. Bay City Rollers - Saturday Night

And some new songs that are some of my favorites right now. I don't know if they'll make the longterm playlist but they keep me going for now.

1. Keisha - Tik Tok
2. Jewel - Stay Here Forever
3. Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
4. Cascada - Evacuate the Dancefloor
5. Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart
6. Elizabeth & The Catapult - Race You
7. Collective Soul - Welcome All Again
8. Mozella - Freezing
9. Matt & Kim - Daylight
10. Anberlin - Feel Good Drag
11. Spoon - The Underdog

Computer Issues...A Little Help Here???

2010-03-03T22:17:00.000-08:00

So lately my computer has been having some issues and they keep getting worse.

Problem #1

My computer will not connect to any internet. At first I thought it was just my internet, but it won't connect to anyone else's and my roomates can be connected up with no problems while mine won't. I discovered that if I restart my computer it will connect up afterwards. This has been going on for a little over a month. That doesn't seem like too bad, but these last two weeks I've been having to restart my computer at least 3 times a day, sometimes more to use the internet (which stinks because basically all my homework is online).

Problem #2

Anytime I put a cd, dvd, school program dvd thing in, my computer won't play it clear. It's not like it's skipping but it's all shaky. I don't know how to describe it but it's definitely not good. And it's not my cd's, dvd's, or school dvd's because they're not scratched, they sometimes work perfectly, and if I put them into someone else's computer, they work just fine then too. It's really annoying.

Anyone have any suggestions so I can get these things fixed?

I Hate Roses

2010-02-24T12:30:00.000-08:00

That is, I hate frosting roses....at least for now. Real roses I love! :) Last night in class we finished learning the rose. We also learned sweet peas, leaves, stems, vines, and bows. The bows weren't my favorite so I didn't put them on the cake. I really like sweet peas but I didn't put those on my cake last night. I think I was a little frustrated with my roses. We basically spent the entire class practicing roses. Mine didn't look bad to compared to anyone elses or anything but compared to the teachers, mine looked awful. I know she's had a lot of practice with them (she even told us that she was horrible at roses until she started teaching this class so then she had to just sit down and practice them for hours) but I was still frustrated just because mine weren't even a little bit close to looking as clean and nice as hers.

So here's my cake this week. It's a little plain and the frosting in the middle of the cake is a little gross because I decided to practice my handwriting without piping anything on and it was horrible so I scooped it off but didn't really smooth the frosting back out.

The first class is now over and I start the second class next week. Apparantly we only make one cake next class which will be super nice for my busy schedule but really sad. I really like making cakes. But the cool thing about this next class is we prepare something every week to put on our cake at the end (I think). We'll be working a lot with royal frosting which is great for constructing things like flowers. It's not the gum paste/sugar flowers you see but similar. I've heard it's pretty nasty stuff to eat though. But it's okay, it's mostly just for looks. I'm excited. Also, I was talking to the teacher about the fondant class that I want to take and she's going to teach us how to make traditional fondant but she also has a recipee make with marshmallows that tastes much, much better so I'm really excited for that!

Oh, and I found housing for next year! I'm going to room with my roomate that I live with right now who is also like my best friend & then my other really good friend will be living at the same place just in a different apartment (each apt. only offers 2 assigned parking spaces so that's why she's living in a different apt.). So we'll be leaving at Santa Barbara next year which I keep hearing amazing things about. Hopefully it lives up to its expectations!

Week #2 - Cupcakes

2010-02-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

For class this week, we made cupcakes instead of a cake. Although it wasn't as fun decorating a cake, it was a lot easier. You didn't have to tort them and frosting them was a lot easier.

This week we learned some flowers and circular dots. We also learned a shell border and a star shaped flower but I didn't use them on my cupcakes.

I can honestly say I love doing all of this. I can't wait until I get better!

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-13T23:57:00.001-08:00

Here's cake #2 for me. This wasn't required for class or even associated with my class, I just wanted to practice. Plus, it's really fun for me. It's pretty much the same as the last cake but I wanted to practice my handwriting a little bit. I also tried out dots for the border around the bottom of the cake which we haven't learned yet but I really like them. I'm excited to learn how to keep them prefectly round rather than having a gross end where you pulled the tip away. So here's my Valentines cake.

For Valentines I've been able to spend lots of time with my parents and my nephew, Jaxon, & my niece Madi. It has been a blast. Last year I had food poisoning on Valentines Day so this year has been a LOT better. I think I'm going to associate that memory with V-Day from here on out.

Hope everyone else is having a wonderful Valentines!

Future Ace of Cakes Artist???

2010-02-09T20:26:00.001-08:00

HA! I think not! But secretly I wish.........

Anyways, this cake is pretty pathetic but give me a break. Besides the little funfetti 9x13 square pan cakes, this is my first cake. It was my first time making buttercream frosting and torting a cake (which you can't see from the pictures but I really did cut the cake in half using a knife because I don't have a cake leveler yet). Actually, this was also my first round cake too. I also had to cut the top of the cake off to level it. I tried my best to frost the cake flawless but there were bumps all over. I've learned a few tricks since earlier today, however. And I felt a little better once I went to class tonight. Mine was actually pretty smooth compared to most. And after the class was finished and I saw everyone's cakes I felt pretty good too. There were a few women that made pretty awesome cakes but some were pretty ugly. Mine is too but I felt like it was clean looking at least.

I was hoping that we would learn some kind of little flower tonight but we pretty much only learned stars, a star-ish border thing, and the base of the Wilton Rose. So there wasn't much to do with my cake so I decided to make polka dots filled with stars. I don't know why they really call them stars because they just look like fuzz. The star tip is what you would use if you were decorating a teddy bear cake to make him look all furry.

So here's my easter egg cake. It's pretty dorky but it's a start!

I'm Grateful For...

2010-02-02T23:08:00.000-08:00

This last week has been kind of a bummer. I got really sick with a head cold and cough that kept getting worse and worse and worse. My cough was so bad I ended up canceling a date and staying in bed the entire weekend. To keep the merriment coming I had 4 midterms coming up all in one week and although I'd been practicing like crazy, my piano pieces were nowhere near where my teacher is expecting which means she could lower my grade. While I was sick in bed this last weekend I just kept thinking about all the negative things like how sick I was, how I had 4 hard midterms coming up, how much homework I have, how I have no clean clothes, and much much more.

Honestly today I got sick of thinking of everything that I have to do and everything that keeps loading up and decided I need to start thinking more positively. I started thinking about how lucky I am to have a brother so close that would come give me a blessing when I'm sick, how I'm lucky enough to have a piano in my apartment and take lessons this semester, for medication and cough drops, for a mom who is so sweet to send me cute packages, for having a washer & dryer in my apt., for study groups, for caring roomates, for my dad's random calls, the chance to be in school, and much, much more. Although I'm still not excited (at all) for the 3 midterms that I have left, at least there's one out of the way and eventually this week will be over with.

I'm really grateful for everything that I have and get to do. I really am so blessed.

Precious Declaration Reads

2010-01-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

I finally did it! I've been wanting to go to a Collective Soul concert since their cd, "Dosage" was released when I was 10 and Thursday night in Salt Lake, I got to see them in concert. I've made it close a few times but usually because I was under 21 I couldn't go. Collective Soul is my all-time favorite band and I am SO happy that I got to see them!

This concert was at a venue in Salt Lake so there was no seating and I was able to pretty much get front row. The only good opening act was Allred, who was amazing! My old roomie & my friend Beth came with me and she is now a Collective Soul fan herself. While waiting for CS to come out on stage, we made friends with a girl there who had been to 15 CS concerts & she estimated that she had been to nearly 400 concerts total. She found out this was my first and that I was a big time CS fan and began telling me about how out of all the concerts she had been to, CS had been one of the best performance she'd ever seen. She was right. The concert was amazing and CS sounded amazing live. Ed Roland, the lead singer has always been my favorite (that's why pretty much all of my pics were of him :)) and he sounded amazing live. Perfect pitch. And he was rocking out all over the stage which was really entertaining. Their lead guitarist, Joel, is seriously amazing and so fun to watch. It was also really fun to see Dean & Will since they were originals of the band and were really good. The drummer, Cheney, was also really good and got to show off his talent. He is somewhat new to the band (since 2001) and earned a "special place in my heart" (haha) when he gave me one of his drumsticks at the end of the concert! :) Seriously put the cherry on top.

Anyways, when the concert was almost 75% of the way finished, a short woman who I had been looking over, moved. The girl we had made friends with grabbed my arm & shoved me up into her spot. I was front row! I was already super giddy that night and after that I was beyond slap happy. I couldn't stop grinning. I was so happy I was seriously almost laughing. Not only was I seeing my favorite band performing amazingly live finally, I was front row. When the concert ended the drummer walked straight up to me, while looking straight at me (not kidding) and stretched his drum stick out straight to me. :) I couldn't believe it. I was freaking out.

Anyways, Collective Soul is seriously amazing live and the best concert I've been too (not just because they're my favorite). I had such a good time and I get so excited everytime I think about it. Thursday night I was so excited that I couldn't fall asleep. It was around 5:00am when I think I finally fell asleep. I was so happy and kept turning my lamp on to make sure everything really happened and that I really did have Cheney's drumstick. :)

Anyways, if you ever get the chance to see Collective Soul in concert, you should. They're seriously amazing. I hope that I get to see them at least one more time before they stop touring completely but if not, I'm so glad that I got to go at least once and had the experience that I had.

Here are some pics of the concert!

The picture above is really blurry because I went to take a picture as Ed started walking closer to where I was and he was seriously looking straight at me. I freaked and accidently moved the camera.

Preview

2010-01-22T00:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight I went to a Collective Soul concert, who happens to be my all-time favorite band. Not only did I get to stand FRONT ROW which was LESS THAN 20 FT. AWAY from the stage, but the drummer walked straight up to me without hesitation after the concert and gave me one of his drum sticks. Yep. I don't think I'll be sleeping at all tonight.

Surprise!!

2009-12-27T18:41:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas I had a little different experience opening presents than I usually do. Instead of opening packages and finding things like shirts, perfumes, ect. I found letters...scrapbook letters. I was confused. This year I couldn't even think of anything that I wanted so I had no clue what my parents were getting me and then to open the letter "C" on my first present confused me even further. In the end I had opened a "C", a "Y", tennis balls, a "N", and then a toy airplane. My present isn't going to happen until August so my Mom wanted to make it a little interesting for me to open my presents this Christmas and try to figure it out.

Apparantly I get to go to this little event in NYC in August!!!

I was completely surprised! I've always wanted to go to the US Open. I love tennis and love watching the big tennis grand slams in the summer. The US & Wimbledon are my two favorites to watch and now I get to go to one! So come August my Mom & I (and hopefully we can talk my sister into coming along too) are flying to NYC. We'll go to the US Open, maybe hit up broadway, and hopefully shop! I'm so excited and even hope I get to see this guy while we're there...

As Seen On TV

2009-12-20T19:01:00.001-08:00

Carson & Ashley are going to Ashley's home for Christmas this year so tonight they stopped by to deliver presents. For Christmas this year, my sister-in-law, Ashley, had my name for gift exchange within the family. She called me one day to ask for a few ideas and the only thing I could think of and wanted was a.............

SNUGGIE!

And of course, a reading clip light was included

and I had to reinact the commercial.

If you look closely you can see it clipped onto the book that I'm "reading."

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things...

2009-12-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

For my History of Creativity class, we recently had a creativity project due. We could do anything from an essay to woodwork. There were a variety of things that people did for their projects. Lots of movies, essays, gingerbread house versions of old Rome, decorated chairs, clothing, and even a wedding cake. It was really fun to see what everyone thought of. I decided to make a scapbook of a bunch of things that I love and are important to me since I couldn't decide what to do. I was able to tie it into the class by showing that this was my way of recording my history creatively. I am satisfied with the way it turned out but hopefully my teacher agrees.

Anyways, here are pictures of the book. They're kind of small & you can't really read the text, but you get the idea.

Thanks to Mom for letting me storm her laundry room and use whatever I wanted!

FREEZING!

2009-12-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

Provo got its first snow yesterday. Well at least first snow that has stuck to the ground. Normally it seems like it warms up just a little when it snows, but not this time. I hate walking to campus because I freeze. I actually look forward to climbing the huge hill to campus though...at least it warms me up a little. The worst, however, is coming home to an apartment that feels almost just as cold as it does outside. I turn the heat up a little but then my roomate turns it right back down because of the utility bill. Currently I am sleeping with my sheets, comforter, bedspread, a giant quilt folded over (so it's thicker=warmer), a fleece blanket, and all my coats piled on top. And did I mention the sweats, doubled-up socks, and the hoodie?

I'm still cold! I'm thinking it's time to invest in a space heater. Does anyone know where to find a good quality one but at a good price? Preferably one that a college student can afford...

Thank You For the Joy You've Given Me

2009-11-19T10:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I seriously feel so overwhelmed from the love that everybody showed me. Besides my family spoiling me to death already, my roomate/close friend, Callie, & my other close friend Melissa (who is also kind of like a roomate) joined in too.

A couple of weekends ago, I was able to go to Park City with my mom, grandma, sister, & sister-in-laws to celebrate my mom's b-day. While there, I had siblings spoil me with a scarf, sweater, & coat, all of which I've loved! My brothers Mike & Parker & his girlfriend, Chelsey then got my mom & I tickets to the show, "So You Think You Can Dance." That same weekend, mom & I got to go to the show and it was so much fun and amazing! To keep the spoilage going, my parents dropped my gifts off for me a week before my birthday as they were passing through Provo. I kept the presents wrapped & opened them the morning of my birthday. Cutest yellow coat ever and slippers to keep my freezing feet warm! My birthday was a low key, chill day but really good. I went to the gym, opened my parents presents, went to class, went to dinner at CPK where my friends treated me to dinner (thanks you guys!!!), and had cake & ice cream at my apartment afterwards. Callie & Melissa did soooo much for me by decorating the apartment and much more. They both went in on a present together & got me a bottle of Martinelli's (to make a joke about me being 21 now), cute flannel pajama shorts, the movie "Just Friends", and........a heat embosser! Wow, they did way too much for me but I really appreciate it. And I was so surprised to see the heat embosser that my face was in shock. I can't wait to use it!

Besides all of this I had phone calls all day along with happy birthday texts. It even killed my phone's battery haha. Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for making my birthday so great. I have A-M-A-Z-I-N-G friends, siblings, & parents. Love you guys!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2009-11-14T12:17:00.000-08:00

This fall has been a warm one and I've loved it! For the 2 winters that I've spent at BYU, I don't really remember walking to school at the end of October and halfway into November without a jacket and being fine. Every once in a while you'd have those days but never week after week. So now that the wind, cold weather, and snow is finally here, it's COLD. I have mixed feelings though. I love the warm weather and hate being cold. It's been so nice walking to school. However, the cold, snowy weather reminds me of Christmas (which is my favorite!) so I'm actually kind of excited it's snowing outside. Today, all I feel like doing is sitting by a fireplace, wrapping up in a blanket, and reading a good book. I love days like today.

Nothing Better Than Midterms And........

2009-11-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

The Flu.

This morning I woke up with the flu. Normally I would just skip class for the day and sleep it off, but no, it had to come up right smack in the middle of my midterms. Just my luck. So I took one this morning that went okay despite the fact that I about had to run out of the testing center to the bathroom a few times. One down, two to go. I have my World Religions test tomorrow afternoon in class and History of Creativity by Thursday so I can't sleep it off just quite yet. Hopefully this awful feeling leaves me by then and I can stop complaining.

And They're Up!

2009-10-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

Finally!

Live, Laugh, & Love

2009-10-18T22:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a fun one and once again, full of procrastination. Since I don't have classes on Fridays, my weekends are little bit longer and start on Thursdays. This weekend I was able to go to a Jazz game, camping, see old friends again, and go to a movie. I also picked up a book from the library that my brother, Dave, recommended to me the other week. So you can imagine the amount of homework that I was able to finish this weekend. The Jazz game was really fun and so was camping, although it was a little cold. I don't know how much I slept that night camping because I was able to come home and take a 5 hour nap and still go to sleep that night at a reasonable time...for me at least ha. To top this weekend off, I was feeling a little creative so today I decided to pop out my scrapbooking bins and try my skills at creating a few wall decorations. I stole the idea from my sister-in-law. They're not completely finished yet...I still need to paint the styrafoam brown (which you can't see in these pics) and I might want to add something to the blue one??? I don't know. It looks a little plain to me.

If you have any suggestions of what to add to these things or where to find bigger flowers I would love it! Nothing is glued on yet so I can change everything around except the letters, those are stamps. I looked at 2 different Robert's & I still couldn't find those big, huge flowers.

Anyways, back to the book Dave suggested that I read....it's called "The Naked Communist," so thankfully it's not going to be one of those books that I just can't put down. It is still really interesting, however. Over the summer, Dave really got me into global warming. He suggested 2 books to me that were both really good. The first is called, "State of Fear" which is a novel and super entertaining (it did have some bad language in it just to warn you). The second is "Blue Planet in Green Shackles" which was hard reading for me but still really interesting. It is about how global warming has not really been justified by scientific research currently. The author writes about how the idealogoy of environmentalism is the biggest threat to our freedom in today's world. It took me quite a while to get through the book and I don't know how much I actually remember, but still an interesting read. Anyways, the most recent, "The Naked Communist," is also really interesting. I really don't know a whole lot about communism so I decided that I better learn. I'm not far into the book but it is really interesting, especially the history of it all.

So instead of doing what I should have this weekend (homework) this is what I did. Totally worth it though. It was a really fun weekend but I am definitely going to have to catch up this week!

Double, Double Toil & Trouble

2009-09-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

This year I've been a little bit more excited for Halloween...at least in the sense of decorating. Robert's Crafts had a big sale a few Saturday's ago and everything fall & Halloween was 40% off. So naturally I went hoping to find a steal. There were so many things I wish I could have gotten but most was out of my price range, even with the 40% off. But I did find some cute things. So, here's my apartment all decorated for Halloween with the new decorations & a few old ones too! But just to warn you, my rommate and her fiance left all their stuff everywhere and it is MESSY! But I really wanted to show off my new apartment & decorations.

So here's my apartment this year! I'm kind of hoping that we can rearrange the furniture soon. I think it looks a little awkward with the table stranded out on the other side of the love sac. But, there it is!

Hope you have a good month and a

HaPpY HaLlOwEeN!

I Miss My Brothers

2009-09-24T23:35:00.001-07:00

Today I got to see my brother Parker and talk to him for a little bit. He came by to grab a few things and saw my apartment for the first time this year. I also got to talk to my brother Mike for a little bit today. It made me really, really miss my brothers....a lot.

This summer I got to hang out with Carson and Ashley a lot and I feel like I was able to grow a lot closer to Carson than I was before....not that anything was bad before....but it was really fun to hang out with him and Ashley. I made two new best friends this summer! I loved having conversations with Cars this summer. I found out that Carson is really easy to talk to and I feel like I can talk to him about anything. Carson is the brother I feel like I could take any problem to and feel comfortable talking to him about.

I didn't really get to see David and Chris a ton this summer but when I did see them, I loved it! I feel like as I've gotten a little bit older I've been able to grow a little closer to Chris and Dave. By the time I really start remembering things, it seems like those two were already gone to college, missions, and back to college. I love seeing their families and getting to know them better.

I feel like Dave pushes me to be more aware of the world around me. This summer he really got me into the discussion of global warming. He's been emailing me articles and titles of books to read. I've loved it. Dave also always knows so much about politics, economics, etc. and hearing him talk about it all really makes me want to be more informed. He's such a good example to me. Dave is also a good cook and generous. It seems like everytime our family gets together for vacation, he and Alison always have a new recipe and cook a meal for the whole family (which is getting huge).

Chris makes me want to push myself harder. He's so good at setting his mind on something, working hard for it, and making it happen. He's given me many pep talks about my classes as I've discussed discouragement and doubt about applying to a dental hygiene program. Chris has always been an example of determination. I've always enjoyed being around Chris but I feel like the last 2-3 years I've gotten to know him and Mikell a lot better. It's been fun just kicking back, hanging out, and laughing with them.

Kirk is just as much of a brother to me as my biological brothers. I love going to visit my sister, Lara. I get to hang out with her and just talk, but I also love going to see Kirk. He's always really good with advice (whether he knows this or not) and is really good to help me smile and laugh when I'm down about my major, classes, or even boys haha. Kirk has been a really good brother to me ever since he joined the family!

Whether Parker knows it not, I look up to him. We probably haven't always been the best of friends and maybe don't always get along with everything. And I'll admit, sometimes I can get a little frustrated with Parker, but regardless, I still look up to him. He's always had lots of friends and has never had to try. He's very athletic and up to trying new things. He's a hard worker and a very neat person. I think I wish I could be like Parker sometimes and maybe that's one of the reasons why I get frustrated with him a little bit but I really do admire him.

Mike is one of my best friends. His personality helps mine to relax, to just laugh about life, and be a complete dork. He makes me feel included and loved. All my brothers help with this, but it seems like Mike always pulls me aside and jokingly teases me, making me feel like I'm in on something. I feel like Mike would stick with me no matter what. He always has something nice and uplifting to say about me that has always helped to boost my confidence. Mike makes me feel comfortable to be myself and to be happy with who I am.

So this is a really long post and those of you who took the time to read it are probably bored out of your minds, but tonight I really miss my brothers. So of course I had to write about it and brag about how great they are. And these are just some of the things that make my brothers so amazing. I could write about a million different things and once this is posted I know I'm going to wish that I would have wrote more things or added something different. They all make me want to be a better person. The more I find out about my brothers, the more they amaze me. I really love them all and I hope that one day I can find someone as great as all of them.

I love you guys!

Epiphany

2009-09-15T12:36:00.000-07:00

I now know why I keep going back and forth, back and forth on my major. I love dental. I love learning about the mouth. Hearing about different discoveries, acid content in foods and how they affect your teeth, keeping teeth clean, and much, much more get me excited. Working for my brother for a week during summer 08' gave me a little insight as to what my job would be like. I loved being in a dentist's office all day. I liked being around people and making small conversation with them. And as weird as this sounds, I love the sounds you hear in a dentist's office. That week was really stressful and scary because I just got thrown into everything and it was all new to me but I really did love it.

So by the end of last summer I was completely set on dental hygiene as my future career. However, after being in school a few months, I began questioning and doubting. My grades haven't always been the best so I've always been nervous about getting into a program and it has made me wonder if dental hygiene is what I really want.

This year I think I've discovered another reasoning to my doubts and questioning. My freshman year I took a geography class and fell in love with it. It has been one of my all time favorite classes that I've taken here at BYU. And this sememster I'm taking History of Creativity as a Civ. credit. Like any other class, it's a lot of reading. It combines a lot of history and geography into it....at least so far...and I love it.

So now, here I am, back at BYU and although I'm sure on dental hygiene and I'm still going for it, I still kind of wonder. I think I love geography and some history just as much as I love dental. When I took my English class last semster, it got rid of the notion to major in English completely but any other class that involves any type of geography or history, it has made me question.

I think that if I could find good job security with a geography major and something that had an okay salary, then I would definitly consider that option and weigh both out. However, I can't really get either with geography so I guess that decides that. But at least I know why I question myself so much with dental hygiene.

Where The Blacktop Ends

2009-09-10T10:13:00.000-07:00

Keith Urban's concert was last night & it was seriously the best concert ever! He is an amazing performer & soooo talented. He performed a bunch of songs off of his new album & many of his older songs that are pretty popular. It was so much fun, especially because I knew every single song word for word! My roomate Callie went with Lety & me last night & although she didn't know every single song, she still said it was one of the best concerts she's ever been to. So it was Lety, Callie, & Me and then later on I saw a bunch of my friends who ended up sitting right behind us. I still can't get over at how good the concert was! Anyways, here's a few pictures of the concert. And just to warn you, they're not the best quality. Little Big Town (Opening Act)
Of course I had to post a pic of his smile!
Or two...

Oh man he's good looking! Beautiful, beautiful man!

It's Raining On A Sunday
Here's Keith out in the crowd. I had a better quality picture of this but I had to put this one up. Note the blonde girl in the teal shirt reaching out to touch him. That totally would have been me...Haha
We decided to buy t-shirts & sport them after the concert.
That's right. We look good in your shirt, Keith.
He also performed that song! :)

I Rocked the Road

2009-09-06T14:52:00.000-07:00

LITERALLY.

So last night started out pretty good. My sister-in-law Mikell set me up on a blind date which turned out to be really fun and then BYU won their game. Good night huh?

Yeah so after the date was over, Provo was going nuts. 40 year old guys were driving around the streets in mini-vans with their music blarring, giant BYU flags sticking out the windows, and ocassionally one of their little kids putting their head out of the window & screaming. Along with that, basically the entire student body was either driving their cars, honking their horns, or running up and down the streets screaming. And later on I even saw a couple who looked about 75-80 years old, go flying down the street in a convertable, waving shirts around. Insane. I decided to join in a little. A bunch of my buddies were going somewhere & since the streets were jam packed, we decided to walk. When it came to crossing streets at intersections, you had to run. That or be trampled.

So we're on our way home and we come to an intersection. The light tells us to go & everyone breaks out in a full run. So I ran along to stay safe. Next thing I knew I was smack down on the pavement. I got right up & starting running. My friend Aly kept asking if I was okay & telling me to sit down. I started losing my hearing so I did sit down. Aly kept talking to me but I couldn't hear her. Next thing I knew I was trying to stand up but couldn't because I was super dizzy & about 5 people had a hold of me pulling me back down. I had no clue where I was and it took me a while to figure it out & remember what had happened. Apparantly there was a little median in the middle of the road about 3-4 inches thick & the same in height. That's what I had tripped over.
I had passed out & a group of people had started to gather around me while I was out. So when I finally started to come to, I was really nauseous and Aly was asking me all sorts of questions, trying to get me to remember things. Meanwhile, I realized that blood was all over my arm, my big toe was covered in blood, & I was missing a toe nail. I had also hit my bum knee in the crash & it was all swollen & hurting. Aly had given me 3 words to try to remember & she asked me later what those words were & I couldn't remember. It sort of came back to me later but only with her help.
Anyways, a guy who had his car nearby was really nice & gave me a ride home since I could barely even stand straight. Then Aly, who is an athletic training major had the time of her life. She was all excited about cleaning out all of my wounds & getting some of the toe nail off that had stuck.

This is Aly. She had waaay to much fun at my expense.
Here's her version of the story
http://alyhyoung.blogspot.com/2009/09/passion-makes-all-difference.html

It's really not as bad as it looks. I just let Aly have her fun.

This is what I'm going to look like walking around campus for a while. Haha. But without the leftover road base all over my toes.

These pictures were from this morning after everything was cleaned up. Looks a lot better now. You can't really see in the these pictures but almost half of my toe nail really is gone.

Anyways, the first half of the night was fun & I had a good time. The last part, however....it's a little embarrassing.

New School Year, New Ward, New Apartment, New Roomies, New Calling, & New Furniture

2009-08-31T20:28:00.000-07:00

Sounds a little exhausting right? It has been for me at least! Ha. I don't know why but this first week of school has felt like the most exhausting week ever. Although this tends to be the easiest week of the school year, I have been tired! But I love my classes so far and I'm actually excited for them.

My ward seems awesome and it's huge! There are 3 Relief Societies & 2 Elders Quorums. Crazy! But also fun...more people to meet. My roomates are all really nice and it's been good with them. One seems pretty shy so far but she's still pretty nice. Candice is another and she is engaged so although she's pretty fun & nice to be around, we don't see her much between school, work, & the fiance. Callie was the last roomate I met and I get along with her so well. It's actually turned out to be pretty cool. Turns out one of my friends from Richfield knew her already & said she was pretty cool. Then as we've both been hanging out with friends, turns out she used to live with another girl from Richfield & was neighbors with another girl from Richfield who I played tennis with. And as Callie moved out of her old apartment, a girl from my freshman ward moved in. It's been kind of cool with all the little connections.

I went to my first meetings in my new ward & got a calling right away. When the Bishop first called me in I was really nervous & kept thinking as long as it wasn't a Sunday school instructor, I was game. Lucky for me, and everyone else in the ward, it has nothing to do with teaching Sunday school. The Bishop asked me if I would be Relief Society secretary. It's going to be a pretty time consuming calling but I'm actually really excited. It will be a great way to get close to the girls in the ward & that's something I'm not good at. I'm going to need a lot of help!

My new apartment complex has been a little slow on getting our apartment user friendly. The first day that I showed up to move some stuff in, the apartment was a mess. The last tenants didn't clean anything & the ownership didn't bother to either. They also brought end tables & a coffee table by & were supposed to come back to put those together but still haven't heard from them. So.........Callie & I got ambitions & decided to put some of them together.

Working on the coffee table.

You're In High School Then...

2009-08-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

Yep, it just got worse. It's been a little frustrating lately that people think I only look like a college freshman. My mom & sister tell me that I should be grateful for this, and I'm sure one day I will be, but right now it seriously stinks.

Guess I should have been grateful though because today, not just one, but three people thought I was still in high school. Wonderful. After the assumption I laughed and told them I was going to be a junior at BYU. Shock crossed their faces and they said, "Well, you sure don't look it." (meant to be read with a heavy Utah hick accent)

So...You'll Be A Freshman Right??

2009-08-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

You have no idea how many times I've heard that question the last 3 weeks or so. At restaurants, malls, stores, work, church, etc. People are a little surprised to hear me say that I'm about to start my third year of college and that I'm 20, soon to be 21. I probably shouldn't complain though. People used to think I was 17 when I was 19 so I guess college freshman is a little better.

Do I really look that young??

Satisfaction Does Not Come With Achievement...

2009-08-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

but with effort. Full effort is full victory."

...

I didn't win the Provo Half Marathon. I didn't even come close to placing 2nd, 6th, or even......1,000th. However, I was able to finish the race alive and to add the cherry on top, I finished my race 12 minutes before my initial estimated time. A couple weeks back I was pretty sick and out for a week. The following week, running nearly killed me so I was really worried about running this race. Depression about the race set in. I decided to do it anyways, even if it meant taking a longer time and walking part of the race. Last Saturday I finally got a 10 mile run in with the help of my sister-in-law Ashley who has become one of my best friends this summer. :) I felt a little more confident about the race but I still felt it was going to take me longer than my original estimated time. As I started the race, loaded up on Gu, I felt good. My pace was faster than normal and I wasn't feeling tired at all. I was able to run a full 10 miles without any walking breaks, which included a giant, never-ending hill, and the last 3 miles without hardly any breaks (even though my legs felt like jello). After the race I was drained physically and emotionally. Once we got back to the hotel I hopped in the shower, which immediately helped my muscles. After my body got past the shock of the whole thing a little bit, all I could think about was how good I felt, how exciting to have finished faster than I thought, and happy to have not finished close to the end of the line. I felt really good about myself and was so glad I had finished. So even though I didn't win the race, I am satisfied with myself and can't wait again till next year!

Wish Me Luck...Please!

2009-08-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

This Saturday I have to check in for my 1/2 marathon at 4:45 am which means I will have to be up just after 4:00 am, which to me is still Friday night.

Then, I get to run a whole whopping 13.1 miles.

Joy.

Wish me luck.

Wishful Thinking Leads to Confusion

2009-07-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

Since I've been home, living in Richfield, I've had a lot of free time to day dream. There's not a ton of people here my age and it seems like those that are here never really ever get together to do anything. Besides work, I pretty much have the rest of the day to do whatever I want and most of it requires little thinking. In order to be ready for my half marathon I've been running a lot. Running isn't my favorite thing to do so in order to help entertain myself, I day dream. My latest dream deals with what I think would be my ideal career. I would have to say that my overall most favorite thing is music. Although I'm not the most musically talented, I LOVE it. It's not just playing the piano, trying to learn the guitar, or singing (even though I sound horrible), it's discovering new bands, finding new songs, the different genres, the lyrics, the way I can relate to so many different artists, and the way I feel when I listen to music. I love how music can emphasize how you feel or even make you feel better. All you have to do is pick a certain song and it can dictate your feelings. It can make you feel happy, sad, energetic, angry, thoughtful, relaxed, beautiful, or about any other emotion out there. Music is such an escape for me. It provides a diversion from reality from time to time. So this summer during my day dreams I've thought, "Why not find a career that involves what I love the most?" I've gotten carried away thinking about the music industry and finding a job there. I think it would be amazing working for a major record label company like Sony Music Entertainment, EMI, Universal Music Group, or even an independant label. My job would be music. And depending on which direction I wanted to go, I could even integrate the whole English thing into my job. As amazing as a job in the music industry would be, it's not the most realistic. The music industry is ridiculously hard to even get into and it's lucky to find a good job. So although I know this will never work out for me, it's still fun to think about. It's also got me thinking about the current direction I'm headed in and if it's really what I want. I guess all this spare, leisure time that I have on my hands isn't good for me.....I'm confused...again.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

2009-06-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

Beware: This is a big sucker. I've slacked off when it's come to blogging this summer so here's just 2 of the exciting things that have happened since I've been home this summer.

But don't worry, it's mostly pictures :)

A couple of weeks ago we went to Sand Hollow to go wakeboarding and I've been procrastinating on blogging so here's a bunch of fun pictures that we took with Parker's nice, new camera. The weather was great. It wasn't too hot and there wasn't any wind really. The only reason why the water wasn't the best sometimes was because there were so many boats. With Sand Hollow you normally have to go in the middle of the week so it's not so crowded but we didn't really have an option & went on a Friday. Still soooo much fun though and worth it!

Also, this last Friday we went to Salt Lake to watch Mike compete in a Motocross race. Yes, Motocross! It was a blast and so much fun to watch him compete. The pictures turned out horrible because of lighting and because we were so far away but I'm still posting a few anyways.

Park didn't have his board with him so he had been using Mike's all day. On his last run of wakeboarding, he decided to try mine. Who knew he liked pink so much. Haha. He ended up loving it though and now wants a smaller board like mine, although not quite as small.

Anyways, this is the end of Sand Hollow for now.

These pics of Mike's aren't edited so they're not good looking at all but if I don't post them now, I'm afraid I never will. Mike had the lead the entire race right up until the last half of the last lap. He had a pretty good distance on everyone but every time he could tell where someone was behind him he got nervous & sped up really fast and at one point he sort of lost control & slid out. He still passed lots of people with barely any track left & ended up taking 4th. With a little more track I'm sure he could have at least taken 2nd or 1st. Here's some pics!

This was the track

Ethan & Me waiting for Mike's race to start

Mike at the starting line

Mike got a great start & that's him leading the way

Yep, that's him still in first still.

One & Only

2009-06-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

I've only ever owned 2 pairs of running shoes. The very first pair I received was right after my brother Chris & his wife Mikell were married. That summer they moved home to Richfield where Chris worked for my dad. I was still only like 11 or 12 so I hadn't started a summer job yet so I spent a lot of time hanging around and probably bugging Mikell. That summer, Mikell first sparked my first love for scrapbooking. I would go downstairs in the library with her and scrapbook. Mikell was also a runner so some mornings (if I could wake up early enough haha) I would go with her and run with her for a little bit. My mom gave me my first pair of Nike running shoes. I kept those shoes until I was 19. Because of high school sports, I was never a frequent runner so it took me a while to wear them out and when they did wear out, I never thought about getting new shoes. When I moved to Provo for school my freshman year, Nike & ipod came out with a cool running tracker that stuck in your shoe and kept track of your miles through your ipod. After running lots after high school, I thought this was pretty cool & wanted one. So come November/December near Christmas I asked for Nike Air Pegasus so I could have the tracking chip thing. I tried a couple of pairs on and they seemed comfortable enough and I've really loved them. I've been running lots with them for almost 2 years now. This last weekend my mom suggested that it was probably a good idea for me to get some new shoes, eespecially with my 1/2 marathon coming up so we went shopping. I didn't realize how worn out my shoes were until I looked at the tread and compared them to new shoes. They are pretty bad. Anyways, I tried on 3 different pairs and they all felt okay but as soon as the Nike Air Pegasus' came out, I was hooked. They were by far the most comfortable for me. Unless the shoe is changed a lot in the future, I think I'll stick with these. Althoguh I'm not 100% positive my first Nike's were Air Pegasus, I'm pretty sure they were. So I'm very excited to start my week out running with my 3rd brand new pair, cute pink & gray, Nike Air Pegasus.

Setting a Goal, Being Courageous & Accomplishing It.....Hopefully??

2009-06-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

This morning I called my sister to ask a favor of her. She wasn't home so I just left a message. While I was at work she called me back so I answered innocently thinking it was just about the favor I had asked. WRONG! Before I knew it, she had me saying yes to running a 1/2 marathon with her, my sister-in-law Mikell, my cousin Amber , hopefully my sister-in-law Ashley, and maybe even my brother Mike. Tricky sister. She even had me excited about it and I sent my check and papers in at lunch. 13.1 miles? What??

This is Sick!!

2009-05-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

The other night, Park asked me what I wanted to do this summer with wakeboarding. I told him I wanted to figure out the backflip. Last summer I was able to get upside but I seriously don't know how I did it. So this summer I'm reaching for a backflip. Parker said he wanted to do an air raley which I want to learn too but they're suppose to be super hard. An air raley is basically what people call the "superman." In other words, once you jump on the board, you throw the board out behind you while you're in the air like you're flying then bring your board back down to land. Anyways, Park and I started looking at wakeboard videos on youtube after this to get us excited and we found one of Shaun Murray that is SICK! I've seen other videos of him but this one is by far the best! It's amazing! I'm officially inspired to not be scared or shy away from trying things this summer no matter how hard I wreck and how much it hurts. I could never in a million years do the stuff he does but I at least want to learn some tricks. Here's a link to the video and trust me, you SHOULD watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhGkH6Mt_ZI

Little Wonders

2009-05-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day Weekend, I got to go with all of my brothers and my Dad on an all-day fourwheerler ride near the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. The trail we took heads up onto Cainan Mountain where my dad used to herd cows when he was a boy. It was really fun to see the crazy places my dad went on a horse and the views were AMAZING! Even though we have a house where the backyard is pretty much Zion's National Park, it still blows my mind how beautiful the desert can be and in so many places. Besides the views, the trip was great because I got to be with all my brothers and dad! I love hanging out with all the guys although they probably get sick of it sometimes. It was a great day! I don't want to post all the pictures we took because there are so many but I still couldn't rein myself in all the way so sorry there are so many! Anyways, there were so many other views I wish I could have gotten pictures of and these aren't the coolest ones but it lets you see a little bit.

There were wildflowers and cactus in bloom everywhere.

The first place we stopped was at a lookout that you could see Springdale from which is right at the mouth of Zion's National Park. Before we hiked the little trail leading to it, we stopped to start cooking lunch. The night before we had put together tinfoil dinners so we stuck them on the grill and they ended up being really good!

Crazy brother!

After lunch we picked everything up and headed towards the top of the mountain again. It was mostly sandy, smooth trails until we started heading down into a little wash area and it was rough! We had to park the Rhino it got so rocky and steep. I ended up on the back of Mike and he wouldn't ever let me off when the hills got so rocky the four wheeler was coming off the ground! Good thing I trust him. After heading back up from the wash, we got to a really bad part and Mike was the only one to try taking a four wheeler up it. The rest of us walked and took turns riding behind Mike. The view got prettier and prettier the further up the mountain we hiked and I wish I would have gotten pictures of it.

You can't totally tell from the picture but this thing was steep! If it were a better, bigger picture, you could see Chris & I think Parker holding the four wheeler down in the back so it didn't flip over on Mike. Not only was it super steep but it was also really uneven so the four wheeler would be tipping forward and to the side. My brothers were going down a lot worse than this though. This is a little worse than what Mike made me go down but pretty similar to the stuff he wouldn't let me get off the four wheeler for. Mean brother huh? Haha.

This is the last view we got to because it started getting late and we still had to head back to the truck. We could also see a rainstorm coming and because of the slick rock, we wouldn't have been able to get out of there if it started raining. This picture isn't good at all because in real life it looked a lot higher and a lot prettier. This view was amazing yet scary!

There was a view that I wish we could have gotten a picture of but the picture would not have done the view justice at all. Once we started hiking with the one fourwheeler and got to the top of the mountain, you could see these pure white rock mountains off in the distance that I've never seen before. My Dad said you normally can't see them because they're so high. They were huge! And gorgeous!

Anyways, I'm glad I got to go on this little trip. It was so much fun and amazing to see this area that is amazingly beautiful and where my Dad has so much history.

The Happiest Place on Earth

2009-05-12T16:45:00.001-07:00

Last week my entire family went to California to go to Disneyland. We all left at different times but by Thursday morning, we were all at Disneyland. Dad, Mom, Park, and I left Tuesday evening and got to California really late that night. The next day we headed to California Adventure then ended up in Disneyland before we met up with my brother Dave and some of his in-laws for dinner at Huntington Beach. The rest of the week we mostly spent going back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure. Saturday we went back to Huntington Beach to shop and play around. Here are some of the pics from the trip. I totally forgot to take pics with my camera so I'm stealing these from my mom and hope to steal some from my sister when she gets back from Japan.

First Day in California Adventure with Lara's family.

California Adventure was all torn up with all the water gone. They're working to create a water/color show.

Going to Disneyland :)

After all day at California Adventure we were a little tired so we hopped a ride.

First night at Huntington Beach after dinner. We're out on the pier.

Finally the whole family. It was really funny going on rides because those working would ask us how many of us in a group. We would reply with at least 13 and sometimes there was more depending on the ride and the height requirement.

"It's a small world after all." (Amber I know you and Paul hated this ride but I loved it. :) It was so cute! Haha)

The grandkids were suppose to stay close and hold someone's hand so this is what Jacob & Emma did. How sweet huh?

Friday night the rest of the family went back to the hotel to go to bed except Dad, Park, Mike, Chris, Mom, & me. Parker, Mike, Mom, & Dad hadn't been on Space Mountain yet and we all really wanted a churro so we headed over to the ride and the wait ended up being 55 minutes...no way Jose. We went and got a churro instead and probably waited in line almost a half hour for those babies. It was definitely worth it though :)

Saturday afternoon we headed back to Huntington Beach. We went to BJ's for a late lunch/early dinner before Lara, her kids, & Mike headed for the airport. It was my sister-in-law, Mikell's birthday that day so we went shopping so she could spend some birthday money and then headed down to the beach for the sunset.

We ended up going to Cold Stone afterwards to help celebrate Mikell's birthday then headed back to the hotel.

The vacation was wonderul and I loved being with my entire family even though it got a little crazy when we were all together. Disneyland was great and the weather was wonderful.

I can't wait to go back.

Jon Schmidt

2009-05-11T22:18:00.000-07:00

Jon Schmidt is one of my favorite composers when it comes to piano music. Although playing some of his songs can be a little frusterating for small hands, I still love it. His music is amazing and he comes up with some of the coolest arrangements. A few years ago he combined Cannon in D with a U2 song and it's been one of my favorites. Now he's combined Taylor Swift's Love Story and Coldplay's Viva La Vida. It's beautiful. I'm so jealous that someone can be so musically talented! Anyways, here's a link for the song on youtube. It is a little long but check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v3d6SFcDys

New Blog

2009-05-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to get a new blog for a while, mostly because I do not want a url with my full name in it. So, I won't be using my old blog anymore and from here on out I'll be using this address.

I'll start posting pretty soon. I just got back from California and Disneyland last night and as soon as I get some pictures uploaded onto my computer I'll let you know how that went and update my boring, little life in Richfield. :) Haha enjoy.