I really hate this place...

Sorry, this is nothing but a venting session. You can agree or disagree with my current distaste. Saturday it was sunny and 60 degrees, beautiful...well, beautiful except for the fact that what the sun was shinning on were a bunch of dead nasty tree skeletons, dead brown grass, nasty muddy gutters, unkempt yards, and dirty buildings & houses. I'm not complaining about the sun at all, just the effects of 6 months of snow. And of course that sunny day was simply another teaser because yesterday the snow came back, blizzard style. Today I went downstairs to leave for work at the cheery hour of 7 a.m. and there was a heaping 8 inches of snow on my car. So, much to my extreme annoyance I pulled the scraper out of the trunk where I thought I had put it AWAY for Spring. The wind was blowing something like 40 mph and as I dusted the snow off holding my 4 bags and bagel the wind blew my hair to a wet frenzy and so lovingly blew chunks of snow from the car into my face, eyes, and mouth. After a few words of profanity, covering myself with snow, and having the freshly applied mascara drip down my face, I took off for the 20mph drive past all the poor fools who slid off the road. Why do I want to move out of Utah you all ask? OH I DON'T KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

MOAB has Bright Stars and Red Rocks!

I have a fabulous Bishop. He's the coolest and loves to do fun things and always invites some of us along, even if it's with his family. We are really tight buddies and as luck would have it, I didn't have to be at rehearsal on Saturday....soooooo, Lisa and I took off to Moab to meet our Bishop and some fellows in our ward to camp, hike, and ride four-wheelers. It ended up being so much fun! I loved it! Moab is gorgeous! It was fun to go back :)



Ha ha ha! Yes that's a pretty good face I'm pulling...and it was brought on by my apparently dramatic reaction to the bright flash. You see, we had just hiked up to Delicate Arch in the pitch dark with flashlights (which was fun and slightly frightening at the same time) and my eyes were adjusted to darkness, so that flash was WAY more than I could handle. The best thing about this night hike was the AMAZING and BREATHTAKING display of stars. I've never seen that many stars in my life! We could see the Milky Way and so many constellations, many of which I forget the name of. I was truly amazed, it was awesome!


So, we went back the next morning so that we could see what the beautiful rocks and arches look like in the sunlight. I love this picture.


Lisa, Callie, and I


Ryan and I after our long scenic ride. Sorry that I left my camera in the car so I don't have pictures of the great things we saw while on our ride. This is just the dirt parking lot where we started. Speaking of dirt, we were covered! It took seven Q-tips to clean out my ears completely. Lisa's red dirty face was definitely the best.


The four-wheeling adventure crew...Bishop Kitchen is in the back with his hat backwards, he's the bomb!!!

"Run Like a Princess!"

1/2 marathon #2 in my life was much more pleasant :) Perhaps it was due to the fact that it involved running through the Magic Kingdom castle in Disney World! However, next time these feet hit the road for 13 miles, I would love to have a friend running with me! Thanks to Jamie for droppin' me off at the crack of dawn and then coming to cheer me through Main Street. She took some fun pictures of our activities over the weekend and I don't have them yet...so just know that we totally went to Blizzard Beach water park and slid our day away and it was a blast!!! I was not happy at all when I came home to snow!!!...and my job. I'm actually still trying to recover from the sun, Disney, and Jamie withdrawls...it's been a week. It was a great time. The only disappointing thing was that I wasn't able to pick up a shift to work, which could turn into something tragic, but I'll worry about that later!


I wasn't exactly ready for this one, but Minnie and Mickey are so cute!!!


Agraba


Later that day once I was cleaned up a little :) Aren't we cute? We are by some yellow flower trees at Magic Kingdom that Jamie loves.


At the Cirque store...uh, yes, that is Dustin ON THE BAG, and he's a sticker! We bought them. He's famous!


Dinner with Erin and Meg!

A VERY Quick Inspiring Trip

I spent a total of 44 hours in my homeland of So. Cal this past weekend and it was fantastic!!! 44 hours ended up being enough time to:

1. Be rejuvenated by the PERFECT weather
2. Get some vitamin D rays from the sunshine
3. Run 7 miles through my old neighborhood, elementary school, and park where I played softball
4. Eat In N Out and Taqueria with Brynn
5. Play some old school Mario Brothers on Nintendo with a hilarious 3 year old (Dallin)- or should I say "Mapio"
6. See and spend all too quick time with 5 of my very best friends
7. Attempt surprising Adriane at her baby shower (turns out she was on to me)
8. Hold THREE one month old babies
9. Play with two other little guys who I adore <3 Heart for my Fisher
10. Attend Church
11. Be treated by the voo-doo magic of Matt
12. Oh...and eat some very squishy brownies right out of the oven...YUM!


The adorable, happy Adriane with her Dr. Seuss basket!!! Gettin' ready for baby Jude!



Eating in the perfect weather at the shower with some of the best long-time buds, great day! (Wendy, Holly, me, Bre, Michelle)



Plus Brynn and Adriane=perfection!



Too bad I'm a goof with the mango, otherwise this could be cute...



Holly's perfect sweet twin boys! Caeden and Brysen :) They're so tiny and I love them- so happy for her!



Brynn and Caeden



Brysen



OH, excuse Holly's poor engorged chest, ha ha- well, that's what they're for folks! Women have utters. She's amazing...



Cute Aubs! She's Brynn's little gem, and the hilarious Dallin wouldn't pose for a picture!



Quick visit with Sari



My favorite little Schmoopies!!! Fish and Ty



The newest of the Schmoopie family, Alex



Sweet Carrie has her hands full with three little ones, but they are such an adorable family and she amazes me!

Welcome Home Elder Cody Jordan!!!

Cody came home after a grand two years in Paraguay on Thursday!!! Pam went and picked him up and spent a week in the humidity and sunshine. They came home to snow, of course. Loads of the rest of us played hooky and went to the airport...it was awesome! I'm so happy to see him! We are leaving for Rexberg today for Leslies babys' blessing so I don't have much time, but I want to post these pictures! Also, we went to the hospital after the airport to see poor, cute, brave Nate who had to have a second brain surgery and we're praying they got all the cancer out!!!!!!

The Old Fashioned Way...

Ah, cell phones...
So, I consider myself pretty un-reliant upon my cell phone.
And, in fact, it has turned out to be pretty true.
I much prefer the old fashioned way of communication...you know, face to face?
And if that's not possible, I will actually make a telephone CALL much more happily than a text message or facebook message, etc... Imagine that... speaking with someone using the voice; being able to hear the sound of precious laughter...
Anyway, that's slightly off topic. The point is that my cell phone became possessed by demons about three weeks ago. The slow decay went something like this:
1. Ear piece stops working, can only hear people by putting them on speaker phone
2. All letters and numbers on the screen are all of a sudden backwards...BACKWARDS! LoL
3. Screen color fades, picture of D-World castle on wallpaper fading in and out
4. Complete screen white out, can't see a thing
5. A full day of thinking it's the end for poor Mr. Phone of three years
6. A discovery! I can still place a call if I put it on speaker phone and dial a number I have memorized...hmmm...a number I have memorized...in creeps the reliance.

Numbers I have memorized and on speed dial: my parents house, my mom's cell, Pam, Kevin, Jamie, Lisa....
So, guess who I've talked to on the phone for the last two weeks? Yep, the above mentioned and nobody else. Text messages? Forget it! The new phone I ordered is supposed to be mailed to my parents house, but was apparently on back-order, and hasn't been shipped yet. Goodie.

Until then, I have enjoyed a few experiences of "calling on" friends the old old fashioned way. I just SHOW UP! ha ha! It's great! On Saturday morning I woke up my friend Brittany at 10a.m. after being let into her apartment, then knocking on her bedroom door. She barely emerged from her dark basement bed chamber to open the door. SURPRISE!
On Tuesday afternoon I went running up Provo Canyon and on my way home decided I wanted to stop at my friend Tiff's since it's on the way...so , I just went and knocked on the door. SURPRISE!
It's pretty fun, actually.
But to those of you who live farther from me, who maybe would have enjoyed a phone call or something in the past few weeks, I'm sorry! I love you!

11 year old boys...

I'm actually an expert. I know them and I know the well. Some people have other talents, but unfortunately one of mine is the mastery of the 11 year old boy. I can read their minds, anticipate their every move, and know exactly what they will love to do or hate.I have complete control over them, like puppets. Obviously they have different personalities and some are more mature or more kind than others, but many things are constant across the board. I actually love the 11 year old boy, they're hilarious. I would prefer to be with one at a time, instead of 17 in one room. I thought I would share just one tiny moment of my life being surrounded by these creatures...

This week for writing we made "How to..." pamphlets. The activity started a couple days ago with me making a PB&J sandwich in front of them, following their instructions exactly...which led to a ripped hole in the sandwich bag, a stabbed slit in the top of the PB jar lid, etc. Not because that is what they wanted me to do, but because I was trying to make a point about giving detailed instructions. "Stick the knife in the peanut butter" is what they got if that is what they said to do next. Anyway, (this is something the 11 year old boy LOVES, by the way) the assignment was then to write exact instructions for how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That led to the next assignment of choosing something they were an expert at and making a pamphlet of directions for How to....whatever. How to french braid, how to brush your teeth, how to put in a contact, how to paint your nails, etc. The typical 11 year old boy moment I want to share is to do with How to Make a Grilled Cheese Sandwich...

Taylor chose that for his pamphlet. Today we shared the finished products in front of the whole class. Because I know them all so well, I knew exactly what would happen when Taylor got up to share his pamphlet. Colored nicely, fun pictures and title on the front, great diagrams inside and some instructions. I was actually excited for the laughter that I knew would roar when he got to step 5.

Step 5: Cut the cheese

I had prepared for the insane laughter from the boys, the tears from Taylor's eyes as he laughed-realizing for the first time the double meaning in his Step 5 , MY laughter at them, and of course...the fart sounds from the boys mouths throughout the classroom. What I didn't prepare for was the LENGTH of this laughter and the inability to move on...until I was forced to get pretty stern...lol This is my life folks. This is my sad sad life.