Bonnie's Babblings

The Pressure! The Pressure!!

2011-04-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Alright, that's it. I've finally succumbed.

Steph, SuZan....you win! I have done some research, I have done some work, and my blog will now be moved over to Shutterfly.

In about 10 minutes I'm going to be sending out member invites to those whose e-mail address I have (which unfortunately does not include SuZan) if you don't get an invite from me and you'd like one please leave a comment on this post telling me you'd like one and leaving me your e-mail address.

For all you faithful readers who would still like to follow my blog the new url is:
http://itsabeautifuldayinmylife.shutterfly.com/bonniesbabblings

That should take you straight to my new blog. I know it doesn't look super awesome right now but please give me some time, I'm still trying to figure it out. Hopefully most of you will follow me over and keep reading, I love my readers!!! Hope you're having an AWESOME weekend! You know....now that it's almost over.

Battle of the Brains

2011-04-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Family

2011-04-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

Monday's Memory

2011-03-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

This kid! This kid....was my bestest friend ever in high school!! He's also my brothers best friend. But we have had so many good memories together!! Our Christmas Dance, the many corn mazes we've been through, all the afternoon and early morning talks we've had. The many memorable bus rides we've had and all the weird people who've run into us and just started having really weird conversations. RuG and I couldn't look at each other or we would have busted laughing in their faces.

I have missed this kid so freaking much! And THIS KID is getting home in two days!! We have so many memories and he is getting home so soon! I am so stoked!! We're going to make more memories and have more good times! Assuming of course he hasn't gone crazy on his mission and we are still friends :-D But I'm sure we will be. I'm so excited!!!!

Factual Friday!

2011-03-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

Did you know?

That it took Leo Tolstoy 6 years to write War and Peace?

This fact makes me feel better about the fact that it took me about 6 years to read it....

Sam-Attack and the Rockin' Tunes

2011-03-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Monday's Memory: Sisters

2011-03-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

I am lucky enough in my life to have not just one sister, but five. I am even luckier that I am on amazing terms with all five of them and I consider them not merely my sisters but five of my dearest friends and confidantes.

With 4 of the 5 I have pretty much always been on good terms. I mean we are certainly closer now than we were in the past, but we've pretty much always gotten along. But one of them....well let's just say there was a time in the past when we weren't super close. In fact we kinda sorta hated each other. And that's who I'd like to dedicate this post to.

Pamela is the sister that closest to me in age. We're separated by my brother Thom in the line of family children, but she's the closest sister age wise- she's a mere 3 years older than me. If you want to get really technical it's only 2 years and 10 months :-D And for so many years we couldn't stand the sight of each other. We both lived in the basement, sharing bunk beds, or dressers, or just space in general and we fought constantly. I'm sure we drove our mother to her wits end more than once. We simply could NOT get along.

Then one summer, while I was up in Washington my room got transferred from the basement up to the den. There were enough kids gone out of the house that Pam could have her own room and I could have my own room. It was the summer before my 14th birthday and the summer before her 17th birthday. And something magical happened. It seemed that almost as soon as we no longer had to share anything we became best friends.


One of the many classic, pure "Pam" pictures that I've taken and/or seen taken over the last 5 years

We started doing everything together. Well, lots of things. She worked all the time, I was in school. Then she was in college, I was in college, we both still worked. She had a boyfriend who created some demands on her time, etc.... Needless to say we were busy but we still found time to do things together. We were the only girls left at home and we decided to stick together. We decided that we needed to become real sisters and begin to love and appreciate the other for who they were.

We started sharing willingly (I can't even count the number of clothes we've swapped and/or 'borrowed' for extended periods of time from each other. Mostly shoes though seeing as how we're not the same size...) We started doing things for each other without even thinking twice. I was the only person who could get Pam to do something domestic around the house. She became one of the VERY few people who could get me to stop reading a book I was really enjoying to go and spend time with her. (I'm serious, I get intense when I'm reading a good story, most people have just learned to leave me alone...) Together we became some of the best customers that Redbox has ever had. We had so many midnight exploits up at Smiths. And so many curious glances drawn to us because we were laughing hysterically at something that only we saw, or that only we understood.

In November of 2009 Pam got her mission call to the Santa Rosa, California Spanish speaking mission. She left on December 30th 2009. I was so excited for her! She has been planning on serving a mission since she was about 12, and she was so excited to get her call! She was so excited to go! And we were both so mutually sad about leaving each other, but we counted the blessing that she was only in California so our communication would be pretty constant and assured.


Pam with one of her companions, Hermana Martinez.

And she has loved her mission. She's loved it more than almost anything she's ever done in her life. She doesn't actually want to acknowledge that it's got to come to an end eventually.

Her mission had done great things to and for her! She willingly cooks now, and makes her bed daily. She has grown in her capacity to love people and I can just tell that she's been changing and maturing so much (not that she wasn't mature before she left, she totally was- she's just more so now)


Making some sort of Spanish tasting food that she's assured me is delicious and that I will get made for me something this fall I'm sure

When she gets back we've talked extensively of all the things we'll do. I've been making lists while she's been gone, of all the movies and books and music and such that she needs to be caught up on. We're planning a marathon that will last about a week to catch up on everything. She's asked me to consider the idea of moving out of home and getting an apartment together (which would of course be more expensive than living at home, but we would have some really rocking times)

The main reason I wrote this somewhat disoriented blog post is because I know that Pam is having some hard times right now. Nothing serious, she's just a bit down and nothing seems to be going right. We've jokingly titled me her 'support group' because I keep in SUCH constant communication with her. And I know that she can't read this blog post. But I'm sure that she'll somehow feel the incredible amounts of love that I've poured into the post, and the amounts that I'll pour into the letter that I'm about to go and write her. And that's why I dedicate this post to Pam, one of my fabulous sisters (and yes, I am completely aware that I will now have to dedicate posts to my other 4 sisters to keep things fair and even :-P) I love her more than words can say and I know she'll pull through, with her natural strength and tenacity and the strength the Lord is giving her because she is doing His work. I adore and admire her with all my heart.

Roaming 25th Street!!

2011-03-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

I met a friend. Her name is Emily. She's awesome. We're buds! We actually had met each other at the beginning of January and worked together a few times but she thought I was like 22 or 23 and I was busy doing other things and we never really clicked. Then on Friday the 11th we were casually chatting about the concert type of thing that we were planning on going to that night and she found out that I was only 19 and much closer to her age and I just discovered that I enjoyed talking to her. And we clicked!

Well that night of Friday the 11th I discovered that Emily and Alexa, another friend of mine, had NEVER randomly roamed around 25th street! Or downtown Ogden for that matter! I of course had gone to school in downtown Ogden so I'm quite familiar with the streets and I offered to be their 25th Street guide. We wandered around and had a grand time but we had to get to the concert so time was limited, plus we saw so many things that needed to have a picture taken of but we didn't have a camera! So we decided that someday we would come back. And we did! Last night.

Alexa had been having some guy troubles and so we had decided to have a girls night out to support her and talk her through the times. But of course the serious conversations we had in that regard did not keep us from noticed and doing all the fun things we'd thought of last week! Here's just a few highlights! You can go to facebook for the full set.


This was the sign that started it all! This was the sign we saw on the night of the 11th that we REALLY wanted to get a picture of. I know it's still technically graffiti but it's such creative graffiti! Totally cracks me up!


This is the first of a three part picture series. We were walking by the Lindquist Field when we saw that there was this HUGE row of green trash cans just chillin' there, not chained or anything. Just trash cans! So Emily contemplated trying to run away with one.


Suddenly she made a split decision! She grabbed the trash can with lightning quickness!


And the getaway! Have to be honest, running away with a trash can is not the most subtle thing that you can do in your life....she was pretty obvious. We gave her props for originality though!


Alexa picked up a scary looking metal pipe. I refused to touch it. I stick by my theory that it is probably carrying some sort of horrid disease. It was pretty helpful in keeping those pesky guys away though.


This was my favorite sign that I saw all night long!! It was on the side of the Marriot Hotel, the side that they had kept decorated like it was still the 1910's. The side that advertises open rooms for only $2 a night. Now remember all you Coke drinkers out there! Don't just be refreshed! Be really refreshed!!!


And that's Emily with the two little men that were painted on the wall. Again, I know that it's graffiti but at least these people are original right?!


Be REALLY refreshed people!


Nothing says "We trust the people of Ogden" like two benches chained to each other....and a tree. This did give rise to one of the best quotes of the night though! Alexa: "Hey Emily, look at that pimped out Impala! You should do that do your car!" Emily: "No way! You wouldn't catch me dead in that car! Oh wait...it is Ogden, maybe you WOULD catch me dead in that car...." I laughed so freaking hard! Emily is form Plain City, I guess she's just not used to our wicked ways :-P


Ah! A crowning part of our night! We were walking by Farr's when we noticed this empty Bobcat. Emily really wanted to sit in this Bobcat and have Alexa in the shovel and get a great picture and more memories! But when she sat down an alarm sounded and she literally FLEW out of that chair (that's where the picture comes in) and jumped and landed ninja style clear out on the opposite side of the sidewalk. It was talent! Who knew that empty Bobcat's came equipped with alarms?! Not us! We sure do now though...

Friday night brings to life the fact that no matter what you're doing if you're with the right people ANYTHING can be fun! Walking around 25th street would always be interesting, no matter who you're with. But who knew that aimless wandering for hours could be so fabulous?! Of course it is possible that this was just because you had 3 girls and a camera. Always a winning combination!

Point of Clarification

2011-03-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

I would just like to make a quick clarification about my Factual Friday (not for this last Friday the 18th but for Friday the 11th)

For those of you who were curious about how a topic of breathing the same air that Jesus once breathed could come up while watching V for Vendetta you obviously don't know how my father and I can get when we're in the same room together. Side tangents build upon side tangents. I wish I could remember EXACTLY how it happened but I couldn't follow the tangent exactly. I do believe that it started when I made a comment about how it would be hard to breathe while constantly wearing that mask at the same time that dad made a comment about the symbolism of the movie.

It just kind of went from there :-D

Factual Friday!

2011-03-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

The particular fact for this week totally explains to me how I can get so ridiculously dehydrated, even when I'm not doing anything particularly active.

Did you know?

The human body loses half a liter of water a day through breathing-- this is the water vapor that we see when we breathe onto glass.

Crazy eh?

A 1939 Honeymoon

2011-03-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

Monday's Memory

2011-03-14T08:46:00.000-07:00

I know that you're not supposed to have favorites where relations are concerned, and normally I'm really good about following that rule. I don't have a favorite sibling, or a favorite niece/nephew, or a favorite parent (or if I do that information will never actually leave my brain :-P) But I must admit that I do have a favorite set of grandparents, and even this information would never leave my brain except I really don't think there's much danger of my father ever reading my blog- and if he does I think he'd understand.

My mom's parents, my Nana and my Poppa, were the best grandparents in the world. When you think of ideal grandparents (at least when I do) they are the ones that pop into my head. For a long time they lived out in Michigan and I rarely saw them but they were very good about sending Christmas Cards and pictures and whenever we did get to go and see them it was a huge treat!

And then one year I discovered that they were moving to Ogden!! They were too old to live on their own and they wanted to be closer to more kids (Of the 5 only 2 lived out east and one of those was only there for half the year) and they ended up picking out a retirement home less than half a mile from where I lived. I was SO excited!!!

Those were the glory years :-P I remember sleepovers at their apartment, trick or treating at Harrison Regent (got some of the BEST swag ever those years) I remember my Nana and Poppa having a jar full of oreos and little candies and we literally were not allowed to leave their house without taking some. But one thing that I remember the dinner.

I don't even truly remember why we were having the dinner. It was some special occasion I'm sure, and Nana wanted to have dinner with the two of her children who lived nearby and their spouses. Poppa had died in 1998 but Nana wanted to have a nice dinner. We kids threw ourselves into the idea with all shades of enthusiasm and tried to make it as wonderful as possible. For whatever reason I remember that all of our decorations were silver. I'm not entirely sure why, but that was the color of choice! We had silver bells, silver wreaths, everything that our minds imagined making a day as special as could be. And in our backyard we set up our summer tent, complete with decorations and a beautiful table set up underneath.

For some people that would have been enough. But not for us. We decided to have a waiter/waitress service available to them. The dinner was, after all, all the way in the backyard. So Thom, my brother, and Sarah, my cousin dressed up in slacks and white shirts, and practiced how we imagined truly amazing waiters/waitresses would serve.


Thom had heard somewhere that proper waiters never showed emotion (I believe he was mixing up Butlers with Waiters, but no matter. It was so hard to get a smile out of him that entire night) But here we have Sarah and Thom simultaneously removing dirty dishes while placing down pie. They really had it down...


See? We were so proper that we even had the towels over arms like real waiters do- we were determined to do it right!

Alas I don't have many more picture from that night (not ones that are co-operating anyways) when you're 11 you don't really think about the importance of taking picture. But it's still a night that will live in my memory. Trying to do something really special for our Nana because she was always doing special things for us.

Today was a Grateful Day

2011-03-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

Don't worry, it won't be like my forever long post of things that make me blissfully happy, I just realized today that there are a couple things in my life that I am completely grateful for.

See it all started this morning when my father told me that he and I were off to clean the church building for Sunday. This isn't new for me, I grew up frequently cleaning the church on Saturdays but normally we had a couple other people to help, but today it was just me and him and the whole huge church. Which was filthy.

As I was working and thinking (with, I have to admit, some disgust) about what kind of people would let their place of worship get into this kind of state it hit me just how lucky I was that I had been raised to treat things that are important to me with respect, and to always, ALWAYS treat things that are of God with respect. Initially it was just a thought that came and went, but about an hour later as I was cleaning something else I realized how grateful I was that my parents had raised me with a good old fashioned sense of work ethic. I was grateful that I not only believed in getting the job done right, but that I knew how to get a job done right and I didn't mind the extra work that is typically involved in getting it done right. My thoughts went from that to being EXTREMELY grateful that I am physically able to work! I always feel so badly for people who would love nothing more than working and aren't actually able to. I feel so blessed that I can.

And that just kind of set off a day of gratitude. All day long I would see things and realize just how lucky I am. My friend gave me a call letting me know that she was back with her cheating boyfriend because she was just so afraid of being alone and I was so grateful that my fear of being alone never overpowered the knowledge that I was worth more. I was grateful that I knew I was worth waiting for.

I was at the store and my cashier was an extremely unpleasant person and I was just grateful that I am lucky enough to have a personality that is naturally more able to see the good sides of life and enjoy all that I have.

A friend that I've only recently met but that I already am quite certain I will adore tremendously texted me and we had a fabulous conversation that made me grateful that I get to meet so many wonderful people in my life and enjoy their company.

Today was just a grateful day! I have so much and I'm so thankful for it! Today was a grateful day.

Factual Friday!!

2011-03-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Here it is! My second in a row! I am so very proud of myself!

And today's fact is: *drumroll please*

It is virtually 100% certain (which means not quite 100% but past 99.9% [I know, why isn't it 100%? Doesn't seem like there's much left to go from there does it?]) that if you take a breath of air at least one molecule in that breath will be a molecule that Christ breathed 2,000 years ago. Isn't that crazy?!

Today's random and obscure fact is thanks to my father and the rather odd conversation that we were having last night over V for Vendetta. Thanks again dad!

Worn Out

2011-03-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Monday's Memory

2011-03-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Alright here goes, I've finally joined the ranks of Monday's Memory bloggers. I've got to be honest, I'm a little scared. What if I'm not a good memorist....memorist? That's totally not a word. Ah well you'll all love me anyways right?

Now since last Saturday was my last day at Jakes, I decided that for my first Monday Memory I would reminisce about my first day at Jakes.

It was November of 2007, and I had just totaled my brothers truck, which was the whole reason I was getting a job there anyways. My first shift started at 6 and I was in training. Lisa, who owns Jakes, was in charge that night and I was terrified! I walked in, filled out my forms, read the rules, put on my nifty Jakes shirt and began a love affair that lasted for the next 3 years. (Ok well it wasn't all love, there was a whole lot of frustration, anger, hurt, worry, and fear that mixed itself in with the joy and love- but isn't that like every relationship?)

I knew I was working with the owner and I wanted to be super impressive, I did the best I could to pick up on everything quickly and get along well with everybody. It was easier than I thought at before I knew exactly what had happened Lisa was coming up to me, and telling me that I had done a terrific job and that I could go home.

I walked home in a daze. That was it? I had just completed my first day on a job where I had a W-2, a uniform, in other words, a REAL job. I was so proud! I had survived!

I carried this memory with me on Saturday night, as customer after customer came pouring into Jakes and we had our first night over 2,000 for the year 2011. I kept up a mantra that if I had survived my first night I could certainly survive my last. And I did, with no bruises, no harm, and no lasting damage to my sanity.

A part of me is sad that this stage of my life is over *fingers crossed* but a part is also excited, and ready to move on! Besides, it's not like Jakes is that far away from me :-D I'm sure I'll be up there plenty in the future.

Friday's Fact

2011-03-04T16:56:00.000-08:00

Ok so about 95% of the blogs that I follow have two things: Monday's Memory and Wordless Wednesday. I love reading and seeing these blog posts and I have been lately toying with the idea of joining in on this. But as I was considering it I realized that something was missing. I mean, when you say Monday and Wednesday right after each other the natural word that follows is Friday. And I realized we were missing Friday! Then I thought that maybe Friday felt left out, and I hate it when inanimate things feel left out in my imagination. It just hurts my heart.

So I have decided that I am going to institute a Friday Fact. Just every Friday a random fact about absolutely anything that I find interesting I will share with all of you! It's a win-win for me because now I can not only do a Monday Memory and a Wordless Wednesday guilt free but I can get to know tons and tons of useless trivia and feel smarter! And who knows? Maybe it will catch on and my name will become famous in the blogging world!

(*snorts with laughter* Yeah, like THAT'D ever happen. First off there really aren't enough people reading my blog to make it famous and secondly I'm so sure that someone else has come up with this idea before...I'm just taking credit because I'm not SURE if anyone has. I'll just be happy if one person I know picks it up, then I'll feel special. Anyways, on to the the fact)

As my fact is really obscure and odd (a little like me) let me just quick give you a little background. The Dewey Decimal System is the system that the vast majority of libraries use to sort and organize their books. In the DDS you have 10 main systems, 10 classes in each system, and 10 sections in each class. And each book is a assigned a decimal number correlating to author and title of book. Short explanation, you might be more confused than before, sorry, but I felt it necessary to let you know that before I posted my fact...so I guess you get two facts! Yay!! Ok, fact now. (Also I promise next Fridays will be MUCH shorter)

Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey Decimal category.

Moving!

2011-03-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

I feel like I should warn you all that this post is probably going to be pretty boring. It's not a fun story or anything, it's really just an update. But it does contain some news that I am SUPERLY DUPERLY excited about!!!

Last Wednesday Mom and I flew up to Washington to help my sister and brother-in-law, Val and Jacob, move down to Twin Falls, ID. Jake got a job at the hospital there and he started Monday (late happy first day wishes Jake!!) and so all weekend we packed and sorted and cleaned out their house in Colfax, and then we drove down to Twin Falls.

Ok, I do have to interject a quick story here. So pretty much ALL of Friday I was freezing right? The door to the house had been open all day (since we were loading a truck it was kind of pointless to close it...) so the house was cold and outside was cold and I was just cold! And for some reason I never got properly warm in the U-HAUL truck that Val and I were in on our way to Twin Falls. Val was roasting but I was slightly if not more than slightly cold the entire way from Colfax to Le Grande. We stopped in Le Grande for the night and got a hotel and the first thing we did was make sure that the heater was on full blast. It was going and I was so happily warm and my bed was right next to the heater! I was in heaven. And then it like exploded!!! Ok, no it didn't EXPLODE in the traditional sense of the word, but it started heaving out heat! It was SO SO SO hot! The entire hotel room was practically molting it was so hot and I could not for the life of me figure out how to turn it down! I looked at it, turned my cell phone light on it, but I must have been extremely tired because all of the symbols on the heater looked suspiciously like a foreign language...not even a regular foreign language. They looked like a made up foreign language...like gnomic or something. So I tried sleeping on the floor but it was FREEZING down there! I mean seriously there was no happy medium between the two! So I tried the bed again and I was tossing and turning and moving and jumping and harrumphing trying to get a good spot. I think I finally found one that was pretty ok near the end of the bed, hanging a little off with my head and arms...needless to say Val and Jake chuckled when they woke up and saw me...And then the next day we headed out on the road and I was freezing all over again. Sometimes I think there is no justice in this world....Anyways, moving on...

Val and I were in one of the U-HAUL's together and we had SUCH a good time driving! We listened to the radio and mocked the stations and quoted movies and created inside jokes and played the alphabet game (silently of course, until you get to Z which you shout out triumphantly since you've just won! [Of course the other person didn't know you were playing and some people {those with ridiculously high moral standards if you ask me} consider this unfair] but it's much easier to win this way) and we also created a new version of the alphabet game, the Symbol Game. Along the same lines but much harder...and way more fun. Well, if you're with the right people.

Anyways, eventually we got to Twin Falls and we got them unloaded (I have to say, I think Val's new ward is gonna rock! No less than 5 elders showed up to help us unload the trucks. They will forever live in my heart as heroes...) and went out to dinner. Mom and I left the next day and Val and Jake have been moving in, unpacking boxes, etc...

Now, do you remember way back at the beginning of this forever long and really random post? When I said I had some news that I was SUPERLY DUPERLY excited about?! It is this! Val and Jake are now only 2 1/2 hours away from my home! This makes them the closest siblings that I have around me (Ok, that's not true, Ryan is closer but as his home changes location on a fairly regular basis and I'm never actually sure where to find him I don't really count it) and I'm so stoked!! Val and I have all these weekend jaunts planned where I come down on Friday night, we talk and giggle late into the evening, spend all day Saturday doing some deliciously wonderful thing and then I come home Saturday night or Sunday, depending on how I feel. Well I mean I have all these plans, Val will probably just accept my company graciously because, well she's a gracious lady. And I'm her sister and I'm gonna come whether she wants me to or not so she really has no choice in the matter :-D And it's gonna be so great! We're gonna go to City of the Rocks! (Multiple times as soon as the weather warms if I have my way) and we're gonna explore Twin Falls and it's gonna be so great! Who's excited?!

(Just think of it this way, even if you're not excited about Val moving because you aren't related and don't really care now I'll actually have some fun things to blog about that will be interesting and fun to read! The exact opposite of this post :-) ) Now who's excited?!

15 Mintues of Fame

2011-02-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

Andy Warhol once said that everyone was entitled to 15 minutes of fame...or he said something close to that. I don't remember the words exactly and I'm not feeling inclined to look it up, so that's what you're going to have to be ok with right now.

Well on Tuesday I got my 15 minutes of fame. Ok, well it wasn't exactly 15 minutes. And I don't think it qualifies as 'fame' but whatever, I'm totally counting it!

Tuesday night I was working up at Jakes, at that my friends, is how it all began. At around 5:40 I was chatting to a friend through the drive window when I noticed some guy literally tearing across the Jakes parking lot. I mean he was flying through, I haven't seen anyone run that fast in a long time. I thought to myself "Huh, he's certainly in a hurry" and then dismissed it from my mind.

I finished my conversation with my friend and just as I was pulling my head back through the window my co-worker asked me if I'd seen those two guys running through the parking lot. I replied that I'd only seen one and she told me that once they reached the entrance to the parking lot they split ways, one running across and one running down the hill. We commented again on how odd it was and then dismissed it out of hand.

About 10 minutes later we saw all of these police cars driving down the hill. About the time we saw the 3rd one we thought it was getting a little unusual and started joking about how they were probably there for a drug bust because it was Ogden (at this point we hadn't connected incident A [the running men] with incident B [the police cars]).

Maybe 5 minutes after that this nice looking guy came into Jakes. He looked completely normal and I didn't want to deal with customers so I passed him off to Amber and told her to take his order. As she walked up to the front this guy casually reached into his jacket pocket and whipped out a badge. But not just any badge, he whipped out an FBI badge!!! Amber took one startled look and then dragged me up the front, told me to deal with him and faded into the background (when later questioned about her actions she could only say that she'd seen too many criminal justice movies lately).

Alright, so this guy was FBI! He gently pulled me aside and quietly told me that there had been a robbery across the street at the Educators Mutual Credit Union and asked me if I'd seen anything odd or suspicious that night. After I quickly decided that I didn't need to mention the police cars because they were probably already 'in the know' I mentioned that at about 5:40 Emily and I had seen 2 guys running through the parking lot, splitting directions. We described what they looked like and told him what direction they had each respectively gone. My descriptions and time frame matched up perfectly with the FBI and what they needed to know! Or at least it corresponded with what they already knew.

The man very seriously wrote down my remarks, had me sign my 'issued statement' (I know! I felt so formal and important!!!) then took down my name, phone number, and told me that he would keep them on file in case I was needed in court later. (I've got to be honest, I really hope it doesn't come to that....) In a daze I told him to have a good night and if he needed anything else let me know. He jokingly asked for some fries but I was in some sort of weird, FBI induced shock and I didn't respond nearly as wittily as I would have liked (in fact I believe my exact response was "What?" I know, KILLER right?)

And that was my Tuesday night! How CRAZY is that? I know it wasn't 15 minutes...well, actually it might have been about 15 minutes. And it was 'famous' or anything. No quote in the paper, no picture for paparazzi, but I think this should qualify! It was amazing! Now to only hope and pray that they catch the robbers, and don't need me again!

Tutoring

2011-02-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who do not know I tutor part time, I mean, I do A LOT of things part time but tutoring is one of them.

I was nervous at first it once began (at first it once began? What am I writing here? Some sort of 18th century novel...?) but it turned out that it was easier than I thought it was going to be. Or it could be that my particular 'charges' are super nice and easy for me to teach.

But today I gave plasma and I had this huge green bandage on my arm. And my girl was fascinated!! It totally cracked me up! She was so interested in the bandage and the blood and plasma donations, it took us forever to get to the actual math and english that I was supposed to be teaching her. But once she did focus it was like some sort of crazy, at attention focus. I'm thinking I might have to donate plasma every day that I'm supposed to go in to tutor. This was nice!!

On a side note it took me FOREVER to donate the full 880 mL of plasma today, like 2 hours! Do you think I was just dehydrated? Or is my blood special? The first time it was ok but man, today took forever!!

Life is just fabulous isn't it? I'm pretty happy these days. Although I am bummed that Valentines Day is coming up. For some reason I'm really ridiculously depressed about that day this year....LAME!

Update

2011-02-06T16:53:00.000-08:00

Hey all! I figured since I opened up the floodgate about Confusing Guy on Wednesday, or whatever day it was that I last posted, I might as well keep you all updated right? In for a penny, in for a pound type of thing. And hopefully he'll never find out this blog exists and casually read it and then discover all these things I've been saying about him (although I COULD always deny it since I never name him, but let's be honest, he'd totally see right through it, it's pretty obvious...)

So things with Confusing Guy had been getting more and more confusing because of another girl who entered in on the scene. It was getting complicated, and I like simple things, and I was just going crazy and I did NOT want to be involved in some sort of weird, love triangle thing so I finally decided that I just needed to talk to Confusing Guy.

On Thursday evening we got together, went out to dinner (since I was STARVING) and casually chatted. He did pay for my dinner, which was very nice seeing as how I was the one that had asked him to go. After dinner was over and we were aimlessly driving around Ogden I started 'the talk' (Because really? SO much easier to talk to someone in a car, you don't always have to look at their face) I gave him a brief summation of all that Other Girl had been saying, and I asked him why I hadn't heard from him since last Wednesday, that sort of thing. Finally I asked him flat out, what was going on in his head, what was he feeling and just be honest because I needed to know in order to keep my sanity, and really my sanity is so very important to me.

He was very kind, told me that currently his life was in shambles while he was trying to decide just what to do with it, you know, where and why to go to school, where to live, what to do, scholarships to try and get, that sort of thing. And that he was so busy trying to figure out who he was he really didn't want to try figuring out who he was when he was with another person. He told me he enjoyed my company immensely and he loved being friends and he would be interested to see where if goes, if indeed it goes anywhere, but right now he needs to be friends.

Which I understand, completely! I mean yeah, it was kind of a downer, but I understand.

So we drove around for a little while longer, talked, looked at the view of Ogden from some high mountain peak thing, I made him listen to my Smurf's CD (because now that I know I don't have to work on impressing him and he just wants to be friends he is going to be subjected to all sorts of things like that :-D) He had me listen to this one song he liked, you know, friend stuff! So that's where we're at right now.

It's ok I suppose, I mean I do have Lurpy Guy coming in on the scene too and I am curious as to where that will lead, if indeed it leads anywhere. And while I'm waiting I know it wouldn't hurt to try and figure out some more things about me and who I am, not to mention what I'm going to do with my life...

And no Val, Justin didn't ever ask me out, but to be honest I never expected him too. It was just the fact that his mother said that that totally made my day.

So that is my update!! Thoughts anyone?

Clueless

2011-02-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

I'm really quite clueless about what I want to blog about today, I just know that I want to blog. So lucky you! You guys all get to read whatever my mind throws up that then lands on this page. I just know you're all very excited!

The days have been quite literally slipping by me, I'm never quite sure what I've accomplished at days end besides the joy of having said that I lived through another day and I'm one day closer to being 20. (Don't ask me why that's one of my goals, I have no idea, but I am quite determined to live to be 20....after that it'll probably be living to 21 or some such nonsense) I know that in general I've done things, lots of things! I just can't seem to pinpoint them to any specific day. But here are some of the things I've done lately!

I began donating plasma! (Although to tell the truth I'm still quite confused about why they use the term 'donate' when I fully get paid at the end of each session...) I figured why not?! It's money, I need money. I don't particularly need my plasma (I mean, I'm sure I DO but it's not like they'll take more than is healthy...right?) and other people do (and by other people I mean whatever companies are buying my plasma to make things) and as an added bonus there is a couple of extremely good lookin' guys who work for the plasma company! I mean, come on, I'm sitting there hooked up to a machine for an hour, I'm bound to look around. I just think it was extremely thoughtful of the plasma company to provide me with such eye candy...

I have gotten up at 4 AM once for a friend and stayed up until 2 AM again for same said friend. Thankfully not on two consecutive days...that might have been a bit much for me and let's be honest, even my friendship has some limits. While I am tired the days following these early morning trysts (probably not the right word, but it sounds SUPER awesome and when am I gonna get the chance to use it again?) and somewhat cranky I'm a little bit flattered that I'm the friend she chooses to come to in her time of need (although this COULD be because I have no life)

I have been doing some research on Shutterfly! Recently two people who's blogs I read and comment on have both switched their blogs over to Shutterfly. Obviously there must be something to this right? So while I have not yet made a decision one way or the other I've been doing some nice in depth research on both webpages.

I have been through a complete emotional roller coaster about this guy. Let me just say it, guys are lame. And confusing. WAY more confusing than girls are. And quite honestly, well, I just don't even know what to say there because I can't even decide what to think! It's just lame! (Although this does lead me to, what I find to be, a very awesome and really funny story!)

Ok, so yesterday I was sitting at the computer moping because this guy is being confusing (as stated above) and I was just messing around on facebook when I realized it was the first day of February. Now I have a friend who absolutely hates January. Like, with a passion. He's certain that January has no good (which I think is a LITTLE harsh, but it's his life right?) So I realize it's the first day of February and that January is over so I trot on over to his facebook page and I post "Happy first day of February Justin!!" and then I go back to moping about Confusing Guy (that should just be his name right?) A little while later in the day I get back on facebook and I see that Justin's mother has posted the following comment on my post. "Justin...take this girl out on a date. Please. Yep. I'm probably in trouble now. :-0" And it TOTALLY made my day!! I mean yes, Justin and I are just friends but I had spent most of my day getting frustrated at Confusing Guy and going up and down this emotional roller coaster and then just as I was thinking how stupid life is in general I log on to facebook and there was that!! It was funny and it was perfect for me! Just what I needed right then! (And it still totally makes me chuckle when I think about it...poor Justin) Thank heavens for small miracles right? That was my small miracle.

Anyways, I have letters to missionaries that I need to write, and I really should do that and stop slacking around on the computer. So I will end this fun little post (much to the relief of my audience I'm sure :-D) but I would just like to make one comment I just noticed, I don't believe I have EVER used as many sets of ( )'s as I did in this post...seriously, this should set a record somewhere...

Insert Exotic and Interesting Title Here

2011-01-29T03:53:00.000-08:00

So, if you're going to get up at 4 in the morning to help a friend through some problem, I'm not saying you ever have to by any stretch of the imagination, but if you ARE going to get up at 4 the best movie to watch is undoubtably this one:

In addition to being ridiculously cute and fun to watch, it makes getting up at 4 not quite as hard, and even slightly enjoyable. Plus it has an amazing soundtrack!

Day #1 at Job #3

2011-01-28T18:42:00.000-08:00

Hello there peeps!! Today I started my first day at what I hope to have be my full time job soon.

It's funny, because I've known Dr. Park for basically my whole life...I've been going to him for chiropractic adjustments for years, and I was never nervous then. But today? Man this morning I was terrified!

So just in case I didn't mention it, the job that I started at today was at Dr. Parks as his receptionist and filer and well, pretty much anything he needs done I do. Especially since he's been without a receptionist for about 6 months so there are a lot of things that need to be filed and fixed and updated.

I woke up this morning and put on extra-professional, extra-pretty clothes so that I would have extra confidence when I started my first day. Because even though it was Dr. Park it was still a first day, and I was still nervous. So I get all dolled up and into work I walk...

There I see that Dr. Park is in jeans and a polo...and I was way overdressed. He chuckled at me and told me that I didn't need to dress up for work, and that he didn't have a dress code for the job. Just as I was feeling really stupid he gave me a smile and said, "You look good though" And then I just wasn't nervous anymore. We talked and chatted and I alphabetized and filed and we got to know each other a little bit better and talked about what the standards would be for employee and employer. Although I have to say, since I did spend the better half of the morning sitting on the floor with lots of paper around me I did really wish I didn't wear a skirt to work....But it was great and it was fun! And someday I'll be full time there, and I'll be really happy :-D

In other news I went on a date on Thursday night. It was the first date that I've been asked on since May and I had a very good time! And yeah, maybe he MIGHT have felt obligated to ask me out because my father MIGHT have cornered him and told him that I liked him (which I still have mixed feelings about, I love and yet am slightly angered at my father at the same time. I gotta be honest, it's mostly boiled down to love and appreciation at this point because as Dad says "We parents can say all sorts of things that you feel like you can't") but still! He asked me!! He didn't have to! And so unless he decided to take me on a pity date the whole thing was real and fun and I had a good time! We went out to see True Grit and we bought some ice cream (I finally found some Ben and Jerry's Cake Batter!! I was SO happy!) and then we ate our ice cream and played card games and talked. It was a blast! Someday, perhaps in the future there will be another one, that would be nice I think. And I then of course got to thoroughly analyze every aspect of the date with my sister and my friend and later my mom (isn't being a girl just wonderful? I think it is) and overthink absolutely everything!

I've also gotten my mother addicted to the TV show Psych! Go me!! I feel like this has been a very productive week so far.

Hardware Ranch

2011-01-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hello!! I know, it has been ages since I've last written, and I would swear that I'm going to be better from now on but I have no way to absolutely guarantee that, so I'll hold off on that promise until I post a few more and actually have a trend going on :-D

So quick update, at the end of December I moved from Missouri back to Utah and began life anew (like I've done 4 times in 2010...) And well, really that's the update. I currently work 4 jobs, all part time which makes it slightly hard to manage a schedule but possible with kind bosses and a planner that never leaves my purse so I always know where it is....

And despite all this I've managed to maintain a fairly hopping social schedule as well! I had a girls night in with a friend of mine, Cindy, who was getting over a break-up so we consumed massive amounts of sugar, and watched Clueless and laughed hysterically about nothing. (We also decided that Bonnie has sections, and each little section of Bonnie is kind of crazy and odd and maybe a little scary, but if you put all the sections together it makes into a lovely person. See this is what kind of stuff you chat about on a girls night in) I had a girls night out with Tiffany where we had dinner and went to see a movie and catch up on all that's happened since we'd last seen each other. I also started attending a Singles Ward...the jury is still out on how I feel about it, I'm giving it a couple more tries.

But the particularly exciting thing of the week (not that all of those weren't exciting, they for sure were) was a trip to Hardware Ranch with me, Kylan, Mom, and Dad. I had never been up to Hardware Ranch before and Mom and Dad were kind and loving enough to decide that they would take me to go, and even let me invite a friend :-D So on Saturday the 22nd we all headed up to Logan and get to Hardware Ranch and take a sleigh ride and feed the Elk. And I was SUPER stoked!

Of course we got up there and realized that none of us had remembered to bring a camera, which was very very sad. But luckily Kylan's phone had a pretty good camera so we were able to snag at least a couple of pictures of the journey.

ELK! (Really they are quite pretty animals, I'd never really thought about it before, but they are)

So, random Elk fact. Their back teeth have rings on them (like a tree) that tell people how old they are. Crazy eh?

I think that particular male Elk had one of the biggest racks of the ones there. Did you know that with Elk the number of points they have doesn't actually dictate how old they are? I didn't! Learn something new everyday eh?)

Me (who was unfortunately caught with a it's-freezing-and-I'm-cold-so-hurry-up-and-take-the-picture smile) and Kylan (who was unfortunately caught with a half smile)

Me, staring at Elk


So this poor Elk had had a tangle with a wire fence earlier in the year, and he had this stuck to his antlers. The tour guy said that it would traumatize him more if they tried to remove it then it would for him to just have it hanging off of his horns until they drop off in May.

So that was Hardware Ranch. It was wonderfully fun and the day was continued with lunch out, a beautiful drive around the area we were at, and watching Meet the Robinson's when we finally got home (because why WOULDN'T you want to watch that movie?) It was a fabulous day!

Chatter

2010-12-26T22:32:00.000-08:00

I'm devoting this entire blog post to one very special present. A present I love and adore and will hopefully have with me all my days. But first let me give you some background.

Stephanie, my sister, is wonderfully crafty and pretty much a creative genius. She's also AMAZING at making something where nothing existed before. And this year for Christmas she decided to make presents for all of her nieces and nephews. Some of these wonderful presents included books, a snake, a whale, a kitten, a tutu, a pig, a giraffe (an army giraffe no less) and a rag doll. Do you see what I mean? She made all of these from scratch, she was being simply amazing. For one of my nieces Steph decided to make a monkey. Now I would like to clarify that I loved ALL of her presents! She did an amazing job on all of them and I wanted one of everything for me after I saw how it looked. All of them were some adorable and beautiful, but man, I LOVED this Monkey. (I loved it so much I just capitalized it, and I hardly ever do that....) The Monkey was intended for Kassel and there was a slight delay from when it was finished to when it was shipped out and for that time I kept it in my room. I loved this monkey!! A lot! When at last I finally had to let it go I did so grudgingly, not at all acting my age.

Well, unbeknownst to me Steph began secretly making me a monkey all my very own for Christmas! She worked morning when I was sleeping (because she got up astronomically earlier than I did most, well all, mornings. It's amazing what having kids does to your sleeping in abilities...anways....) and I never had a clue.

Unfortunately I did spoil the surprise early (and I do mean early) Christmas morning. I had gone to bed after stuffing the stockings and Steph thought it would be safe to go ahead and finish up the last touches before putting it cutely stuffed right at the top of my stocking. I however was feeling very sick and couldn't fall asleep so, hearing that Steph was still awake, I went out to the living room to chat with her and moan about my general upset stomach. I saw the Monkey then, and I was so happy! I let her finish it and put it in my stocking when I finally fell asleep, but when I woke up and happily rummaged through the rest of my stocking I had her safely in my hand and she hasn't left it very long since then.

She is SO adorable! She's beautiful and I love her!! Later Christmas morning I was staring at her and contemplating what exactly I wanted to call her, when it just hit me. Chatter. Chatter the Monkey. Chatter and I are now best friends. I love her!!

So I would like to post a special thank you to Steph, my gifts to you pale in comparison to this handmade work of art and superb craftmanship. I love you and I love my Monkey!

This is Chatter. Isn't she wonderful?! She's telling me a secret :-D A secret I'm obviously enjoying. (You'll have to excuse my appearance of general dishevel...it was Christmas....you're allowed to look not put together)

A Splendid Tea Party!

2010-11-06T17:37:00.000-07:00

Notice: Anything in this post that is in " "s is a direct quote from Emmuska's mouth. Really that girl does crack me up!

So, yesterday was my niece, Emmuska's 5th birthday. Among other things one of the presents she recieved was a tea set- and not just a doll tea set ladies and gents, no sir. It was a little girl tea set! Perfectly big enough to throw a real tea party! Naturally Emmuska wanted to throw a tea party that very night but Samuel kept getting in the way and the tea party did not go over very well. Emmuska was very disappointed and Steph promised her that when Sam went down for his nap tomorrow (today in real terms) we would throw another one.

Today came and down for his nap Samuel went, taking Stephanie with him (he sleeps longer and better with someone next to him...don't we all? ...well, providing that that 'someone' doesn't toss and turn a whole lot) so after I finished up with some odds and ends we got the tea (hot chocolate) water boiling and we set up for a lovely tea party for 4 people. (The Hostess, Emmuska, and the Guests, Me, Liberty, and Dora)

Everything was set and everything went off swimmingly. It was "a simply splendid tea party!" Everything was "delectably delicious" and our gracious hostess was very good about keeping our cups filled and offering us "another spot of tea". She also gave us some tips in etiquette by letting us know that "pinkies out was SO elegant" and assuring us that we "never have to worry about anything if pinkies are out"

In the end she was very happy that "Little Samuel hadn't sat in the chocolate AGAIN" and she decided "that tea parties go off much better without little brothers" And as an added bonus "the Lions never showed up! I was so afraid that they would!"

It was, to quote Emmuska, a splendid tea party and she and I have plans for many more in the coming days!


Discussing important matters such as doll clothes, the importance of keeping "Little Buddy" asleep, and if we thought the chocolate should be "a spot more chocolatey" at our tea party


My beautiful tea


Liberty and Dora at our tea party


Liberty politely asking 'Miss' as Emmuska was known for 20 minutes, for a refill on her tea and on Dora's tea (for some unknown reason Dora didn't seem to have "much of an appetite")


Miss Emmuska pouring a refill. She was actually quite graceful and good at it

Our hostess and graciousness itself, Miss Emmuska.

Raking Leaves

2010-11-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

So I decided that I have just given up on the idea of even TRYING to catch up on all that has happened in the last while. So many things have happened and it would be a lot of effort. Instead I have promised myself that I will stay updated (because really that is just SO much easier!) from this moment on. (I'm thinking that this promise to myself might last at least slightly longer than my New Years Resolutions do.....and that I think will still be an accomplishment :-D)

For any of you who don't know (...I don't know who you'd be because I know everyone who read this blog and I know you all know...) I'm in Missouri now! I moved to Dixon, MO about 2 1/2 weeks ago and I'm currently living with (read 'mooching off of' :-P) Steph and Mycal. Somewhat to my surprise I absolutely love this area! It is simply gorgeous where I am and I love the drive out to get anywhere (at least when I'm not the one driving and I don't have to concentrate on making sure we don't die on the turns and curves....) Missouri is a beautiful, beautiful state. Different from the picture I had in my head.

Anyways, on to the actual post! When I was younger I was a strictly indoors type of gal. Thom, Pam and I had a system worked out- I do the indoor cleaning and they take care of weeding, shoveling, mowing, raking leaves, etc...anything outdoors (of course I was the only one who KEPT my side of the bargain but that's a different story... :-P) But then Thom went on a mission. Still the bargain held. I took care of inside, Pam of the outside. And then Pam went on a mission. I was stuck, I wanted to help mom in any way I could so I eventually gathered up all my courage and went outside to shovel the driveway. While it wasn't as bad as I remembered I didn't particularly enjoy myself. It was something to get done and that was it.

Then spring came and I gathered up more courage and I mowed the lawn. And I LIKED it! Wait! No, this was not to happen! I'm an indoors girl! I can't become an indoor/outdoor girl! Or could I? I could, and I totally did! (Of course part of this like could be attributed to the fact that I always listen to music when I mow lawns and rake leaves....not when I shovel driveways. I'm not sure why this is, but it is.)

So it is Fall here in Dixon, MO and as typical of fall anywhere there were leaves out in the front yard. Wanting to get out and get a little sun and still be useful I volunteered to rake the front yard. I plugged in my tunes, found a rake, wished I could find a pair of gloves, gave up on the gloves, and started raking. Quickly I remembered that leaves are very devious and deceptive. I swear there are not that many on the ground and then you start raking and there are a ton!! I always kind of wonder where they come from....

Anyhoo, it started out with me, and them Emmuska came out to help, followed by Liberty and we even got a quick cameo from Sam! Of course once kids came on the scene the faithful Auntie got the camera on the scene! So lets the pictures commence! :-D


Emmuska was actually a much bigger help than I thought she was going to be. (See that car in the background? I officially hate that car....)


Here she is raking herself into a ditch...literally


Because the best thing to do when you have a huge (or even medium sized) pile of leaves is to jump in them!


And then Liberty came out to help! She would take little handfuls of leaves, pick out the pretty ones to save for later, put them in her bag and then when her bag was full she took it to the ditch


Haha, I love how Steph's kids react when a camera is brought out. Little sighs and then charming me with their camera smiles. Already they're prepared for the paparazzi :-D


I LOVE this picture! I think it could totally be a senior picture....you know, if she was a senior...


Apparently leaves make pretty good sets for photo ops. I'll keep this in mind to myself for future reference


Finally all the leaves were raked up and Auntie Bonnie would let them jump in them (I'll admit it, I was kind of a slave driver until they were finished though....)


Liberty was SO funny! She was going to jump in and then she changed her mind at the last second and decided to carefully walk in


Our finished product! Doesn't it look so perty?!


A random shot of my lovely dog, she was so happy for the chance to be outside. Of course the lack of outside opportunities has been entirely her fault. She's afraid to leave my side and sticks to me like glue- as I'm primarily an indoor creature, she is now too. It's kind of funny, and sad, and a little touching

And here! Here is the amazing thing out Dixon. No bagging leaves for these folks! Nope they just rake them into ditches that are located right along the streets in their front yard. And then, to get rid of the leaves, they just burn them. I LOVE IT! I love the smell of it and it was SO convenient! There was a small portion of my heart that missed putting them into our green monster and jumping on them to get them down enough for more layers but really that's only fun when you have Thom there to encourage you and help you jump...and push you over...and do more Thom-esque things. Nevertheless, this ditch thing? AWESOME!

The Long Awaited (at least by my typing hands) Return!

2010-10-21T23:16:00.000-07:00

Quite honestly I cannot even begin to describe all that has happened in the last month and a half. Suffice it to say SO SO MUCH!

In the time since I've written I've had a fabulous Labor Day, quit my job in Washington, had a STELLAR weekend in Seattle with my sister Dieuwke and her kids, had a FANTABULOUS birthday party thrown for me by again, my sister Dieuwke and her kids (and Lance...Lance makes such good Salmon, it makes my heart happy)

I've driven from Leavenworth to Colfax (where I donated my hair so now it's short) Colfax to Rexburg (where I attended a day of classes at BYU-I and toured the campus) and Rexburg to Ogden where I currently am (although not for long!)

While in Ogden I've cleaned, visited, read, etc...but the big thing that happened is Dad's 50th birthday bash! Every kid minus Pam and Thom on their missions was there! It was a huge deal and I know it meant alot to dad- he even kept talking about it after everyone was gone (that's mostly how I know :-P )

And now tomorrow I am packing back up into the car and heading out to Missouri where I am going to begin the next adventure of my life! What will I be doing? Well besides have a crap ton of fun I'm not exactly sure!

You know the really sad thing right now though? I have SO many awesome pictures documenting the last month and a half which are all securely loaded onto my laptop, which is securely packed into my car. Ah well, guess that'll just have to heighten the suspense for you! Now you can actually look forward to my next blog post!

So, until I get driven, unpacked and settled, I'll see ya!

Curly vs. Straight

2010-09-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

Both worthy hair styles it's true. One is curly, bouncy, all around enjoyable. One is flat, straight, easier to sway from side to side.

Living with Dieuwke and her super impressive lions mane I have given the matter of curly hair quite a bit of thought. I mean there are some definite pros to having curly hair. I mean, she NEVER has a ponytail line- no matter how long she has her hair in a ponytail- me on the other hand, 15 minutes in a ponytail and I have a line until I get it wet again. And if her hair is down and you mess it up and try to give it a "Frankenstein Pat" (thank you Thom) she merely needs to shake it out and you can't even tell again.

Now my hair, my hair is straight. And don't get me wrong- I absolutely LOVE my hair but I also definitely need to put some amount of effort into it each day. Whether it's throwing it up into a ponytail or brushing it out and putting it into some fancier it needs attention everyday and it needs periodic check-ups through out the day. Plus my hair, well it doesn't really get curly. I mean if I have a certain kind of curling iron and someone to help me then I get it curly and it'll even stay that way with a substantial amount of hairspray but not for longer than a day. No my hair is straight and that's ok with me- but a few days ago Dieuwke and I realized that Dieuwke's curly hair could have a two or three day hiatus from being curly. Just to see what it would be like.

You see I have this beautiful straightener (to make my naturally straight hair even straighter you see :-D) and one beautiful Sunday afternoon about a week ago Dieuwke and I realized that we had a few hours to spare (because with Dieuwke's hair you need a couple hours...) and I REALLY wanted to see what her hair would look like. So, we popped in a movie and let the straightening commence!

Before!


There is just SO much of it!

And After!!


And there is STILL so much of it!


But what do you think?


We discovered that straightening out the curliness added a fair amount to the length of her hair

So- what do you think? It held until she got it wet again and it was kind of nice to see how it could be straight. I definitely don't think it'd be anything that she would do permanently (and let's be honest, I'd miss her lions mane if she ever did) but something that is fun to do for a change every now and then just to see what it's like!

(Ok, so re-reading this I see that the first couple of paragraphs are completely unnecessary and pointless, sorry... but I'm still going to leave them there...because I can! Mwa-ha-ha-ha!)

Lethal Luau

2010-08-29T19:55:00.000-07:00

It all started one fine day when Dieuwke took me into a wonderful, magical, and slightly mystical world called "Hooked on Toys" Hooked on Toys has everything! And I do mean everything. Whilst we were meandering around the toys and weaving in and out of the aisles we happened to stumble upon an aisle that had countless murder mystery dinner games. Oh, I was in heaven! I've always been intrigued by that game- ever since we had a done a Book of Mormon murder mystery in YW/YM when I was 16- and in fact Pam and I almost threw one once titled, "Burrito's Bandito's" but we were unfortunately halted by the shocking lack of fake mustaches to be found in our home town of Ogden.

Anyways, Dieuwke and I solemnly swore (in our hearts at least) that we would one day throw a fabulous murder mystery (hereby shortened to MM because I'm really tired of typing out murder mystery) dinner. So in the beginning of August I set aside a certain amount of my paycheck and we went down into Wenatchee to check out all of the different available MM games.

There were quite a few that seemed like they would be absolutely hilarious! There was a winter one (which I unfortunately can't remember the name of) a western one (Honky Tonk Murder) one set in the 50's (Iced over the Grill) one with an Italian theme (Pasta, Passion, and Pistols) and then there were some made by a different company that had a little bit more, innuendo shall we say, than the others games did, but this company had some fabulous titles (including Grounds for Murder-set in a coffee shop by the by- Roman Ruins, and An Affair to Dismember) So after looking at all the titles and story lines and everything and taking a catalog of things we'd have to buy versus things we already had at home, and taking into account the fact that it was summer Dieuwke and I went with the MM game titled Lethal Luau.

We bought Lethal Luau on a Monday and we decided that we'd just throw all caution to the wind and host the party that very Saturday. (Saturday the 21st) So the week was a busy whirl of getting out invitations, planning out what we'd make, what we'd need to buy, how we'd decorate, etc....We did all of the major shopping on Friday afternoon and we tried to plan out exactly how Saturday would need to go.

Saturday dawned bright and early and so did Dieuwke and I, well, Dieuwke did. I only dawned bright and early if you consider 9 bright...and early.... One of the ladies that we had invited is severely allergic to cats and dogs so the day began with an EXTREMELY complete cleansing of the house. We dusted, vacuumed, washed, swept, mopped, and well, pretty much anything that is in the realm of cleaning? We did it. After that we began to decorate-- and here we shall let the pictures commence.


Please disregard the corn dog box in the corner-- we had to make the kids lunch but it had to be something unmessy :-D Anyhow, this was our lovely centerpiece!


Close up on a side decoration


In an effort to set the mood (and because we couldn't find a real parrot that big) we found a window covering. You're starting to feel it now aren't you?! Welcome to Hawaii!


By the way- Sarongs make the BEST cover ups while still being decorative! It rocked my socks off


Because nothing says Luau Party like the actual words "Luau Party"


Add in some snorkeling gear and we've really got a theme going!


Get some extra seashells and, well, you've got some extra seashells (I didn't want to say anything akin to "You've got some good decorations" again....)


So then Dieuwke and I had a brilliant idea! There was a dead body right? (Hence the whole title Murder Mystery...) and how would we know that there really WAS a dead body unless there was a tape outline of one?! So what did we do? We taped an outline of a dead body! Many thanks to Jake for being our dead body dummy


And our dead body came to be that way by drinking a poisoned drink- so of course we had to have an outline of the offending mug!

Ok, let me just give a little background before the next 10 pictures or so. During our cleaning spree one of the things that we cleaned off was Dieuwke's fridge. Well, without any pictures or papers or anything on it it looked horridly bare. So Dieuwke hit on the amazing idea of drawing on it with dry erase markers! (Definitely something I'd recommend to mothers with kids- it was something that kept kids enthralled and it was easy to clean off) What started out as just a silly idea to cover up some space soon became a master work of art!


Let's start with the basics, sun, coconut trees, and a beach


Add in some water life and of course some plants and coral (and our real clay fish-- the only fridge decoration that we left on the fridge) and we've really got something going


Then we put in a fallen coconut-- his name is Bob, Bob the Coconut


Suddenly we realized that it would just be so much more realistic if we had a volcano erupting on our fridge! Way off in the distance


And of course every beach on Hawaii is packed with beachers and towels and umbrellas, why should this be any different?


Say hello to our wonderful artist- adding in some birds and clouds as we read


Unfortunately we got carried away on one of the birds and then it looked like a mustache-- ah yes you say, the infamous Mustache Bird! (Not often found in the wild but fairly commonly see on household fridges)


Then we had just a little bit of empty space at the bottom


Our finished product! Isn't it beautiful?!?!


Then we set the table (doesn't it look so festive? I was kind of proud of that)


The living room! Or...the murder scene!


The dish washer! (I know, we covered that well didn't we?)


And our drink area! The little pamphlet wanted us to have Mai Tai's and beer available for our guests-- we decided to be really boring and just have fruit punch and Izze's- but we still tried to make it look awesome!

Ok, so let me give you some more background. The unfortunate dead soul was Chase Diamond- Ace Detective (Steph, Val- are you thinking what I'm thinking? You'd better be...) and Maui's chief womanizer. He was having a birthday party on his lovely Hawaiin property but danger (who was no stranger to Chase) was lying in wait for him and somebody poisoned his Mai Tai!! The guests to his party were the following people:

Leilani! (Dieuwke) A hawaiin dancer who has known Chase for a few years and occasionally entertained for him....privately...


Birdie Putt (Bonnie) a professional golfer who happened to be in Hawaii for a huge golfing tournament (She actually wasn't invited to the party- she was just the first responder on the scene who tried to give Chase CPR)


FORE!!! (Except, it's with a croquet mallet and not a putter, 'cause that's all we had...)


Joey Breakers (Tom) Known as Bo-Jo (Bodacious Joey) to his friends he's been Chase's best friend since college. He did all the dirty work for Chase (breaking in, planting bugs, finding evidence, etc...) but Chase always got all the glory


Les Baggs (Jared) a clumsy tourist who lost his bags and hired Chase Diamond to find them for him- to the tune of $500/day, was there something important in them perchance? And Nadia Seymour (Kimberly) a top model who had been dating Chase but wanted to get serious- and he wanted to stay light


Holly Day (Mary Lou) An eccentric millionaire who was sailing around Hawaii in her 70 foot yacht. Known for her boy toys despite her husband Howard's disapproval, she had only known Chase for a few days- or so it would seem


Chief Wiki-Wiki (Mike) Like a father to Chase he was also Leilani's employer and he worked for the Museum of Artifacts on Maui

And there they were- our 6 suspects and our 1 witness. What would they find? What would the night foretell for them?! One of them is a murderer *dun dun dun* but which one?!


Nadia and Les reading over their characters

Haha! Ok, so about 1/3 of the way into our evening Leilani got an unpleasant surprise! She had to perform a native Hawaiin dance for all of us! And not only that- she had to explain the symbolism behind all of her gestures and hand movements


It started out peaceful, and serene (I really wish all these pictures had come out better)


But quickly it turned to violence, anger, and accusations


And then she brought out the shotgun!!

I really really wish I had more to follow but the camera started giving out. Just know that after the shotgun was removed from the dance it came to a slow, peaceful ending. And by the by- total kudos to Dieuwke for doing her dance on the spot- she SO totally rocked it!


And Les was absolutely brilliant that night! He played his part of the bumbling tourist SO well! He had all of us in stitches


Discussing the murder, possible suspects and facts gathered

All in all the evening went of absolutely swimmingly! The food was delicious, the guests were hilarious, and when the final secret was uncovered and the murderer revealed some of us were surprised, some of us were victorious, and of course one of us was in jail! I'd love to tell you who it was but that'd totally ruin it if I ever throw this one again (and believe you me, I plan on doing this again)

There were of course a few hitches since this was the first time that Dieuwke and I had ever done this but all in all it went over much better than we'd hoped and our blunders were either overlooked or just laughed about with our company. That was the main reason that we had invited the Baileys and the Meyers- knowing they'd be ok if it wasn't absolutely perfect and that we'd all have a great time anyways.

After the party was over and the guests had left Dieuwke and I cleaned up the dinner, some of the decorations (although the fridge and the taped body stayed for a few days) and collapsed gratefully onto the couch. It was over, it was a success, and we were dead tired! Would we do it again though? Oh I would say yes! :-D

Adventures in Leavenworth-- River Walk and Munchen Haus Edition

2010-08-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

One fine day a gal named Bonnie woke up and realized that it was a blissful Monday- her day off. With a song in her heart (and let's be honest, coming out of her vocal chords) she got up and began to get ready for her day. With her wonderful little outfit and fun matching accessories she went out of her camper only to be greeted by her equally happy sister. It would seem that the little girls next door had Strep Throat (which these gals were of course not happy about because that would be heartless and bad) and as a result Dieuwke had the day off as well (which these gals were very happy about). These facts were then combined with the fact that Ethan was off gallivanting with his Auntie Valerie and there were only Dieuwke's two little darlin's to be watched. As often happens in these situations 1 + 1 = 2 and a glorious day began to form.

As you may have already guessed (and as I'm certainly hoping you already HAVE guessed) I was one of those gals and Dieuwke (which you BETTER have guessed since I named her by name) was the other. As we were throwing around different possibilites for what we could do with our sudden freedom I suggested walking around Blackbird Island which has always been one of my favorite- if indeed not my very favorite- walks around Leavenworth. Dieuwke was amenable to this suggestion and thus our adventure began.


I LOVE the fact that Aurora has already started practicing flirting with a fan! (And the fact that it's an Avatar- The Last Airbender fan just makes everything that much better)


Arrival at the beginning of the trail!


We saw a park...and then we got distracted for a good 1/2 or so....


And Aurora our ever social butterfly would cheerfully stop her swinging or sliding to call out a greeting to whatever passerby happened to be, well, passing by


This was her "I'm finished sliding and I am now going to pose a super cool pose" Pose


Have I mentioned that I love swinging? 'Cause I totally do. Alot. In an episode of 'Bones' (which I also love alot) there is a date where they go swinging. I saw that and fell in love with idea. I figure that I now will be able to tell which man I should marry easily because he'll be the man who takes me on a date swinging.


Then we made it to the river (which by the by is where our journey effectively ended- we had so much fun at the river that we spent all our time there and never actually finished the walk- but we had tons of fun with rocks!)


EPIC picture! Aurora was skipping rocks and someone (read ME!) got this awesome photo not only of Aurora skipping a rock but the actual rock in the very act of skipping! I was pretty stoked....


So then of course I had to give it a try


And then I had an 8 year old giving me instruction on how to do it and watching me to make sure I did it properly (I'm telling you, my ego takes so many bruises from these kids)


I'm fairly certain this is the only picture we have of me actually skipping a rock (possibly because it's the only time it happened...I had some pretty fancy splashes though!)


And then- we found the PERFECT skipping rock! (How's the look on my face? I was going for reverential...I think I managed to hit 'odd')


And then I kissed it for luck. Because if it works on dice it should work on skipping rocks right? Yeah only problem with that is that it doesn't work on dice....there will be no follow up picture because the follow up was disappointing- because of me, not the rock :-D


Isabelle, looking mischievously adorable


And then Dieuwke decided to fish for a rock!


Making the grab!


VICTORY!!! She has the...rock...wow, that was really anticlimactic to write. In real life though it was totally awesome


And Isabelle was TOTALLY packing her pockets full of rocks (all I could think of when I saw her was that Dr. Seuss book "There's a wocket in my pocket") She was uber disappointed when we told her she could only take one home


And THEN Dieuwke found a rock that looked like a battleship! (You can totally imagine where this is going can't you? Yeah, we're total 5 year olds)


After playing around with it in the water for a while we safely docked it into the shore where it's fighters could safely disembark


And then we found the Ice Cream Sandwhich Rock! (I'm telling you this river had THE COOLEST rocks in it!)


And honestly, what do you do with an Ice Cream Sandwhich rock but eat it? Or at least attempt to


And then we made friends with Mrs. Duck who came by to play with Isabelle


But after she started playing that fun splashing game Mrs. Duck made a speedy exit

So finally after about 1 1/2 hours we decided that we were done at the river and that the idea of walking around the whole island was dismissed in favor of food. We were quite hungry and today was our day to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted (we of course drew the line at all things illegal...maybe...or at least as we will admit) so we decided to jet up to Munchen Haus and have so freaking amazing sausages for lunch!

Me (well, obviously), perusing the menu while we waited in the forever long line


Hahaha! This bag of chips totally cracked us up! Who knew that New York Cheddar chips could get EVEN Cheddier! (Cheddier? Is that a word? Should I say cheesier instead?)


Isabelle, very begrudgingly giving her Mom exactly 4 chip pieces


I know! It's like bigger than her face!


Getting ready for her scrumptious first bite!

Oh yeah, that's some good stuff Maynardette!


And me getting ready for MY scrumdidliumptious (that's right- my first bite was better) first bite!


Oh ho it was SO good! (And very hot- as may be obvious by the picture...)


Isabelle didn't want to sit with us- she had to be all cool over there on her own


And then we all got some pretty amazing ice cream cones!


And Dieuwke and I did a 'scumps' toast to each other and our day with out ice cream


I would like to now introduce 2 very important new additions to our family. The one on the left is Calico- Dieuwke's new pet rock that we picked up at the river (we were each allowed to take one after all) And the one on the right is Cinnamon, my bet rock. Cinnamon and Calico are BFF :-P

So there we have it-- the adventures and decisions of two lovely girls who awoke to a brand new week and discovered a degree of freedom in their day that had been unanticipated! Isn't life grand?!

Adventures in Leavenworth-- The Hat Shop Edition

2010-08-08T16:46:00.000-07:00

On Friday night Dieuwke and I decided that we would go and stroll around town for a little while. Unfortunately we were a little late getting out the door so by the time we got to town quite a few of the shops were closed. And of the shops that were open a few were sensitive to the whole subject of taking pictures. Luckily for me, The Hat Shop wasn't-- in fact, they encourage it.

Let me explain- The Hat Shop is probably one of my favorite shops in Leavenworth. It is (as you may or may not have already guessed) a shop that is chock full of Hats! Viking Hats, Goat Hats, Unicorn Hats, Berets, Plaid Hats, Cowboy Hats-- also some nice Margarita shaped sunglasses, but that's beside the point. Hats, hats, hats, and more hats! And I love it!

What makes it even better is that I went to the Hat Shop with my sister. Someone who a) I'm not afraid of looking stupid in front of b) is willing to look stupid with me and c) of course just makes the whole thing funnier and better. So kick back and enjoy the visual presentation of mine and Dieuwke's trip to-- The Hat Shop!


The Hot Dog Hat!! (I think you're going to find that an unfortunate amount of these captions are going to be pretty self explanatory...)


My Hamburger Hat!! It was kind of like having a picnic on your head! :-D


Hahahaha!! Wouldn't I make the absolute worst pirate ever?! That's my "Argh" face but I'm pretty sure it could double for a "Where's all the Rum gone?" face


This picture- and more particularly this completely cheesy grin (which I like to refer to as "The Gaston Smile") - goes out to Pam. I'm 100% sure that once she's back from her mission and sees it she'll completely understand and TOTALLY appreciate it. (Side note- I'm not actually positive WHAT that hat is)


Ok- they didn't have JUST hats and sunglasses. They also had fun and ridiculous head bands!


The Sorting hat! Plus a Hogwarts tie and an awesome scarf! As an added bonus I'm pretty positive that that's the original Sorting Hat :-D We stole it from...wherever top secret place it's being kept.


It's like this extremely miniature and absolutely adorable kind of cowgirlish hat! I LOVED IT! I think the thing I loved most is that when you put it on it would naturally tip to the side and go at an angle on your head. It was fabulous!

Ok, ok readers, pause for a second- I TOTALLY saved the best hat for last. This hat-- it was...well it was incredible, amazing, jaw-dropping and quite possibly left me speechless (Minus a disbelieving "Oh....my.....gosh!") Picture in your head Medusa meets Alien Invaders and then they make a hat. Have you got it? Ok- ok, now you can look.

Right? Right? What IS that?! It's, it's....there aren't any words- even in my vocabulary! What astonishes me the most is that I managed to hold a somewhat contemplative look while wearing this monstrosity on my head. Of course this could be due to the fact that I made Dieuwke take the picture before I looked at myself in a mirror. Then I totally lost it, but honestly? Who wouldn't?! This hat it's, it's, nope- words still fail me! But it is definitely some hat eh?

Dictionaries

2010-08-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

Yes- that's right. This post is about dictionaries-- particularly of the cell phone persuasion.

I don't know about all you folks out there but I use, well let's say....different, words when I'm texting people. (Heck, I use different words in my normal conversation- what other 18 year old do you know that flounces around throwing out terms like 'tete-a-tete' and 'diffident' and 'scintillating'?) But I take especial pleasure in using random and sometimes off the wall words while texting- I think it part because so many people shorten their texting words. 2 for to, R instead of are, etc....

Over the last couple of days I've noticed something very odd about my cell phone dictionary. You see in my old cell phone I'd already added all of my random words that weren't in the dictionary so I had forgotten about how odd the people who decide what words go into the phones and what words don't are. (In fact I had had this conversation with a sister of mine sometime last February)

But I recently got a new phone and I've been texting with it (...obviously...) and I just have to say- what were these Cell Phone Dictionary People thinking?! My cell phones has words in it such as 'totalitarianism' 'obsequious' 'penultimate' 'conscienceless' 'promiscuous' and 'apocryphal' (I know, at this point you're probably thinking "What on earth kind of conversations is she HAVING with people? I'm not gonna lie- you get some pretty random and typically hilarious responses when you text me...at least if I like you enough to show off the truly hilarious side of my personality, which, well I have to be pretty secure with you to do that. I don't willingly look like a fool in front of just ANYONE) Anyways, back on to the conversation at hand, I'm not really sure what happened with that little side tangent...

So my phone has all of these amazing, but admittedly less used by the common human words in the dictionary right? Well you know what words it doesn't have? Words like 'ouch' 'snob' (I personally think that's because the people who put in the dictionary didn't want a word that so effeciently described them in there...) 'chatterbox' or 'howdy' I mean really?! What kind of people are these?

I'm thinking that when texting got such a huge boost in the economy and became so popular and these texting dictionary guys got raises they started to get a little snooty. I mean can't you just see it? A bunch of middle-aged guys sitting in a room together, with their little pipes and glasses that are perched on the edge of their noses, relaxing in their lounging robes-- chatting together in those little English accents.

"Oh no Siegfried- we simply MUST add 'capitulation'! My studies show that that is the word that is all the rage among 16 year old girls right now!"
"Oh- you're absolutely right Devon old chap! And while we're at it we can't forget about 'mesmerizing' because that is how boys are describing those little gals right now. That's the new 'in' word."
"Hmm, Harry- do you think perchance we should add some of those dreadful slang words? Should we put in a 'wowzers' or 'anywho'?"
*guffaw* "Oh Devon don't make me laugh! Simply NO ONE uses those words these days! They have simply been put out of commission!"

Ok, well maybe that's not how it goes, but I mean seriously here people what is going on with these dictionaries? Ah ok, I'm done. That was my little rant for the day. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did (because I'm not gonna lie- I had fun writing that conversation :-D) Have a good weekend!

Bliss Challenge

2010-08-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Two days ago I had a sudden realization that I had absolutely no reason to not be blissfully unhappy and that I had every reason to be blissfully happy. As such on my facebook page I said that I had no reason to not be blissfully unhappy and over 100 reasons to be blissfully happy. (Because 10 just didn't seem like enough and 100 seemed like a good number...)

So last night I was talking to my sister and she challenged me to come up with and write down what the 100 (or I guess technically 101 because I said over 100) reasons were. So- here we go. My 101 Reasons I'm Blissfully Happy with my Life.

*Please note that these are NOT in order of importance- simply in the order they come to me*

1. I'm alive
2. I'm smart
3. I have the light of the gospel in my life
4. I go to bed warm every night
5. I go to bed full every night
6. I have the luxury of warm showers whenever I want them
7. I have a job where I learn something new everyday
8. And it gives me a regular paycheck
9. I have a brother-in-law who is able to fix my broken car and save me mechanic fees
10. I have a family that I love with all of my heart and that loves me and supports me in all that I do and they just absolutely without a doubt rock my world
11. I have pretty dang fabulous hair
12. And I LOVE the color of my eyes
13. I have 10 nieces and nephews who call me 'Auntie Bonnie' and make me smile, laugh, and cry-- sometimes all within a 24 hour span of time
14. I have a calling in a church that has enabled me to get to know one of the best people in my branch
15. I'm healthy
16. Most days I even think I'm pretty :-)
17. I have a dog who loves me with all her heart and gives me all her trust and I adore her back
18. My sisters cat sneaks into my bed and cuddles with me 7 nights out of 10
19. I have been to 48 out of 50 states in my country
20. I live in the United States of America-- I consider this a huge blessing, to be able to live in the country that I love? So amazing
21. I'm currently free in my life to flit from place to place and thing to thing without being called 'flighty'-- instead I'm just called 'young' It's like a Get Out of Jail Free card!
22. I can cook
23. I can sing
24. Everyday that I live I see something beautiful and wonderful
25. I also smell some PRETTY amazing smells
26. Not to mention the things I get to taste everyday! Go for tastebuds!
27. Josh Groban
28. Michael Buble
29. Musicals-- they definitely make me blissfully happy!
30. Oh heck- music in general. I LOVE music!
31. There are people that are paid to help keep me safe and happy
32. I currently have pretty much limitless options to what I can do with my life. I can be whatever I want to be and do whatever I want to do (although I think my parents start withdrawing their support around 'hooker'....
33. I have a sister who gives me cute clothes and shoes (I just love free things :-D)
34. I write 'snail mail' letters still and on a regular basis, I LOVE giving and getting those
35. I have complete access everyday to the internet
36. My iPod
37. Everyday I get to see at least one handsome man- I do love my eye candy
38. There are boundless amounts of people to watch- I'm a big fan of people watching
39. Bicycling
40. Colors
41. Touch- I love touching things and feeling things. Muscles, flowers, dogs- I love touch
42. Lego Rock Band
43. Hot Chocolate
44. Movies
45. Warm blankets
46. Rain
47. Thunder and Lightning storms (Is it cheating to put them as two separate things?)
48. Sun
49. Wind- strong wind, light breezes, I love it all
50. Running through the sprinkler
51. My scriptures
52. My Patriarchal Blessing
53. The ability to make choices (sometimes even good ones! That's an added bonus)
54. My hair dryer
55. My straightener
56. Mountain, Lakes, Oceans-- scenery basically
57. Constellations- they are SO beautiful. The whole night sky is actually
58. I have a back yard that leads into a beautiful fish hatchery
59. My car- broken or running I love Sophie
60. My ability to massage- to help heal people and make their lives better
61. Talking- I LOVE to talk.
62. Listening- I love to do that as well, it just doesn't come as naturally
63. Writing- I have to say that the more I've been blogging to more I've realized that I love to write. Not long stories or anything just to write, I think it's fun. I love playing with the words and trying to make others laugh
64. My Savior
65. That I have 7 missionaries out in the field that I communicate regularly with and that I am so proud of
66. My friends- I have so many at such varying levels of 'friend' but each helps me out somehow and I am so lucky and happy to have them all
67. Modern medicine
68. Not so modern medicine (herbs and the like)
69. Push-Ups and Crunches
70. Food!!! (All inclusive of deserts, fruits, vegetables, etc...oh I just LOVE food!)
71. I'm left-handed (this makes me part of some exclusive club :-) I like being part of those.. :-P )
72. Temples
73. Light
74. And dark as well
75. Water- I'm a HUGE fan of that stuff!
76. Diet Dr. Pepper (Nectar of the Gods here...)
77. Fun people to hang out with (I'd name a name but on the off chance it somehow gets back to them it could somehow make my life complicated in a way that I don't particularly want it to be complicated and as such I won't name names....you guys got all that? :-P)
78. The prophet
79. And of course the Quorum of the 12
80. Boats- I've recently realized how much fun it is for me to ride on them- I LOVE the feeling!
81. Ditto that for motorcycles
82. My ability to drive- I love driving. It's so much fun for me
83. Earrings (I mean jewelry in general of course yes, but earrings in particular- I love those!)
84. Libraries
85. Books- I adore reading
86. Education- this'll probably sound odd but I love learning. Some part of me actually misses being in school right now. I love to learn and I love education- I love knowing that I'm getting smarter in some aspect of something
87. The English language
88. Blogging
89. Facebook
90. My height (it makes it excellent for faking on the monkey bars :-P)
91. Washing Machines and Dryers (Don't even want to think about all the extra work I'd have to do if THOSE didn't exist)
92. Swimming
93. Lazing on the beach
94. Taking mid-afternoon naps
95. The feeling of twitterpation
96. The fact that my heart always has more room for love
97. The fact that my personality naturally looks on the brighter side of life (let me tell you it's made this list so much easier) it makes life better
98. My sense of humor- in fact let's just include laughter, vitality, and hilarious things in this one. I love funny things, laughing at people and occurrences, and I'm definitely not above laughing at myself- especially since I so often slip up and do...let's call them interesting...things
99. Bubbles- Bubbles make me unreasonably happy
100. Swinging- I love the feeling of swinging! I love the high you get and the drop out of your stomach when you plunge down. It's so freeing and wonderful!
101. Contacts-- I love how I can see without having to wear glasses (which I've always seen as detracting from my good looks :-P) it makes me so happy!

And there you have it-- over 100 reasons that I have to be blissfully happy! Some of them are silly, some are serious, but all are absolutely true. And you know the great thing? I realized I could've kept going, except I think you guys would've gotten bored. I mean, I'm impressed already that you read through 101 things! But with all these things to arm me, what has life got that could possibly bring me down? Nothing that's what- with every bad thing that life throws at me I can counteract it with at least 3 good things. Isn't life amazing?!

New Nephew!!!!

2010-08-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

YAY!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I just had to let that be the first word for this post!

Yesterday, at 12:22 PM my sister-in-law, Maren, had a little baby boy!! He is 6lbs 10oz and 19 1/2 inches. The little boy (we'll just call him 'nephew' because as yet he doesn't have a name...) was 20 days early but so far and and Maren both are doing fine!

She went into the hospital at around 12:05 or so and had the baby at 12:22 so it was a fairly short labor. He looks absolutely lovely and I get to be a proud auntie yet again!


Isn't he adorable?!

Lake Chelan Adventure

2010-08-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Lake Chelan Adventure Blog Post! Starring Bonnie Stohel and Dieuwke Schott
--costarring Lance Schott, Ethan Schott, and Isabelle Schott--

Well yesterday was my day off, Dieuwke's day off, and Lance's day off- we decided that THAT sounded like a party! So, because I hadn't been to Chelan in forever and I REALLY wanted to go, Dieuwke and I decided to pack up the cooler, pack up the kids, pack up the car, and book it to Chelan!!

*Warning: There will be many pictures in this post-- there would be many more but I love you all too much to put you through the agony of 134 pictures- plus I don't have the patience to upload them all :-) Still this post is VERY long (add about 300 VERY's to that- I just don't want to type them all) so go grab your popcorn, grab the hot chocolate. I'll wait. Get settled down with the comfy blanket and enjoy the ride *

The journey to Chelan began the same as just about any journey does with me and my camera-- a car photo op! :-)

However as time went by it progressed in a very
unconventional manner. Apparently as car rides
with Lance tend to do...


Welcome to Chelan!!!!

Lance and Dieuwke do it so much better than I do....

I just look silly diving into the lake :-)

Ethan climbing the ladder


Isabelle climbing the ladder-- you like how self-explanatory my captions are don't ya?

It was around this time that Lance spied a piece of driftwood that was floating out a ways away from us. Dieuwke, being that adventurous gal that she is, swam away- found it, and rode it back to the dock.


Me, Dieuwke, and Isabelle in Lake Chelan

Then Lance told me that he had a survival course for me-- it involved me riding our piece of driftwood (whom we had noticed looked fairly accurately like an Alligator. We very creatively named it The Alligator) to the shore and back.


They say it's easier to ride with a flotation device-- maybe they mean something that isn't circular and doesn't continually try and flip you over....

However, just as I was making it back and passing my survival course Lance decided to see how well I would pass the "Attack of the Killer Lance Course"

Naturally a retaliation battle ensued.....he won....


And I discovered sheer bliss!

And then Lance decided to try and tame The Alligator (it was a very exciting time for all of us!)

It took him a couple tries (being that it's so circular) and I'll spare you those pictures of The Alligator popping up over the water and almost hitting him in the head (largely because of threats on my life...) but he got it!

And once he got it tamed he invited Dieuwke down to join him


Tender!!!


A more focused and different angle of tender :-P

Isabelle had decided that she wanted to go down and join her parents. Of course once she got into the water she really wanted to get out-- but we weren't letting her out of it. And once she got on The Alligator and found out that she was pretty steady (with Dieuwke and Lance holding it of course) she realized how fun it was and she enjoyed it

I would just like to mention a very impressive fact about this picture. Dieuwke took it- but that isn't the impressive part. The impressive part is that she was swimming as she did it! And she actually took 2 while she was floating and swimming! And they were focused and good, and the camera didn't even get wet! Kudos to her!


The Boys (and of course, The Alligator-- he was one of the boys by the time the trip was over- we grew attached to him)


And the gals (we wanted to have Isabelle in the photo too, but it was during one of her 15 minute stints of being terrified of water....)

However, even though she was afraid of the water and standing in it she decided that she could dabble her feet in it. (I love her daintily pointing toe here- so cute!)

And of course once she realized she looked cute dabbling her feet in there she had me take a few more pictures


Sheer and utter bliss (and of course complete exposure to sunburn)


Catchin' some readin' on the beach and soakin' up the sun!

I was taking some pictures of the scenery and Ethan tapped me on the leg. As I turned around he scampered back to his chair and said "You need to take a picture of this" and posed for me. As I was snapping away I asked him what exactly this pose was. He answered me in a 'well-this-should-be-completely-obvious' tone of voice "Auntie- this is my gangsta pose!"

And Isabelle turned out to be quite a little architect. She built numerous little sand castles, birthday cakes, and other various buildings. Of course the fact that they all looked the same didn't matter at all- she's still a great architect

I asked Dieuwke to put some sunblock on my arm-- fully expecting her to dot it as she had on hers. Nope, I got the full schpiel- streak and all! Of course it was too little and too late, I was completely cooked!


Chillin' on the beach!

I'm not gonna lie- I totally thought that either Isabelle or Ethan was going to fall over the side into the little swimming area. They were constantly leaning over to get some water and they kept leaning farther and farther and farther....

Pretty sexy picture of Dieuwke's legs isn't it? She was using some serious muscle here-- a full cooler and a hefty Isabelle!


What can I say? Lance dared me too...

Let me just say that those swings, while they may be comfortable enough for a child are definitely not made for an adult. As Isabelle noticed when she looked at me and when, all nice and polite, "Um, Auntie Bonnie- I think your butt is too big for that swing."

This would be the picture that was taken right before he got water dumped on him (coincidentally enough it was also the picture taken right RIGHT before I got water dumped all over me...)

Ethan decided to show his dad how to do a push-up, because as you know- the family that pushes up together, stays together


Pretty impressive! (Seriously though Ethan has incredible muscles considering he's 6 years old!)

Swinging is one of the finest pleasures in life. I was contemplating this fact as I swung higher and higher yesterday and I've decided that they should make it an Olympic sport...


Dieuwke, getting ready to conquer the monkey...triangles...


That's right- she's cool!


Bonnie, fearlessly getting ready to show up her sister

Now, I can't lie to you my faithful blog readers. I didn't actually swing on the monkey bars- I don't have enough upper body strength for that. What I do have is height and the ability to fake swinging on the monkey bars! :-D My feet are totally touching the ground...

This was actually one of my favorite pictures ever-- I thought it was just so adorable! And also Isabelle has decided that she can have a future as a trapeze artist now.

And then Lance decided to mock my lack of strength with his super-awesome strength...yeah he mocked me but good. It was sad- impressive to watch though!

And finally the end of our trip. Our car ride back home. Isabelle adequately expressed what pretty much all of us were feeling. It was great, so much fun, so much sun, laughter and memories- and boy were we bushed at the end of it!!!

Well readers- you stuck through with me to the end (I almost feel like I should have some sort of prize available to you or something...) congratulations! I hope you enjoyed it! Some of the pictures were hilarious, most of the captions were self-explanatory, but I had such a good time I had to relive it this way! Isn't it great what blogging lets you do? Ah, good, good days!

It Starts So Young

2010-08-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

One of the many things that I do indeed love about living up here is the complete inflow of stories that I always have to tell. Today for instance, on the way to church the funniest thing happened.

I was sitting in the front seat of the car, Ethan directly behind me. I kept hearing these funny noises and feeling things brush past my arm but I couldn't figure out what it was and so I put it out of my head. Then, just before we pull into the church parking lot Ethan says to me, "Auntie- shouldn't you check and see if you have paper in your hair?"

My first thought was, "What the random? Why on earth would I have paper in my hair?" Then all of a sudden the noises I had heard and the things brushing past my arm made sense and I hastily ran a hand over the back of my head to discover that I did indeed have 2 paper balls stuck in my hair. As I'm pulling them out Ethan is giggling wildly and I asked him what on earth had possessed him to tear up tiny pieces of paper, roll them into a ball, and throw them madly onto his Aunt's head in hopes that one or two of them would stick. (As they obviously did)

He looks at me, then down at his blanket- then up at me again and says, "The blanket told me to do it! It's because you're so cute Auntie" (Now really, how am I supposed to get mad at him for throwing paper in my hair if it's because I'm so cute? I just don't think I can!) Apparently he was trying to get my attention (because I'm so cute of course) and you know how boys are at that age. They like you = They terrorize you (I cannot WAIT to see him in middle school!)

What cracked me up more than anything, was the realization that this occurrence brought to me. I used to think that boys learned things like teasing and throwing paper into girls' hair from older brothers or from older friends- no, it is actually encoded into their DNA how to tease a girl if you like her. It's just something that is common sense to a boy- it is part of who they are. And boy oh boy- does it start young.

The Bunny in the Fridge

2010-07-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

So, Dieuwke and I (well, mostly Dieuwke but I'll take the credit for it too) found this show that we like to watch occasionally-- just a quick 20 min. an episode, mindless little show- appropriate for kids too, bonus!-- called The Cake Boss.

I had to laugh when I got home from work today and I walk into the living room to see this magnificent cake being made- and I mean, it was magnificent! A scenery was being created- a tall burning building (complete with smoke), ladders on the side, little firemen in full uniform climbing up the building- and even one fireman rescuing a little girl. And of course a fire hydrant, firetruck--- everything! And it's all edible! I mean, it's amazing!

So the next episode was the Easter episode. And the cake that was made was this elaborate Easter cake, complete with basket and edible stand-up, 2 1/2 foot bunny. And as they finished the cake and they're trying to move it to the fridge the only thing they keep saying over and over is "Get this bunny into the fridge- she needs to get into the fridge people. Come on, be careful- slower, slower but get this bunny into the fridge!" It was just so hilarious to me to see them worrying over this 2 1/2 foot almost completely frosting bunny.

Ah, I recommend this show for anyone who wants to see a complete creative genius at work-- he is amazing! I can't even draw out on paper what he can make into a cake. It is awesome!

Our Exclusive New Club

2010-07-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

I'm just kidding about the exclusitivity (ha! That's a word! Spell check didn't say I spelled it wrong!!) It's not exclusive at all and even if it was I couldn't say so since it's not my idea- I was just invited to be a member.

So, for all of you that read my blog that AREN'T related to me (I think that's about one of you...yeah, just one...well at least I know my family supports me :-P) let me explain. My sister sent out an e-mail informing a few of us about this new club she was forming where we all get support and pressure from each other to write down things about us and our lives- details that will seem silly to us but important and awesome to the descendents to follow. The general idea is that once a week my sister will send us out a question- a completely random question that we have to answer. Either in our journals, our e-mails, type it up on word, or blog about it, etc... (And just a quick side note here- if any of my readers want to take this question and answer it on their blog or somewhere else in their life- please feel free! We aren't afraid of sharing ;-D) I personally (and I think Steph will do the same) decided to blog about it (I mean how could I refuse! If I'm ever running low on ideas it's like a complete freebie! Bonus) So- here is this weeks question (chosen by Steph's daughter, Liberty):
Do you pay much attention to the news? How do you get your news?

I have to say I have mixed feelings about this- I feel like I should pay more attention to news than I do but at the same time news is just generally so depressing that I don't want to! So I'd have to say that global type of worldwide news I'm horrid at following. Generally I just find out whatever I know from some secondhand person talking about it to some other secondhand person and then I formulate some sort of general opinion on some sort of issue that's like 6 months old. It's fun! However local news I'm much better informed about! I live in a small town where news travels fast and I'm related to one of the cops that works in said small town. If anything exciting or loud or illegal at all happens I soon know- and I like that. Small town news isn't depressing- it's interesting, fun, sometimes sad, but never dull.

But yes, I am in general an uninformed danger to my society. (However if it makes any of you feel better the people I get my secondhand news from are people I trust and people who have opinions that are typically similar to mine anyways- so I'm maybe less of a menace? ...maybe?)

Hope you guys enjoyed!! Look forward to next weeks question-- and of course the many sundrous and small blogs in between :-)

"I'm Dehydated- Get Me Some Sugar"

2010-07-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Actually, the above title is only going to be a small part of this blog-- it was just too good to pass up! Today while I was making dinner (and I would feel worse about the following paragraph except I made a silly mistake while I was making dinner that Dieuwke promised that she would blog about- so I decided to blog about hers...isn't having sisters fun?!) I was casually talking to Dieuwke and I offered her half of a chocolate chip cookie with me. To my surprise she said 'No" I looked at her with obvious surprise (I mean-- who would say no to a perfect chocolate chip cookie? And these were pretty perfect) and so, defending herself she explained "I'm feeling dehydrated" I was about to turn away having accepted that as a reasonable excuse when she finished her sentence "Yeah, I'm just dehydrated- I need sugar" I, of course, chuckled at her mistake (see- even smelling CCC makes your whole brain think sugar) and decided to include it in my blog as retaliation for the blog she'll blog about my stupid blunder...Life is good. But anyways, on to what I ACTUALLY came here to blog about.

So today guess what your favorite little blogger decided to do? She decided that it would be fun to try and walk across the Icicle River. There are a couple things about this idea that make it so very clear that your favorite little blogger may be fabulous but perchance not so brilliant. First off, the very name "Icicle River" should give you a huge hint that the water is a bit cold (icicleyish even). Secondly, going barefoot over a bunch of sharp (not sharp so much as REALLY hard) rocks - not the smartest thing to do. Also while it LOOKS like the river is fairly shallow (I mean you could see the rock bed all the way across to the other side) it could just be that the river is so clear and unpolluted (again with the name 'icicle') that it is in fact deeper than it would seem. And to top it all off, the current- which didn't look that bad- is quite a fast flowing current!

So, we were at this little beach and I see this river- which would be ideal for tubing by the by- and it's hot and I'm in a skirt so I say to Dieuwke, "Dieuwke, do you think it's possible to walk across that?" and she goes, "Well maybe- it doesn't look very deep, but look out for that current" So I hike up my skirt to around my thighs and start walking into the river. My first thought is, "Wow- this water is cold!" Quickly followed by "Wow, these rocks are sharp!" while in the background of my mind there is a recurring theme of "I hope I don't get my skirt wet"

So I'm walking very cautiously through the river- testing each step to make sure that the rocks aren't too sharp and that I'll be able to hold my own against the current. All of a sudden the next step was down about 6 inches lower from where it should have been (this is where I discovered that it isn't that the river is so shallow- it's that the water is so clear [not to say that I couldn't walk through it if there was no current- I could and it's would never get past my chest- but it becomes a problems with a current...] and it just looks like it's so shallow) so down I plunge- thankfully finding footing quickly against the current (It was about this time that I thought to myself "I am definitely not a fan of rocks") and miraculously getting only the edges of my skirt wet.

Since I'm not a completely insane person I say to myself, "Bonnie old girl" (because that's how I refer to myself) "You should turn around and head back to shore before something happens that you regret." So I turned around (I had made it a little less than halfway across the river) and started back. All of a sudden the current got stronger and I discovered simultaneously that going UP a 6 inch rock covered slope is much harder than going down (although it still shouldn't have been as hard as it was- it was only 6 inches for crying out loud...) and I threw my hands out to the side to maintain my balance. Of course this made my skirt completely drop down and boy did it get soaked. A corner of my mind was thinking "well, that's a shame" while the vast majority of it was noting with extreme bitterness how hard these rocks are and how much harder it was to walk on slippery, poky rocks when one doesn't have proper foot protection.

Anyways, to make a long, fairly pointless story come to it's conclusion- I slipped and slided to the shore (the skirt was already drenched so I figured it didn't matter how much wetter I got really) slipped on my mercifully protective flip-flops- really those things ARE amazing- and went to look at some mini fish with the resolution to not attempt that again without proper foot gear- and an ok mindset for getting soaked.

On the plus side my walk back to the house from the river was made much more refreshing by having my skirt being wet (although I could not for the life of me keep my mind from referring to all the books I had read that were written in the 1800s or set in the 1800s where shocking and scandalous ladies [you know, the skanks of our day] allowed their skirts to get dampened to show off their legs. Just goes to show how completely and utterly 1800s brainwashed my mind truly is) and due to the fact that the sun was shining mercilessly my skirt was actually almost dry by the time we did get home.

Oh it was a great day.

Self Esteem Boost

2010-07-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

I have to say, one of the things I really love about living with my little nieces and nephews are the continual self-esteem boosts that I get from them. The little, "Auntie Bonnie, I love you" that randomly pops from Isabelle's mouth, or the "Auntie- you are just SO pretty" that Aurora will give me from time to time.

I mean just this morning when I was getting ready for church Aurora and her two friends Tatiana and Daisia that she had over for a sleep-over turn and look at me in awe and go "Oh- oh you are beautiful! I love that shirt! Oh you just look so nice!" and just when I'm thinking it couldn't get any better I put on my black high heeled boots only to have all 3 girls gasp in synchronization and say, "Those are perfect! You look perfect!" It was just so nice! But I have to say that overall, my favorite story so far about comments about my looks is the following one with Ethan.

Dieuwke and I had decided to do pore strips on our noses one afternoon, and as I followed her good-naturedly into the bathroom I grumbled in a joking tone, "Geez Dieuwke- if anyone in this house thought I was flawless once they sure know better now."
Ethan, who happened to be in the bathroom at the time, looked up at me with a face full of concern and said to me, "Oh Bonnie, my daddy thinks you're flawless!" and just as I'm trying to choke down some laughter since he obviously isn't quite aware of the meaning of the word he completely finishes me off with, "But don't worry Auntie- I still love you!" And with a hop off the bathtub wall he hugs my knees, tells me he loves me, and skips out the door.

What more could I ask for? A nephew who loves me- flawlessness and all!

At Last! I Have Returned!!

2010-07-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

I'm back!! Finally after a several month absence (really I'm just NOT sure what happened there...) I am back! I'm back to blogging and thrilling you all with my excessively descriptive posts of what exactly is going on in the life and mind of an average 18 year old (well, average if you consider my situation average...it is true that I may have more stories about what new and hilarious thing such and such child did than the average 18 year old, but that's ok! We'll just enjoy the term 'average' being applied to me for once :-) )

Anyways (see what I mean about the boring- I get off track so easily- it's a wonder to me that you people can stand to read this at all...) life! Life has definitely been there! I really have to say I have learned so much in the last 4 months!

Stuff about me, stuff about decisions, stuff about things I like, people I like, things I can do, things I definitely CANNOT do, things I can stand while retaining my sanity, and things I can stand- but only if I'm willing to sacrifice of bit of my mental health. Stuff about family, stuff about being an adult- really it's been a 4 months full of 'stuff'

So, quick (and I do mean quick) recap! In March I graduated from the UCMT and got a job working for a chiropractor, in May I moved up to Washington and got a job working at a spa/salon (although if you want to get technical it's still slightly illegal since my Washington Massage License is still 'pending' *curse you Washington government!*) and right now that is where I am, but I don't plan on being here long.

I plan on moving around, seeing more family, seeing more country, making more decisions that are probably wrong, and hopefully making some that are right. I plan on falling in love at least once and maybe having my heart broken. I plan on living paycheck to paycheck (if indeed I even find a place that gives them to me :P) and mooching off sisters that love me so. I plan on knowing what it feels like to be dead broke and knowing the joy in paying a bill all on my own, and hopefully in the spring or next fall I plan on starting college (real college this time :-) ) I plan on having no real plan for the next little while. I'm 18, I'm young, I'm in love with life and life is in love with me!

Quick Update

2010-03-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'd just like to point out that this quick update was actually written in early early February-- the reason it's taken this long to get to you all is because, well my blog hated me. And recently it has begun to like me again so, let's give this a go.

Well, let’s be honest. It probably won’t be that quick :D but so many things have happened! However, I can pin point all things that have happened into 3 different categories—School, work, or home. This is both good at bad—it’s good for you because it’ll shorten and compartmentalize my blog that you all feel obligated to read (:D) it’s bad for me because it shows the drastic boringness of my life.

So, I would say let’s start with the most boring first, but really all three of them are pretty fascinating to me- occurrences in each that don’t normally…occur…

First we have work! So on Friday morning I went out to breakfast with my boss, Lisa. It was so much fun and we had such an absolute blast! At first I was afraid that I would run out of things to talk to her with and it would turn into one of those awkward things, but it totally didn’t! There was never a want of conversation, the food was fantastic, and it was so much fun to get to know Lisa a little better and have that quality time with her- she really is the best boss ever. And as we were leaving this guy stopped and starting talking to us and telling Lisa how pretty she was and how her daughter (me apparently :D) could be compared to a rare precious sapphire. (I was quite flattered although I couldn’t find out how someone would link me to a sapphire…) But Lisa and I had to stop ourselves from laughing out loud because we so obviously don’t look like mother and daughter but what can we say? If I had to pick someone to be my surrogate mother Lisa would be right there. :D

Second to come is home. This one was kind of an unexpected surprise but it happened on Sunday night. (Some of you may be familiar with Operation Bring out Your Dead) I was sitting there complacently doing my Russian Protocol (actually I lied, I wasn’t be complacent- I was getting really really pissed off at the protocol) when a phone call came from Val. 2 or so hours later I was packing up to go and drive up to Colfax and pick her up. She was really, insanely sick and she needed some TLC from Mom (tender loving care) and some TLC from me (tender laughing craze—and when anyone questions that I’d just like you all to repeat to yourself that laughter is the best medicine) So Mom and I drove up to Colfax, picked her up and then turned around and came back to Utah so I could make it in time for Tuesday classes. It was certainly an adventure and I have to say it is a blast having Val here!

Third is school! The funniest thing ever happened! A friend of mine (who wishes to remain anonymous :D) and I were partnered up in Russian and I was giving her a massage and she was completely out! I mean, OUT! And so the massage ended and I was trying to wake her up—nothing. She was gone. So I shook and shouted and shook some more and nothing. So I turned to the Russian teacher and tentatively said, “Mike, I think I killed her” He takes a step back and looks at her for a second and goes, “Nope, she’s still breathing!” So he starts laughing and he comes up and does some tapotment, and starts talking to her- still nothing. He squats down so he’s down at her level and just starts talking to her. I firmly grip the sheet on either side of her shoulders (knowing that when I wake up and am startled I try and move and I didn’t want her to do that- seeing as how she had nothing on at all) So I’m firmly gripping her sheet, Mike is trying to wake her up, and finally she does! She looks at Mike’s face and screams and tries to move. I, laughing, grabbed the sheet tighter until she calmed down. And then Mike, calm as can be says, “Oh yeah, I’d scream if the first thing I saw when I woke up was my face too” I was laughing SO hard! Ah, it was a good day! :D Well, good times have been had by all!

Hope you’re all doing well! Much love!

Imposter!

2010-03-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Turns out somebody has hacked onto my blog...suddenly there are posts by somebody other than me...which might be a good thing because at least now there are posts right? The sad/scary (or funny from the view of the imposter...) thing is that you will never know who is posting at any given time...
(fade out with creepy Twilight Zone music)

Fulfillment of a Life-Long Dream

2010-01-06T19:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, I can't even tell you how happy I am right now! Ok, I know that I'm going to get laughed at- and I know that most of you probably won't understand- but today a life-long dream has been fulfilled.

Now, I don't know how many of you have ever heard of Jimmy's Flower Shop, it's a little flower shop in Ogden- On Washington Blvd. Now everyday Jimmy's has a sign on their billboard that says, "If your name is ______ come in for a free rose" and as long as I could remember I always longed to have my name on that sign. But of course it would never happen- they always had names that seemed common enough but you never actually knew anyone that HAD that name!

Names like Myrtle, Ethel, Steffania, Bobby, Victor, etc...I knew they'd never have my name. The same way my sisters knew there would never be a Steph, a Val, a Kim or Pam, especially not a Dieuwke. We knew that no matter how much we longed for it it would never happen to us.

Well, today it did! It happened to me!!! I was innocently sitting in my Professional Development class, trying really hard not to go to sleep as the teacher talked about the IRS and I felt my phone go off. At the first chance I got I checked it for whatever text it was and it was from my friend Jess. The text was telling me that the first chance I got I had to go to Jimmy's and get a free rose! I was so excited I couldn't even contain it! I texted my sister immediately telling her of my good fortune and together we rejoiced until we found out that it closes at 5:30- there was no way I'd get there in time!

Talk about a kick in the pants-- One of my dreams is fulfilled and I can't even reach out and grab it. I was quite dismal and disappointed until my sister mentioned that I should go down and take a picture of the sign before I went home. I completely saw the wisdom in that suggestion- I mean, roses can fade and die- but these pictures, they will stand the test of time. I will always have photographic evidence that I, Bonnie Stohel, could have gone in and gotten a free rose from Jimmy's! Jimmy's chose me!

Ah, bliss! Complete bliss! I never knew how exhilirating it would be to have a life-long dream fulfilled! This is nice!

The Longest Time

2009-12-14T19:16:00.000-08:00

The title of Billy Joel's wonderful song pretty much describes how long it's been since I've last posted! Over a month and I'm sure some sister is chaffing just a little bit since I keep telling her to post more frequently and then I never post myself.

This week is really going to just be a barrage of studying for final after final after final. Right now it's anatomy, then pathology, then shiatsu, and then finally structural and I'll be done for two blissful weeks! Thank heavens I've already gotten sports out of the way.

My most exciting news I just HAVE to share is the fact that I am going to a Michael Buble concert with my lovely sister in April! If I only ever go to one concert in my life I am so completely ok with that one concert being Michael Buble!! Words can't even express how excited I am!

Anyways, this is just a quick update to let you all know I'm alive! I promise I'll blog more after finals--if I survive them all that is!

Casual

2009-11-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

Do you ever wonder how casualty came about? I do. I mean, when did it happen? How did it happen? What different things happened to make casuality in all its varied forms come about?

What happened to the guys in our society? When did it become that a girl was expected to pay for her share, or all of it if she asked? I went on a date on Friday and he was a complete and total gentleman. He did the whole opening the door, assisting into and out of the car, etc...and when he pulled back a chair for me it didn't even enter into my mind that he might have been doing it for me. Because of the normal guys I'm around I assumed he was pulling it out for him so when I sat down at a different chair and he just stood there looking at me I felt so silly- but it made me think.

When did it happen that guys became so casual? I mean, the reason I thought the chair was for him was because I've been conditioned that guys act for themselves. A guy get a chair for me? That happens? Wow. It was nice to know that those guys still exist. That there is someone out there--besides my brother because I have very intensely trained and taught him how to act. It's nice knowing that he makes the world a little bit of a better place : ) -- that knows how to treat a lady.

It makes you think, how did it happen? When and how did guys start to become lazy and lacksadaisical? There's really only one thing I can think of- we let them. I'm not sure if we felt like we needed to be independent so we refused their help or if one day a guy didn't hold back a chair and the girl just let it slide or what? I'm not sure how it started, but I think it's our fault it's gotten as far as it has. We should change it. I'm sure guys will be willing to be more chilvarous if they knew that's what we wanted. That they would give more respect if more was required.

Anyways, I don't know. It could be that I'm just insane, or that I'm just spitting my mind out onto this page with no order and no real meaning. I don't know. Have a good day!!

Halloween Costume

2009-11-01T14:15:00.000-08:00

Ok, I did it! I finally got my whole Halloween costume put together! I know that all of you are so proud of me! I went dressed up as if I was going to a masquerade ball (well, it was a little less formal than that...) and I think it turned out beautifully! I am going to fomally apologize to Val beforehand though- I'm sorry my hair isn't curly, but I still think it turned out rather well. So here it is-- the costume that I wore a grand total of one time, for a grand total of 3 hours! Happy Halloween everybody!!!

I had to take some pictures by myself because Pam had left to go pick someone up, and I'm not the best at taking pictures of myself...as you all see! :)

Is it a sad thing that when I see that picture I automatically think, "Oh, that is not good for my posture- 20 more minutes like that and I'd be the one getting the massage, not giving it!"

Here is the whole ensemble (well the one that is the whole one is the one I'm talking about...) complete with mask, boa, fishnets, and thoughtful look. I'll tell ya right now, wearing those fishnets to the ward party did indeed cause some talk!

My hair--not the best shot, but the best shot we have of it. It was quite gorgeous really

And for some reason this is my favorite pose so this is the one I saved for last! :) All in all it was a great night, full of chili, random comments, and lots of driving!

The Saddest Story Ever Told

2009-10-25T20:54:00.001-07:00

Would you all like to know what is the saddest story ever? The following is the saddest story ever!

So, there I was on a glorious Sunday afternoon, lazing around, watching movies, blogging, facebooking, folding laundry, in general just being a happy lazy adult.

And there it was 20 minutes before I was going to go to bed, I was getting some final laundry put away and had just stopped to stretch my cramped up back. And there, mid-stretch, it came to me. That sickening and horrible realization that my resume was due in class tomorrow....and I hadn't done a thing for it.

Yes, that was indeed the saddest story ever.

Masquerade!

2009-10-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this here is a precursor to what my whole Halloween costume will be. Since I've yet to put on my whole outfit and take pictures this will have to do for all of you right now. So, I'm going dressed as if I was going to a masquerade ball- although I'm doing semi-formal not formal-formal- so I have the black high heels (which I adore!) the red fishnet stockings (which I am SO looking forward to!) the black skirt, the red shirt, the black and gold boa with the black and gold mask. All of course accentuated with gold jewelry and fine, lovely hair (accent with gold hair spray). I really cannot even tell you all how excited I am about this!! Everytime I think of my costume the song "Masquerade" from Phantom of the Opera pops in my head-- in fact, here you go. Now you can listen to it while you look at the pictures-- like I am! :D

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

Ok, and here are the pictures! There'll be more (and better ones) to follow!

My shoes! Oh, I absolutely love them, they are so pretty and so comfortable! Much more than I would have thought they would be.

Front view

My black and gold boa

A close up of my boa, it didn't turn out so well....

My mask! I do love it, it has a pretty bow at the one side and because it attaches with a headband instead of string around the sides so it's more secure, more comfortable, and more mobile. I do love it!

There will be more pictures to follow, and many exciting stories I'm sure! :D

School

2009-10-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know it's been a while-- I've been very neglectful *shame shame shame*

But I have reason! I have finished my first quarter of school! This last week was full of finals and hands-on and written tests and clinical shifts and all sorts of good crazy things! But I have officially finished my first of three quarters AND I passed every single one of my classes first quarter with A's! I am so happy and so excited!

There are three quarters total in the basic massage program and then an additional one in the master program. The second quarter ends right before Christmas Break (December 17th I think) and then I graduate in March.

The first two months completely flew by! I guess what with school most days and work on the days that I don't have school every week is just a blur with few defining points.

I am still trying to make an effort for a social life though! The last couple of Fridays have been movie nights (where I got introduced into the FABULOUS world of Mystery Science Theater 3000) which have been full of laughter and good memories (thanks Jossi!!) and this upcoming Friday I'm going to WSU's homecoming dance with a good friend from work.

Haha, I keep telling myself not to stay up late on Friday nights because I have to get up insanely early for clinicals on Saturday morning, and yet I keep staying up late. I think part of me is craving that social life that I once had and is a little desperate to get part of it back. But I'm young right? They tell me that if I'm going to do this to myself I might as well do it now- in the prime of life! :P

And Dad got in tonight! There was a drop in SLC so he was allowed to go home and sleep on a real bed for the night- needless to say he was very excited. It's been so much fun to see him and tease him in person rather than over text. I've missed him so much!

But yeah, this is life in a nutshell! Crazy, hectic, and very fast paced! But- never a dull moment!

#3 Jane Eyre

2009-09-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I actually finished this book a very long time ago...really like, at least two weeks ago but I guess I've just been to lazy to write about it.

I love this book! I've read it several times and it's gotten to the part where I've just ear marked my favorite parts and whenever I get a Jane Eyre tug I'll go and read those parts (which are of course the romantic, touching, and heartfelt parts...) Now of course I didn't do that this time because that would be cheating, but I did definitely read those parts twice! :D

Jane Eyre is just a classic! It's the story about a girl who, in contrast to other heroins, is plain and little. Not handsome and outgoing. Jane is clever and has her own opinions but is shy in company and at ease with just a few people.

She spends the first years of her life in a loveless house with her aunt and cousins until she gets sent away to school, which is initially terrible but with the help of the headmistress turns into a pleasant place where she spends about 8 years of her life- first as a student and then as a teacher.

The true part of the story begins when she goes away to be a governess and meets the mysterious and charming Mr. Rochester--who is also described as fairly plain, and not handsome like most heros. (See here is my problem though, I saw the movie before I ever read the book and the movie stars Timothy Dalton as Mr. Rochester and I just can't see him as plain! It just doesn't work, so for me Mr. Rochester is forever handsome) They fall in love and all seems to be going well when an unfortunate incident is brought up and the whole tone of the book changes!

That's all I'll tell you about this particular book, because I think all of you need to read it yourselves to find out just what happens that stops the true love of these two, and how it's resolved. But I love this book! It ranks right up there in my heart with Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice- that's how good it is.

(*side note* I always thought it was interesting that one of my other all time favorite classics is not written by Jane Austen but the main characters name is Jane...anyways, that has no relevance to this blog)

But yes, I love this book! And I recommend it to all!

My Birthday!!!

2009-09-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

So, in an exciting turn of events Sunday was not only MY birthday but also the birthday of my little nephew, Samuel David Brown!! YAY! Yes, I am exactly 18 years and 40 minutes older than my little 9 lbs 2 oz, brown hair and blue eyed little nephew. I'm thinking that these numbers have some significance... :P No, but it was very exciting to wake up to that news and the congratulations for Steph and Mycal and the new little addition to the family!

My birthday was a wonderful day! I celebrated the first hour by closing up at work and dropping money off, but I came home at around 12:53 to a beautifully decorated house that my sister had spent about 4 hours on. (I am trying to get pictures!) Pam figured that since it was just me and her for my happy 18th she'd do her absolute best to make it the best she could, and she did a great job!

I got to bed at about 2 and I was woken at 6 by the phone ringing--it was my dad calling to wish me Happy Birthday! Apparently he'd set his alarm so that he could call me at midnight wishing me a happy birthday, but it was the wrong 12 that he'd set it for so he woke up realizing he hadn't called, but he very sweetly fixed that. After his call I promptly fell asleep again and woke to the news I had a new nephew! This was followed by church (in which many interesting conversations about dumpster diving ensued...) which was followed by my coming home to a very floral room. My cousin and friends had bought me 18 different types of flowers and hung them all over my room!

I then got to veg, and get calls from family, and eat, and veg more. I didn't study at all. I didn't clean at all. I didn't do anything productive at all! It was a beautiful day and I can't thank Pam enough for putting it all together! I love birthdays!! Aren't they just such happy days?! And I love being 18. I've never felt any different about any of my other birthdays, but I feel different about this one. I feel different. It's like I've entered a new chapter of my life--one I'm way excited for!!!

Washington 2!

2009-09-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

Oh, I have shamefully neglected my blog lately- it's been very shameful. And as a result I now have three blogs to do today... *tsk tsk tsk* you'd think I'd learn! :D

Well, on the weekend of the 17th through the 20th I went up to Washington. Dieuwke and Lance, being the stellar people they are, bought me plane tickets for my birthday and I got to fly up for the Salmon Festival! (Which of course included a fantastic Salmon Dinner! Ah, so good!)

I got in late Thursday night and got to bed even later (I suppose that's what happens when you just absolutely HAVE to watch certain YouTube videos with your sister...) and on Friday I got the chance to be a grandparent! I know, not your everyday honor is it?

The facts are that Friday was Grandparent Day at Aurora's school and since Aurora had no grandparents readily available to her she asked her teacher if I could come instead. Her teacher said that wouldn't be a problem and so it happened that I was the only person under 60 in her classroom that day...well, the only person under 60 but over 7, let's say it that way. :D

It was great though, I got to run around with her at recess (ha! none of the other grandparents could do that!) and we got to answer questions about ourselves, and we got snacks, and we got to sit on really uncomfortable chairs, and we got to make a book about grandparents (needless to say Aurora and I changed the wording around a little bit.) And the best part, Aurora sang me a song about how awesome grandparents were--I felt quite special!

On Friday evening Dieuwke and I got the chance to walk around town for a little bit which was wonderful, I do love that town with just about everything I have. Then, to correct the apparent travesty that is my education, Dieuwke rented Dirty Dancing and I got a chance to see it for the first time. (It was our personal homage to Patrick Swayze) and Dirty Dancing: Havannah Nights...I definately recommend the first one if you're only going to watch one of two--much better.

Saturday was started with a soccer game for Ethan and a nice big breakfast. Then Val and Jacob joined us and we got started at the Salmon Festival. I did indeed manage to complete the Salmon Treasure Hunt (which included a Salmon maze and a game of Salmon mini golf) and in return for my trouble I got a baseball shaped hackey sack (whom I've named Billy). I also got to see reptiles, and learn all about them which was very fun! We took a break in the middle to go to Aurora's soccer game and the day was finished off with a lovely dinner of Salmon, beans, and roasted potatoes (it was pretty happy) and of course Carmello salad!

Sunday was the day of parting... :( We did get to go to the Festival one last time and then I had to say goodbye and I boarded the plane to come home to school and work. But it was a blast! One of the best weekends ever and I thank Dieuwke and Lance for it so much! Memories are always one of the best gifts I can get! :D

Washington!

2009-09-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, here I am finally detailing my Washington weekend! (I find this rather ironic because by the time I got around to detailing this one I'm basically leaving on my next one...ah, good days)

So Cody and I left Ogden around 6:30 AM on Thursday morning and everything was going fine, it was all happy, and then we hit Oregon. (Bad things happen in Oregon, why does that state even exist?! :D) I was driving and I noticed that the check engine light was on. I pulled over onto the non-existent shoulder at the side of the road (another reason to hate Oregon) and we looked into the engine. Sure enough, something was wrong. We were out, and I do mean out, of coolant. Completely! So we let the engine cool down a little and we drove to Baker, which was about 10 miles away. There we purchased some coolant and we got scared silly by a man who turned out to work for the Department of Public Transportation and was really a very nice, if not quite as intelligent, man. He helped us get back on the road and FINALLY we made it into Moscow.

So we got into Moscow where I was picked up by Val and Jake and we had the chance to run some errands and get to catch up a bit, which was outlandishly fun! Jake was being a total clown and it was cracking me up, and I was just so excited to see Val again! We got into Colfax where I was given a happy greeting by Chuck, Maren, and the kids and that night we got to sort beads and watch all sorts of fun things.

Friday was a conglomeration of fun ideas, activities, and walks. Dieuwke and her kids came down and we had a miniature photo shoot for the kids as part of our activities. The only one missing was Kassel because she was with Chuck and Maren at the time *tear*

Isabelle is a born model- the minute I whipped out the camera there she was in position. Isn't she a doll?

I'm trying to figure out why Dieuwke hasn't exploited her and made millions! :D

Ethan, in a true Ethan pose

Showing off his muscle

Cute Reipe bug!

Dancer Aurora

"Super Star" Pose

Sweet sweet Cha!

The kids were so absolutely hilarious! We played games and they were all so excited to see me and each other and Val's house and play games together and make jewelry (I did get a significant amount of jewelry made for me. Bracelets, necklaces, snakes, and rings- I felt pretty special)

Creative minds at work!

On Saturday we got to chill and catch up with each other and Val taught us how to play a crazy fun game! I believe it's called Martian (correct me if I'm wrong Val) and it was SO much fun! Word to the wise though, don't play with Chuck late at night, he'll frustrate you. Lots and lots.

Also Val and Jake have pretty much the cutest little dog I have ever seen in my life. Her name is Annie and she looks like a miniature black lab. Honestly she is so wonderful! She's tiny and full of life and very loving, and she hardly ever barks at all! She is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life- I am a little bit jealous.

Little Annie

Sunday was church, walks, and final games and activities. Then on Monday morning I had to head home :( It was sad. Although I did get a parting hot chocolate on the way, that was pretty rocking. It took Cody and I forever to drive back due to campers coming home from their Labor Day Weekends and lots of stupid drivers.

But we made it, safe and sound, and then on Tuesday the daily grind began again. It was so much fun and I was so glad I got a chance to go! Thanks Val! Thanks for having me! Love you tons!!

Chillin' with the kids

Playing "Horsey" (for the 13th time in a row...)

Cuddling with stuffed animals, dogs, and nieces!

Fish face!

LOVE the look on Isabelle's face! "Can I trust you? I'm not so sure..."

Messing around

Sleep pile! Haha, Isabelle did a fake snore for the picture- hilarious!

Cha!

Chuck...enough said.

And it wouldn't be complete without our lovely Maren!

Update

2009-09-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

Look at me go! Three in one day! *sniff sniff* Steph you should be so proud!

Anyways, this is actually just a quick update to let you all know that I was in Washington this last weekend and a post is going to very soon follow containing information and pictures! I'd do it know but Costco is closing soon and I really need gas for my car...and I've already done two blogs today, let's not get over excited here! :D

#2c The Return of the King

2009-09-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this one! Do you want to know why? Well, it doesn't really matter if you do or don't because I'm still going to tell you.

First off it is the shortest of the three- it looks as long but the last half is the appendix, index, pronunciation guide, etc...

Secondly it wraps everything up. I don't know about you but I love to have things all neat and tidy. I like knowing everything has ended well, I like knowing that it is settled and done and it's happy. I like to have things come to their conclusion.

Also, this one has all the love stories in it! Aragorn and Arwen, Sam and Rosie, and my personal favorite Faramir and Eowyn. Can I just say how much I love Faramir?! So completely one of my favorite people in all the books if not my true favorite. He just rocks my socks.

And because it is the last one Tolkien needed to wrap everything up and so there is much more action and doing and much less description- it's quite nice. Although, I did almost cry at one point. Because I hadn't read it in so long I forgot about the part where ****SPOILER...well, you have all seen the movies, but this isn't IN the movie...but still...**** Pippin gets crushed by the giant! Oh so sad!!! I was really worried for a second but then I remembered that in the movie he lives but still- it was a heart stopping moment for me!

And to see Frodo and Sam at the pit of Mount Doom! They were there and then finally Frodo falls to the ring. Now I know that he has had it hard and all but I can't help but blame him there just a little bit. I mean come on! He's Frodo! *sigh* I do with good ol' J.R.R. had written that part differently. But then I suppose Gollum wouldn't have ever had a real purpose in the books, but still...

And then after all of thier travels the hobbits come home to find thier lovely home, The Shire, completely descimated. How hard would that be?! But they fix that up in admirable time and the books comes to a happy conclusion.

Ah, it's just a good book! :D

Tune in next time for a review I'm quite excited for! Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre"

#2b The Two Towers

2009-09-08T18:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, well on my way to Washington this last weekend I finished off this book and so now here comes the review that most of you are probably dreading! :D Go blogs!!

This book is one of my more favorites (not my favorite- that's reserved for the 3rd and you'll find out in the next post...which will be posted almost simultaneously with this one) I definitely like it more than The Fellowship of the Ring. This book doesn't have the introductory job that the first one has and so it starts off more immediately. And it moves along faster.

One thing I noticed that the movies did and the book didn't is that the book is divided in half. The first half is Merry, Pippin, Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimi, Legolas etc...and the complete second half is all Frodo and Sam. I like the way the movie did it better where it did a few scenes for one, then a few scenes for the other. Anyways...

I do like many aspects of this book! I like meeting Theoden and Rohan in general! I love Gandalf's new personality and the more fully explored friendship between Gimli and Legolas. I love the strength of Merry and Pippin- not to mention the humor that they provide. And I do adore the Ents! They just make me happy.

This book is fairly dark as well though- basically every part with Sam and Frodo leaves you aching a little bit on the inside. They have to go through so much! It's just sad.

Good book though, good book! Still lots of description though- Tolkien definately had a flair for description.

The Letter Q

2009-09-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

I would just like to post here and now my indignation that the state of Utah does not believe in having the letter Q on any of their license plates.

But maybe I should back up and begin at the start.

It all started about August 3rd when I began driving to and from Salt Lake City everyday (well, Monday through Thursday) and at random points during the drive (ESPECIALLY the drive home when I was stuck in rush hour traffic) I would begin the play the alphabet game with myself. After a while I noticed the only letter I got stuck on for longer than 1 minute was Q- and do you know why? Because Utah feels that Q is too easily mistaken with O and so they don't have either of these letters on their plates!

Ah, it was a terrible, sad sad day for me when I found this out! There are now only two reliable places to find a Q on the drive- in fact there is only one truly reliable one and it's in SLC already!!! You see on the occasionally happy day I can drive by a Qwest truck or some such and pick up my Q that way, but if I'm not lucky enough for that I have to wait all the way until I get down into downtown SL and see the sign with directions for Temple Square (although the fact that these two words have the corresponding letters from Q all the way to U does assauge my anger somewhat) and then I have one block to get from V to Z. Ah, it's a hard life I'm tellin' ya!

#2a The Fellowship of the Ring

2009-08-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

So, this number is like the one the ones I was talking about earlier- for number 2 on my list of 100 books it says 'The Lord of the Rings'. Well, I feel fairly obligated to write a letter to someone and let them know that The Lord of the Rings is actually three books and now the list is 102! And it is just gonna get longer because it does this several times. Man, people in England may know how to read better, but I can count better.

Anyways, to the book review!

So I have not read this book for ages! Believe it or not I have actually read it before. Even better- I read them before they were famous! When I was in 5th grade (before the movies came out! :D) I read these books and they were fantastic!

Some parts in The Fellowship of the Ring do admittedly seem a little drawn out to me, and some parts just don't seem to actually NEED to be in the book- they serve no purpose. This is one reason I like all of the movies- they are fairly faithful adaptations but they cut out the fairly useless stuff and some of the harder dialogue to follow. And of course with a movie you don't need to have pages and pages of description- so that's nice!

But it was still really good! I'd forgotten how good! There is something about going back and reading a book, and a book will almost always have trumps over a movie! I got to know Frodo so much better! I remembered some of my favorite lines that Pippin or Merry would say and all the adventures that they had to endure- just in the first book mind- became so fresh in my head!

However, now I HAVE to see the movie. I'm not even kidding- I have been craving the movie since I got to the part in the book where the four hobbits got to Elrond! In the book they have the council as well and I couldn't help it- the entire time I was reading it I was just picturing the movie in my head. Where Boromir rides up on his horse, and Legolas swings off and graceful and elf-like.

I have to see the movie!!!

But yeah, it is a good book and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read it! Just be aware that there are some parts that are harder to get through due to a bit of overdrawn out description, and there are some parts where you may be like, "Hmmm, what was J. R. R. Tolkien thinking? Why is this in here?" But overall, quite good! :D

Girls Night Out

2009-08-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

So last night I got a have a Girls' Night Out and it was such a blast! My amazing friend, Jossi, and I went out to see The Time Traveler's Wife (which was pretty fantastic--I did get a little teary-eyed) and then we went out to dinner at IHOP (and guess what? I actually ordered DINNER- weird eh?) and then we just hung out at her house for a while.

It was so much to just get to have that time! To de-stress from school and work for a little while and just go and have fun!

Thank you Jossi! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

I did like the movie and now I feel the need to find a copy of the book--dang it, there are so many books to read! So little time!!

#1 Pride and Prejudice

2009-08-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

As a refresher for those of you who have forgotten I am reading my way down the list of 100 books that Americans should read (or something along those lines) although it should actually be like 120 books or so because half of the ones on this list are trilogys or such and involve more than one book. Anyways, the first book was Pride and Prejudice which of course was NO trial to me to read! In fact, I probably could have written this review in my sleep (as Steph so aptly pointed out) but doing this just gave me an excuse to read it over again!

*WARNING: The following review (which isn't REALLY a review) contains spoilers!*

Ah, I do so love this book! I finished it this evening and reading it again just made it even better! I got completely into it- so completely into it that it was as if I was all of the characters! I laughed at Darcy's haughty scorn as he rejected Elizabeth. I was incredulous at Collin's stupidity as he was kneeling at Lizzy's feet asking for her hand in marriage. I felt Jane's torture as Bingley left to London- seemingly never to return- and Bingley's sadness at the thought that the woman he loved didn't truly love him. I felt all of Elizabeth's shock at Darcy's proposal, as well as his humiliation at her scorn.

I gasped along with Elizabeth and she read Darcy's letter and felt all of her revulsion at Wickham and what he had done. I shook my head with Mr. Bennet at the follies of Mrs. Bennet and her three youngest. I felt just a smidgen of remorse with Lizzy as we toured Pemberly for the first time and saw what we could have had! I started simultaneously with Darcy and Lizzy as they both saw each other on the grounds at Pemberly and I felt all of the hopelessness of the entire Bennet family when they learned of what Lydia had done!

I was SO aware of just how much Lizzy owed Darcy when she found out what he had done for her family and how much she completely loved him- just when it seemed there was no hope for the two of them after all. I felt all of Jane's exquisite happiness as she and Bingley managed to work it out and finally become engaged. I was consumed with anger and annoyance when Lady Catherine De Bourgh had the insolence to march into the Bennet's house and aim all of those unjust, hurtful, and rude accusations at Elizabeth.

And finally I was completely overwhelmed with joy and romantic sighs as Elizabeth and Darcy started that fateful walk, and had that amazing conversation! I giggled in my heart as they became the quintessential 'mushy' lovers, and I sighed with absolute contentment when they got married and Jane Austen wrapped up the story.

Ah, it was just so good!!! So good! I'd slightly forgotten just HOW much I love this story- truly a classic and well worth the read for anyone who needs a good novel! (Although I'm fairly certain I've just highlighted all of the main points...oops, sorry!)

I would so give it 5 stars!!!

Things I didn't learn in school...

2009-08-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'll grant I've only been there for two weeks, but I'm pretty sure right now that no amount of time would have prepared me for what I found on my massage table on Thursday.

You see on Wednesday night I came home to find that I had two lovely nieces and a stunning nephew waiting for me! It was awesome! I got to be all loved and 'Bonnie Bonnie Bonnie!!!'-ed which hasn't happened since June. So it is just fantastic to have them here and everyday there comes more and more things that make it so fantastic!

Not only have I gotten to see all of Chamberlain's treasures, and I got to teach Riepe to fly and I got to teach Kassel to slide, but I've gotten to rock them all and play with them all and just have a blast! But I have to say, the crowning moment so far- the moment that school just did not prepare me for- was this one!

You see, I set up my table on Wednesday night in order to begin practicing on friends and family that which I had learned in school! And I came home from school on Thursday and there was my first client, ready and waiting to go! She had originally climbed up on the table and laid down in the center of it, but I suppose she decided that that just wasn't good enough. So Kassel crawled up to the very top and plopped her head down in the headrest. Then she gave a huge sigh of relaxation and contentment and signaled that she was ready for me to begin my work.

So I worked on a little two year old- who quickly got succeeded by a 4 year old and a 7 year old and in that way practiced my stances and movements. It was good days! And just so gosh darn cute!!

Tagged!!

2009-08-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

Haha, is it just so sad that I love getting tagged? I'm all like "Oh, people love me!" Anyways here goes...

*8 Things I'm looking forward to (in no particular order...) :
1. My weekend off of school
2. Graduating in March
3. My birthday!
4. Going to the anatomy lab
5. Completing my list of 100 books to read
6. Meeting someone (it will happen :P)
7. Jaren and Jess' reception
8. Playing with nieces and nephews!

*8 Things I did this week:
1. Fell asleep in class (in my defense I was being massaged)
2. Spend three hours talking about the cell
3. Went out to get tacos with Chuck and Maren and the kids
4. flew, slid, and played horsey
5. Watched G.I. Joe
6. Worked
7. Visited friends
8. Cleaned

*8 Things I wish I could do:
1. Sing better
2. Yoga
3. Have more time
4. Manage time better
5. Get to bed earlier
6. Be happier
7. Be more involved in class
8. Draw

*8 Places I'd like to travel:
1. Washington D.C.
2. Hawaii
3. Alaska
4. England
5. Washington (again :D)
6. Italy
7. Poland
8. Fiji Islands

*8 Shows I watch:
1. The Office...and wow- that's about it...

I TAG: Stephanie, SuZan, Val, Kim, Pam, Dieuwke, and Jossi! :D

So, Funny Story

2009-08-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

Yeah, funny story. Ok, here goes. So I was thinking about dinner today and what I should make. I mean, I was pretty positive I should make SOMETHING because I was hungry, Dad was hungry, there was just hunger all around-- you know? So, I ran up to Smith's and on the way I called Steph because I had NO idea what I should make--not at all.

We were chatting and all was going well, I was shopping around (I decided to make Shepard's Pie--mostly because I can use it for lunch tomorrow too! Yay for hitting two birds with one stone!) talking to Stephanie, catching up, getting odd looks from the customers from some of the things I was saying, ooh and I did get checked out by the way cute stock boy, and life was pretty good. I got everything I needed, checked out, and started walking out to my car- still talking to Steph.

I get--not even joking--less than 5 feet away from my car (which was parked way out in Timbuck 3 and a half) and the bottom of the potato bag falls out! Potatoes roll everywhere!!!! All down the parking lot (because Smith's parking lot is slightly angled down hill) under the car, oh it was bad!!

So here I was scrambling around, looking like a complete idiot, trying to pick up potatoes and once I had picked up a couple I realized I had no place to put them because, well, the bag was broken! So I ended up putting them in my purse...yeah, dad laughed hysterically when he saw that (well, as much as dad LAUGHS so it was more of a chuckle hysterically persay....) anyway, then some nice lady helped me pick up a couple and pointed out a few I had missed and I managed to get all of them (at least I THINK it was all of them) and get home. Whew...it was sad. I mean it's really funny now, but then it was sad. Because the LAST thing you want to have happen when you've had a hard day, and spent hard earned money on food, is feel a sudden lightening in your hand when there shouldn't be a lightening there--because a lightening would imply that you somehow dropped something (which I did) and yeah...you know?

In other news school is going really well!! I'm in my second week and so far my favorite class is anatomy- I LOVE LOVE LOVE anatomy! The human body is aboslutely fascinating and I finally get more of a chance to delve in and learn! (And the cadaver lab at the U of U is GREAT!)

The classes I am taking right now are Professional Development, CPR/FA, Massage Basics, Accupressure, and Anatomy. Ah, it's fun days! Some days are more awkward than others--haha, remind me to tell you about the funny story with my good ol' homo friend sometime!-- some days more fun than others. But it's great! The drive isn't even as bad as I thought it would be!

And I signed up for an institute class--The History of the Church. Good days!

Firsts

2009-08-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

Well the next two days will certainly be full of firsts!

Tomorrow I start Relief Society. Monday I start college. Whoo....I'm quite nervous!! I hope everything goes alright!!

Also tomorrow I start reading the list of 100 books all people should apparently read. Once I finish a book I'll post my own personal review of it on my blog. It'll be good.

Also, tonight I watched The Scarlet Pimpernel for the first time ever and I absolutely love it. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!! Good days!

Bear Lake!!

2009-08-01T22:14:00.000-07:00

Alright! Here it is! The long awaited Bear Lake post. I would have had it up sooner, really, but things just kept getting in the way...

So, Mistie, Tiffany and I left for Bear Lake and arrived on Sunday afternoon. And almost immediately the first adventure began. We found out as we came back from a short little tour around the condo that we were locked out! Since the condo we were in was privately owned versus owned by Worldmark we seemed to be out of luck! So we had to walk all the way to town, where we were told that we were still out of luck! In desperation (and praying that my phone battery wouldn't die since I was the only one who had a phone on me) we called Mistie's grandparents who called the original Worldmark people that we talked to, who called a supervisor, who called someone who knew a combination to a safe, who came to the safe, opened it, and found a key. So, we trudged back to into Harbor Village where we were questioned about our true identities before finally receiving the key. (At the very first place we had stopped at...that's right- the 2 miles in flip-flops was completley unnessecary)

Sunday night was spent chilling around the condo, eating a relaxed dinner, watching movies and all around settling in.

On Monday morning we hit the pool, soaked up the sun for a little bit and then headed off to town to check out different stores, restraunts, and hopefully guys! :D We each picked up a few tidbits and then headed out to Montpelier, Idaho to see if we would catch a showing of the only movie playing in the movie theater that was the only movie theater for about 50 miles around. Unfortunately we were about 3 hours too early. So we headed home- but on the way back Mistie got ill and had to take a nap. So while she was sleeping Tiffany and I were watching movies, reading books, napping, and checking out the very hot and competent tennis instructor.

After Mistie got up and felt better we went out to dinner and I bought my very own chocolate dipped raspberries (a little bit of a let down--still good, don't get me wrong, but not as good as I was hoping) and after dinner we hit the pool again until it closed.

On Tuesday morning we packed up and set out for the actual beach. The lake was stunning as always! And not even as cold as it normally is, it was actually quite warm! Especially if you jumped in! We took walks, waded, swam, and then we just lay on our towels and soaked up the sun.

*I would like to make a disclaimer here. I SO used sunscreen! Lots of it! Loads of it! Over all of my body that was not covered by a swimsuit! I did! Multiple times!!!*

On the way home from the beach I started to feel an itching all over my body. I got home and took a shower to prepare for our night on the town and oh the pain! The hot water over my body causing me sheer agony gave me my first hint that I had gotten massively sunburned. And massively sunburned I did indeed get! All over my shoulders, my arms, the back of my thighs, calves and knee caps for heavens sake. It was sheer agony! I checked in with the others and found that Tiffany had gotten lightly toasted, Mistie had gotten a burn, but I had gotten absolutely fried!!

Nevertheless I put the pain behind and started preparing for the night! You see, Mistie's grandparents (who had so kindly and graciously let us use the condo) had come to check and make sure it was still standing. They felt kind of badly that they so obviously had no trust in us so they decided to take us out to dinner and show. I don't mean just ANY dinner and show- this was a full out cookout with full plates and delicious food! And after dinner we went over to a playhouse that was on the property and were treated to a hilairous play entitled "The Hanging of El Bandito" which was freaking HILARIOUS!!! So much of that play was adlibbed and that just added to it. I recollect right now one of my favorites where they made a play off of the Dora the Explora cartoons. And another were they were saying acronyms such as TMI, LOL, JK, and the unknown FEC. It turned out that FEC stood for 'Future Eternal Companion' (it was such a mormon play- you could tell!) The whole play was fantastic and I loved it so much!!!

That night we watched Australia (my goodness, Hugh Jackman is one fine man!) with Mistie's grandma and we all enjoyed making comments on how Hugh Jackman made the movie and just how hot Hugh Jackman is. (Mistie's grandma made quite a few of these comments too....) and it was wonderful!

Wednesday morning I woke up to blisters on my shoulders and searing pain. We packed up, cleaned up, did some final tourist shopping (where we FINALLY ran into a hot guy...it was sad...one, on the whole trip. Just one really...) and headed home.

I got home and wanted nothing more than to strip down to short shorts and a tank top and sleep until all the pain was over. Of course, that wouldn't have happened since I had to work on Thursday morning, and I couldn't sleep for long anyways since it hurt too much, and of course I had to retain modesty because my cousin Aaron and his friend were staying at my house for EFY.

But Bear Lake was SO much fun!! And it was worth every second and every penny--my last fling before school starts! It was wonderful!!

I was not able to get any pictures myself because I didn't have access to a camera, but Tiffany thankfully did and she posted them on facebook. Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=646565668&v=feed&story_fbid=132112890933#/album.php?aid=2030735&id=1324057675

It was a blast! I'd love to do it again sometime!!!!

My Day Off

2009-07-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was my day off. And normally when I have days off I sit around the house, clean a little, play games a little, but I don't generally do anything outrageously fun or odd. But yesterday, ah, yesterday was a day off to remember!

It started off casually, Tiffany and I went to the Pita Pit for lunch (where we met the elders for my ward oddly enough) which was delicious! And then we went to Jakes for dessert (where my shake fell of the table, which was so sad!)

We consorted at Jakes for a little while and then Tiff and I went to Happy Hour Bowling at Weber State. Boy oh boy, do we suck! We really suck. I mean, alot! Of the two of us Tiffany sucks least though- she only had 4 gutter balls in a row- I had 8. Granted the reason I had so many was that I was laughing so hard that my throws were very inaccurate....although we did find out later that you can change the scores to be what you want them to be! I mean, this technology is really there for if the sensors miss one of the pins or what not, but we had fun...we tried to be fairly honest though. But the sensors were out to get Tiff! They wouldn't count half of hers!!

After bowling we went shopping for a little while, looking at hair dyes, and stopping by dollar stores (I LOVE dollar stores! Holy fun!) and we stopped by my house, and her house, and did some more shopping and bought a rose red hair dye and a turquoise hair dye. And thus began the hair dying party!

We went over to Tiffany's house and then managed to consume massive amounts of sugar and salt while dying each others hair. Tiffany did the whole bottom half and then one section at the top. I only did one section at the bottom and one at the top (I would've done more but for the fact that a) I didn't know how the UCMT would take it and b) I didn't know how dad's heart would take it!) We both did our hair a lovely shade of rose red (which turned purpleish in my hair and pink in Tiff's)

At around 9 Mistie came by and we did three strips of turquoise blue in her hair (which really complimented it quite well) and then we downed more insane amounts of sugar and salt followed by crazy pictures and watching She's the Man. (Unfortunately for the picture section of the blog we didn't get any after pictures of any of our hair- the camera died. Sad eh?)

All in all it was one of the most unresponsible, unproductive days that I've had in a long time! I think I realized that these days were coming to an end and I should make the most of it...I don't really know what exactly brought it on, but man was it fun!! :D

We went out to lunch at the Pita Pit! Like Subway, but...greekish...and more expensive...with freaky paintings on the wall!! :D

She was trying to imitate the eyes on the crazy, creepy, ham!

Mistie stole some of my shake! Serves me right for going there on my day off!

And then she rifled through my purse. She got pretty engrossed doing it too

Aw, I think I'll keep 'em both!

So, I know the picture is crooked but it's one of my favorites!

And THIS made going to Jakes all worthwhile!

So yeah, Tiff and I both way suck at bowling! But cameras are fun!

And for some reason, smiling with a bowling ball in your hand is just more fun

I um...get VERY into my game. I think this particular picture was taken when I was trying to get my bowling ball to change directions with my hands...it didn't work. *hangs head sadly*

And Tiffany got a strike!

SO much hair dye!

Our creepy red muppet glove!!

Yeah that's right- there was so much it made her hair stick straight out!

Originally I just did that one little piece. I upgraded later though :D

It looks a little like a murder

And the red stained EVERYTHING! What the heck right? I mean the turquoise color did NOTHING like this!

It took her 8 shampoos to get it out...heeheehee. Even after she was done her face looked like one of the smurfs pink faced cousins. We named her Rosy

Mistie's 'before' picture! Unfortunately we don't have an 'after' picture

But we have a 'during' picture!

Ah yes, my top strip!

Hmmm, short shorts, short skirt, and then jeans. Which one is the mormon?! :D

We learned quickly, just don't give Mistie the camera

Waiting for the dye to dry

Our professional dyer- she was way good. And this picture kinda shows her hair- it turned out really pretty!

Getting ready for She's the Man to start

This was the part of the night where all the massive amounts of sugar and the complete lack of real food started to sink in

We wanted to do a Charlie's Angels pose, but there's wasn't a fourth person to take the picture...sad :(

Cooking popcorn!!

She burned the first bag- the second turned out much better

Heehee, you can do lots of things with Bugles!

And Swedish Fish!

And mini Charleston Chews!!

...and popcorn!

Again, why give Mistie the camera? Well, besides the hilarity that ensues!

And there we have it! My day off...ah, good times good times! So glad we had a camera!!

Life

2009-07-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

Life is moving at an alarmingly fast rate here....alarmingly fast!

You know this is my last full week of work at Jakes Over the Top for, well, potentially ever! Next week I'm going to Bear Lake (which I am SO SO SO excited for!) for half of the week and after that I will have started college and will only be working two days a week.

Yeah, I start college in less than two weeks! *eek*

Life is crazy! And going really fast! I hope the school year goes as fast as this summer did!

In others news I ran across a list of books that BBC has listed (100 total) that they reckon the average American will have only read 6 of. (They really don't have much faith in us...) I myself have only read roughly 16 of them, I think, but I recognized almost all of them. And it is now my new goal to read all 100 of them! :D How long do you think it will take me? Here is the list:

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare -
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Now I have to read them! Tell you what I thought of some of them- whether I think they should have made it on the list or not! It'll be fun! It's like my main project for while I'm in school! Wish me luck! :)

sigh

2009-07-17T17:15:00.000-07:00

*sigh* I hate money. And I'm not too fond of banks. Or being poor.

I wonder how long I would be in jail for embezzlement...not that I know how to embezzle- or even what the technical term of embezzling is! I just know that people who embezzle get money-albeit illegally.

*sigh* I hate money.

Harry Potter!!

2009-07-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

Woot woot!! I actually saw it! I saw the midnight showing! And (best of all in my opinion) I didn't have to pay!!!

So here I was, last night at 10ish, bemoaning the fact that I couldn't go see Harry Potter. (Well, in all truthfulness I was thinking about going to bed and I really wasn't too distraught about it.) Anyway, so I'm on facebook and I see my friend's status which was something along the lines of "I now have a spare ticket for HP 6" So I questioned him and it turned out that he was going to go on a date but the girl is having heart surgery on Saturday morning and really wasn't feeling well. So, jokingly I said, "Ooh ooh ooh! I'll go with you!" Next thing I know I'm getting a phone call and later asking dad if I could go on a date with a male from about 11 to 3....which by the way went over absolutely hilariously! Especially since this male was one that dad had taught who had graduated last year, and well--dad didn't have HIGHEST opinion of him per say.

Anyway, so I finally got permission and off I went on a date to see Harry Potter!! It was a really fun date and we chatted in line and we chatted waiting for the movie to start (to be truthful again, it was mostly me chatting) and we almost strangled the kid sitting next to us halfway during the movie, and we laughed at the poor couple that got popcorn dumped on their heads right at the climax of the movie (which caused the girl to scream), and we laughed at the people sleepily staggering down the stairs at the end of the movie. It was really fun!

The movie was excellent- of course it differed slightly from the book but what movie doesn't? But overall I quite liked it. That's all I'll say because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but it was good! And I got to see it!! And I got to go to the midnight showing!!

Ah, awesome days!!!

(And can I just say that I find this even more ironic because at about 9:30 I had been talking to Dieuwke and she asked me if I was going to go see it. I mournfully said no because I hadn't been invited to go see it with anyone and I wasn't going alone. She sympathized with me and the phone call ended....an hour later.. :D )

Quite the Absence

2009-07-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

I just want you all to know that my title speaks for more than one thing. It does refer in part to my long absence from the wonderful world of blogging...in fact I am writing this for one person and one person only *significant cough--you know who you are* but the absence refers also to family.

Kim left tonight and she'll be gone for quite some time. She goes straight from Boot Camp for the Navy to her training for the Navy with no break in between (in fact, we're not even certain if she'll be coming home for Christmas) and her absence will be for a huge length of time.

And while we're on the subject of absences let's not forget to mention that starting August 10th Dad starts his job as a truck driver, and then he won't be home for 2 months. Also quite an absence.

Then, in August Pam will put her mission papers in and will presumably there after be leaving for a year and half. So very conceivably by Christmas time or earlier it'll just be dear ol' mom and I at home. (Thank heavens we like each other eh?)

Absences are funny things- they almost invariably cause you to look at the people who are absent with more fondness and good humor. You forget the things about them that you can't stand and remember only all the good (although Thom hasn't been gone so long that I forget that he woke me up by putting ice down my shirt and flipping over my bed...)

I was actually contemplating leaving home for a while but first of all, well free room and board. Who wants to say no to THAT while they are going to college? Also I think that being all alone would give mom a shock (probably a good one, but we won't dwell on that right now, we'll think that she still needs me around--makes me feel better about mooching off of the food and room right?) I mean she's had so many people around the house for the last 30 or so years. What would she do? (Besides be able to take more leisure time for herself....)

Actually I'm rather looking forward to it. I mean, can't you all just see it now? I come home from a long day of school and she from a long day of work. We make dinner in the kitchen, eat together, clean our dishes while laughingly splashing each other with water then we go off our different ways for an hour or so while I do homework and she gets things done she needs to do (you can already tell this is a dream since it only takes me an hour to do homework) and then we sit down in our impeccably clean house (since it's only going to be the two of us it will stay impeccably clean) and watch a movie together. Occasionally the movie watching will be graced by Ben and Jerry's. Hmmm, isn't it sweet? I mean in all likelihood this won't happen- but doesn't it paint a nice picture?

You know, back when I was little I was afraid of the future and what it would bring. Now I find myself anxious, curious, and most of all--excited!

Nothing is Private

2009-07-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Jossi is so right- nothing is truly private if it's on the internet. More so even if it is on a blog. So you can't really write anything about what you are truly feeling if it is discontent or anger because someone could find it and it could come back to bite you. You only have to write happy little stories, or life-changing lessons, or something along those lines (my oh my isn't it a good thing I still have a journal! :) )

I haven't really had any life changing lessons lately. I've realized a few things. I've realized that first of all I'm going to be basically all alone on my 18th birthday! Dad will be driving a truck, Kim will be in Basic Training and Mom and maybe Pam will be up helping out Steph with her baby (sheesh what timing Steph :) ) So- there one of the biggest birthdays ever and I'll be at home...alone...well actually it's on a Sunday so I'll go to church and then be all alone....

I also realized that I have more courage than I thought I did and that it is indeed possible to prevent a conversation from becoming awkward- all you REALLY need to do is just keep chattering about random things. Then no one has any time to think about what you're saying and it just doesn't get awkward (and as we all know I'm the queen of mindless chatter)

Also, something being awkward is just your fault. Awkwardness is mind over matter- if you don't let it get awkward then it won't be awkward. It's all about the attitude.

Oh, and I have a wedding this week! Good days!

Bridal Showers

2009-07-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Oh yes! Go Bridal Showers! Over the past three days I have been to two of them-- it seems to be the summer for getting married. I know 8 (EIGHT!) people getting married this summer- some that already have and some that will. Isn't that crazy? (Haha, perhaps it's a good thing I'm not getting married this summer- it wouldn't be as special)

And of course along with lovely brides comes lovely bridal showers. I've been to many different kinds now, ward ones (completely clean) friend ones (also clean) and then different friend ones (much more risque) and they've all been so much fun!

We've played guessing games, dancing games, writing games, memory games, and I've twice now done the toilet paper wedding dress. The first time I was the model (complete with bouquet and toilet paper ring-I get telling everyone it was 50 carats TP) and a very lovely dress it was too. The second time my boss, Lisa, was the model and my goodness I did enjoy that! She too had a lovely bouquet and ring (although I think my veil was better than hers, but what can I say? My mom is good at veil-making) and she even did the model strut for us and held several bridal poses so we could all get good shots! (Have I mentioned yet how much I absoultely LOVE my boss?)

All in all it's been a very fun week and I've quite enjoyed all the chaos and glamour generally associated with weddings! I love them! One next week, one the week after that, and then we're quiet until the beginning of August. I love this!

Busy Days....Not

2009-06-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

So, my days for the last week or so have just been thrilling! Well, no, not really. Every day I do the same thing. I wake up (which, don't get me wrong that's a relief and all, I'm glad I do) I get ready for work, I go to work, I come home and clean and read. Unless of course I go to work in the evenings in which case I wake up, clean and read, and then go to work. I'm telling you- people envy my life.

There have been some sporadic events (fairly few and far between) that have shaken things up a little bit. For instance I went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House which was absolutely stunning! The look of the outside wasn't my absolute favorite (I'm afraid San Diego still takes the cake for that) but it was stunning inside. The lights- all of them- were shimmery and rainbowy and it was so pretty. And I would love to have a dressing room like those brides will have. That may just become my goal in life.

And on Friday evening I went to a fireside. The mission presidents for our area were being released after three years of service and there was a fireside in their honor. It was entitled "Why I Believe" and it was SO good! There was alot of song (nothing gets to me like singing does) and all of that song was done by 190 missionaries. Roughly 160 of whom were male. Nothing stirs your heart quite as much as when 160 male voices sing Praise to the Man. And all of the speakers were absolutely fantastic! And the power went out for a small bit due to the fantastic storm we had. But it was so good! It was awesome!

And on Sunday I had to give a talk in church. I didn't know I was going to give a talk. In fact on Tuesday night I had been assured I WOULDN'T be giving a talk. But a one of the girls scheduled to give a talk didn't show and another 'got sick' so right before sacrament started the bishop came up to me, shook my hand and said, "Did you know you were giving a talk today?" And I said, "Well, I do now!" So I did...it wasn't the best I've ever done by any stretch of the imagination, but it was ok.

But yeah, that's my life. I work, save for school, pay for my car. Good days...

Did You Know?

2009-06-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

1. Money isn't made out of paper; it's made out of cotton.
2. The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottle represents the varieties of pickle the company once had.
3. Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks-otherwise it will digest itself (eeww).
4. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.
5. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a "tittle". (The one over the 'j' is called a 'jot')
6. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
7. A dime has 118 ridges along its edge
8. A duck's quack doesn't echo ... no one knows why.
9. Every person has a unique tongue print (no licking at the scene of a crime!).
10. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.
11. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was albino.
12. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily. (THIS EXPLAINS A LOT)
13. During the chariot scene in 'Ben Hur' a small red car can be seen in the distance.
14. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small sized dog.
15. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
16. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww).
17. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants!
18. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.
19. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the 'upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.
20. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time ( .. and multi-tasking was invented).
21. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
22. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
23. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan, there was never a recorded Wendy before!
24. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, and silver.
25. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.
26. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death.
27. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
28. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar ( ... good to know ..)
29. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless).
30. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb (sign of a true civilized society ...)
31. American Airlines saved $40,000 in '87 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class.
32. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
33. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples! (guess what I'm buying on my next trip to the grocery store!)
34. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!
35. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
36. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
37. Back in the mid to late 80's, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator game.
38. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages them (families taking long car rides should adopt this same policy).

A Whole Lot O' Nothin'

2009-06-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

Really, the title says it all. There has been a whole lot of nothing going on lately. I mean, once I got back I unpacked, washed clothes, brushed my dog, ran some errands, etc....and today I get to clean the house! I mean I am telling you- people envy my life. :)

Although yesterday I discovered something I'm in desperate need of. See, I was going through my jewelry and I found that I have MUCH more of it than I thought I did. So many necklaces, SO many earrings- I mean it was great to know because I do quite like jewelry, but I found a slight conundrum....I don't really have a place to put them. I mean, I have this fantastic jewelry box but the necklaces get all stuck together and the earrings get all entwined. What I really need is one of those earring holders! You know, the rectangle made out of wood that has some of that mesh netting inside of it and you just stick your earrings on! Man, I would love to get my hands on one of those, but I haven't really seen any in stores recently.

Does anyone know where I could find such a contraption? I mean, freeing up all my earring space would be marvelous because then I could spread out necklaces more. Hmmm, anyone? Anyone at all? Where can I find such a holder?

Home Again

2009-06-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well I have to say, I certainly felt welcome when I got back.

The dogs absolutely attacked me and Kim smiled and shouted my name- but in a good way.

Then I had to go up to Jakes so that I could ask for a day off (I know how sad, I just took a month off and now I have to ask for more...sheesh....) but it was ok because Lisa had already given me that off, man she has foresight.

And I walked into Jakes, and man, I felt loved. Screams, hugs, smiles, it was pretty grand. I mean, I still don't want to go to work on Saturday, but at least I know they like me there! :D

And the trip home was great, I mean I even got a Dole. To quote a great man, "Bonnie, taking a road trip without a Dole is like taking a road trip without a car-it's just not possible."

Good days! And HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISABELLE!!!!!

Bonnie's Babblings

The Pressure! The Pressure!!

Battle of the Brains

Family

Monday's Memory

Factual Friday!

Sam-Attack and the Rockin' Tunes

Monday's Memory: Sisters

Roaming 25th Street!!

Point of Clarification

Factual Friday!

A 1939 Honeymoon

Monday's Memory

Today was a Grateful Day

Factual Friday!!

Worn Out

Monday's Memory

Friday's Fact

Moving!

15 Mintues of Fame

Tutoring

Update

Clueless

*Insert Exotic and Interesting Title Here*

Day #1 at Job #3

Hardware Ranch

Chatter

A Splendid Tea Party!

Raking Leaves

The Long Awaited (at least by my typing hands) Return!

Curly vs. Straight

Lethal Luau

Adventures in Leavenworth-- River Walk and Munchen Haus Edition

Adventures in Leavenworth-- The Hat Shop Edition

Dictionaries

Bliss Challenge

New Nephew!!!!

Lake Chelan Adventure

It Starts So Young

The Bunny in the Fridge

Our Exclusive New Club

"I'm Dehydated- Get Me Some Sugar"

Self Esteem Boost

At Last! I Have Returned!!

Quick Update

Imposter!

Fulfillment of a Life-Long Dream

The Longest Time

Casual

Halloween Costume

The Saddest Story Ever Told

Masquerade!

School

#3 Jane Eyre

My Birthday!!!

Washington 2!

Washington!

Update

#2c The Return of the King

#2b The Two Towers

The Letter Q

#2a The Fellowship of the Ring

Girls Night Out

#1 Pride and Prejudice

Things I didn't learn in school...

Tagged!!

So, Funny Story

Firsts

Bear Lake!!

My Day Off

Life

*sigh*

Harry Potter!!

Quite the Absence

Nothing is Private

Bridal Showers

Busy Days....Not

Did You Know?

A Whole Lot O' Nothin'

Home Again

Insert Exotic and Interesting Title Here

sigh