...

2011-10-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

I don't blog anymore. I don't really know why. I don't really take pictures anymore either. Those who know me probably don't believe that, but it's true. I see more beauty in the things around me than I ever have before but I don't feel the need to capture it. And i'll be honest, without pictures blogs are boring to me. I thought maybe there was something wrong with me but then I read this quote.

At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough.

- Toni Morrison

Well that explains it I guess. I'm sure that in a few months I'll get back into photography and taking pictures of everything I do, but for now, I'm just going to enjoy my surroundings and take it all in. It's quite nice.

Hope you are all doing well.

Bye.

Truth and Tolerance

2011-09-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone,

Make a little time to listen to Elder Oaks.

Great Devotional.

Ohhhh myyyyy goooshhhh.....

2011-07-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

Summer is definitely here and life is soooo good. I just got back from a bomb California trip with the Lewis'. I'm not used to relaxing vacations but Ann and John sure taught us how to relax and kick back. Our days consisted of sleeping in, laying by the pool, laying by the beach, boogie boarding, playing tennis, reading, reading, reading, eating like kings all day, games all night, repeat. I felt like I was living someone else's life. The Marriott Villa's were delightful. It was really hard to come home.

2011-06-28T00:56:00.000-07:00

If you are not enthralled with tennis, you are crazy.

Look at these beautiful men. They are all in the Quarter Finals at Wimbledon.
I end up planning my whole day around their matches. Ugh... I can't get enough.

Best Best Best.

2011-05-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

I just returned from THE greatest trip. Ever. I didn't think any trip would compare to my Europe extravaganza with Janelle but NYC blew our minds. My Mom, her sister Terese, her daughter Katie and Janelle and I fell in love with The Big Apple. We wore ourselves out every single day, ate WAAAYY too much and saw everything there is to see. I'm serious, we did it all. It would take forever to document everything but here are a few highlights:

-Finally saw Wicked. LOVED IT.
-Got a high-five from Meredith Vieira on the Today Show and Jimmy Fallon in the the same day.
-Yankees/Redsox game in the Bronx. (Scariest subway ride of our lives. Janelle was wearing a Red Sox hoodie and got chewed out by some sketch Yankee fans.)
-Taking the NBC Studio tour, meeting a real life NBC page, seeing the SNL studio.
-Watch Celebrity Apprentice in our hotel at night knowing that Trump Tower was only minutes away.
-Checking out the Trade Center progress. It was very humbling to be there.
-Riding bikes through Central Park. I love that park with all my heart. I wish you all could meet our bike tour guide. He changed my life.
-Taking a boat ride around Manhattan.
-Watching the sunset from the Top of the Rock. (The top of the Empire State wasn't as good.)
-Taking a Movie Bus tour. (Gnomes, guess what? I went to Dean and Deluca from Felicity. It was great.)
-Went to a wax museum for the first time. Weirdest thing I've ever done. Confusing real humans with wax is super weird and very embarrassing.
-Visiting the Manhattan and Palmyra Temples. Wonderful.
-Joining a gay parade. ...by accident.
-Going to the Met. Going to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met. Going through the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met with Tim Gunn. He was everything I thought he would be.

These pictures are all out of order. Between the 5 of us we had 3,000 pictures. I'm not kidding. I was tired of sorting them so here are a few random ones that I liked.

"I'll be there for you", recognize this?

Do you see the man doing yoga in his underwear in the bottom right corner in the above picture? Priceless.

What you look like after a rainy walk all the way across central park.

NYSE

'One Fine Day' Spot puddle scene spot.

Top of the Rock.

Alexander McQueen exhibit.

Gay pride parade we were forced to join to cross the street.

This song means so much more to me now. Especially now that I know where Jay-Z and Beyonce's apartment is. Everyone should go to New York right now. I mean it. You will love it.

Spring has sprung.

2011-04-20T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well Spring is here. Spring brings changes and I am so happy for all of them. This winter season is wearing on me. First change: Dad got released! We weren't sure if it would ever happen. He has been bishop for 5 1/5 years. It is nice and weird to have him around. Last night I went over there to do Janelle's Zumba DVD and he sat at the counter polishing his shoes, probably regretting buying that sub woofer. As soon as 'Drop it Low' came on he couldn't hide the disgust on his face. When the song was over he said, "that is the kind of music you play in a war march to try to annoy the enemy". I'm excited to hear more of his genius comments now that he is home.

Nat ran her SECOND marathon. What a crazy. The gnomes gathered in our usual form. Our posters never make sense but they are made with love. Good work Nat!

I made one final Saint George trip before we move Janelle home. These two years have gone by so fast. She is almost an RN! She is going to be a perfect nurse. Some of her friends got together to play at these pools in Leeds. It was lovely. Oh and guess what gnomes? I saw Dusty there! With his wife! How come I didn't know he was married?

Another change: I started taking accordion lessons again. A guy in my ward is a crazy talented folk musician and is teaching me Celtic style accordion. It's wonderful.

Hitting up the tulip festival means that my job with Gladys is almost over again. These four months FLEW by. I would post a picture of her but she hates them and I decided to respect her wishes. This job is so great. I don't know how I got lucky enough to get hooked up with it. I love this family. I've learned a lot this time around.

Other changes and news: A week from Sunday we leave for New York. I can't even wait. I apply for nursing school next week. Finally. Happy Spring folks! Let's play this summer.

Our thief.

2011-04-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

This book and this man are stealing hearts everywhere. I tried to stretch it out as long as I could, I did not want it to end. I managed to squeeze two days out of it. I could not put it down. A couple weeks ago Kylee mentioned that the author, Markus Zusak, was speaking at the Provo Library, and said that Whitney might have an extra ticket. I got so excited. His lecture was wonderful. It was so nice to hear the authors view on the characters and story. I loved hearing that this piece of fiction was filled with real life stories that he had heard, when he was young, from his parents.
Plus, look how dreamy he is...

The line for autographs was ages long. I think every girl, woman and lady in the valley was there, hoping to get an autograph. We lost patience after 4 or so hours of waiting. Only George W. can have that much of my time waiting in a book line. Apparently, he was writing small novels in everyone's book. What a champ.

The dream reading team formulated that night. Whitney, Kylee and I were made to read and discuss books. I don't know why we didn't start a club earlier. Last night was our first official meeting. We discussed Markus Zusak's other book called 'I am the Messenger'. It was such a fun, official book discussion. I was so excited to finally talk about this book. The end had been driving me crazy.

The greatest thing about this club, besides sharing a love for books, is location. Last night we met in Whitney's adorable cottage and drank fake beer and smoked fake cigarettes. (A common trend with Zusak's characters.) Our next meeting will in Kylee's garden, which goes perfectly with our next book. Other locations planned will be the Farm House, pool side this summer and maybe my aunt's cabin if I can pull some strings. I have a good feeling about this club.

To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting. ~Edmund Burke

My not so secret secret.

2011-03-24T10:45:00.001-07:00

So I know I have a problem. I am mildly obsessed with sugar. Mostly baked goods. One of my most common thoughts and questions to other people is, "what treat should I make?". I always want a treat. Always. No matter how full I am. It's embarrassing. I'm not a huge fan of Rachael Ray but I am 'forced' to watch it with Glad. She had some food guy on her show on Monday who talked about overeating. He had a quiz which let you know how severe of an over-eater you are. Let's just say I fell into the "need to seek professional help" category. Yeah. It said I should contact my nearest Over Eaters Anonymous group, I'm serious. Anyone want to go? Ha. I decided that I am strong enough to tackle this on my own. I gave up sugar the moment I saw my results. Mind over matter. A miracle happened- I am already over my sugar cravings. I never thought this day would come. A piece of chocolate cake still looks absolutely beautiful to me but I can say no and walk away. The only reason that I am divulging this information to the world is to let you all know that miracle are real! I told myself I can have a little treat on the weekend but I'm going to try and hold out if I can help it.

Here is the Quiz, if you dare. #16 kills me. Unfortunately I had to mark yes on that one too.

On a different note, is anyone else freaking out inside about the game tonight? I still don't have Bieber Fever but I have experienced Jimmermania. Agh... He is incredible.

2011-03-16T12:44:00.000-07:00

"There is no chance, no fate, no destiny that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul."

-Elder Quentin L. Cook

Joy

2011-03-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

My Dad picked me up from the airport last night and I've never been so happy to be home and to hear people speaking English. I tried really hard to actually speak German while I was there and my head hurt after ten days. When I landed, I got a couple texts from Janelle about our new Japanese exchange students that made the 20 hours of traveling completely worth it.

- "They made us krill for dinner."

- "Saki talks like a baby kitten."

I cannot wait to play with these girls before they leave. I've heard they are a riot. Anyways, back to my Dad. As we caught up on the drive home he told me about his week. He had finished his 'last' ward conference and I asked him what topic he chose. He said Moses 5:10 which reads:

"Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgressions my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God."

He focused on the line 'in this life I shall have joy'. I love that. As I laid in bed with crazy jet lag I couldn't help but think about how lucky I am and how much joy I have in my life. Sometimes I get tricked into feeling sorry for myself but then I realize that I have the greatest life I could possibly ask for.

Traveling is something that makes me very happy. I was so excited to go play in Germany with my little munch-kins. They are crazy, literally, but I love them with my whole heart.

They get the award for 'the most un-photogenic humans I've ever met'. This first picture was the 11th shot. It took that long to get all of their eyes open and smiling.... well sort of.

I got there the first day of carnival. It is a local holiday where everyone dresses up and gets drunk and stuff. When Cheryl and I drove to pick these two girls up from school there were two boys standing in the road with a rope strung across. They made you pay to get across! Genius. Why didn't I do stuff like that when I was young? People actually pay too. Punks.

Olivia is such a little diva. She loves her 'lederjacke' (leather jacket) and so I decided to bust mine out to join her cool club.

BERLIN:

After 8 hours of listening to an extremely rude GPS lady, getting stuck in a time warp (literally) and taking a wrong turn causing us to make the same wrong loop 3X in a row we finally made it to Berlin. It is a pretty cool city. It still has a communist feel to it but they are fixing up a lot of the city and it is becoming quite nice. My uncle Micheal said, "Gosh, this city was a lot more exciting twenty years ago when the soldiers were still patrolling the streets with machine guns." -which he said dead serious in his beautiful Arnold Schwarzenegger accent. ha. He was right.

This is the Reichstag. It is the parliament building. It suffered quite a bit during the war and wasn't completely restored until after the reunification of Germany. Now it is all fixed up.

Brandenburger Tor

Berliner Dom

Here it was in all its Third Reich glory.

After the war.

Now. It was so beautiful inside.

Berlin has 170 museums. We went to 1- The Pergamon. It was awesome. These are actual walls from Babylon. If you are interested in history at all this museum is a must see.

Lovely little market.

Our residence in Berlin. A.k.a.- The Cube.

Charlottenburg Palace.

Checkpoint Charlie.

Inside the cube.

Berg Schloss.

Germans love dipping their fries in Mayo. Gag.

Gosh I'm gonna miss these girls.

Oscar

2011-02-28T08:33:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to lie, I wanted Jeff Bridges to win last night (because he was the bomb in True Grit) but I was just as happy for Colin Firth. Lately I have been trying to avoid R movies. Not that I used to be 'into them', but I am a sucker for war movies and they are all R, so I used to let them slide. Somehow I got talked into going to The Kings Speech. Let me tell you, I don't regret it one bit. Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush were brilliant together. I would be fine with Colin being my King, even if he 'can't talk good'. Ha.

Speaking of royalty, is anyone else weirdly obsessed with the royal wedding coming up or is it just me? Every morning I turn on the Today Show while I help Glad get ready and I get so excited for any little tid bit about the wedding. I secretly thought I was going to be the one marrying Prince William, but Kate seems pretty cool.

This morning on The Price is Right one of the showcases included this little gem. A water scooter! When did this happen?! Do people really use these? Do you have to have a drivers license to operate it? Is swimming while you scuba dive really that hard for people?... Hard enough that you need to sit down? I have so many questions. This top picture kills me.

Things I like. No... things I love.

2011-02-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

BOOKS!!!! Wow. I am so obsessed with reading lately. I decided that while I work for Glad this time around I need to use my time better. I try to read most of the afternoon. For a while I was reading 4 books at once. I decided that I needed to cut down to 1 or 2 at a time so I can feel the accomplishment of finishing one. Jordan recommended a book called Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand who is the author of Seabiscuit. It is so interesting and captivating and motivating. It is about a track star named Louie Zamperini who competed in the '36 Olympics with Jesse Owens. When WWII started he joined the military and went through some CrAzY shiz. His attitude through all of his ordeals is so admirable. Ya'll should read it.

SHAKIRA. Gosh I love her and I'm not ashamed to say it.

If you didn't enjoy that video there is something wrong with you. Yeah I know it is a little scandalous but Nadal is a dream boat.

I used to try to be her in public. Now that I'm a little more mature I save my hip shaking for the privacy of my room, or on one occasion a small audience in the gnome home. Ha. They got lucky.

MERYL STREEP in Julie and Julia. I have never been that crazy about Meryl but I cannot get enough of her playing Julia Child. That voice KILLS me!! Watching that character makes me want to be passionate about everything I do. It also makes me want to be a chef. I wish they would have left out the whole blog part of that movie and just filmed her in Paris the whole time.

SCARLATTI. I don't know where he has been my whole life. I stumbled upon this piece a month ago and decided that I had to learn it. I have been practicing every second I can and this piece is blowing my mind. Scarlatti is known as being a "gymnast" on the piano and now I understand why. Hands are flying all over the place through the whole song. I am in love with it.

If you haven't seen the CARL BLOCH exhibit at BYU go do it right now!! It is wonderful. I have already gone three times and can't wait to go again.

I have a lot of other lovely things that I want to write about but I think that is enough for today.

Murder.

2011-02-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

I know I talk about them a lot but they are my family so... deal wit it. Ann and John are gone all the time. This week they are in Hawaii so I am tag teaming the supervising with Ben Camp (another nephew). Claire and Aaron are the kids on the right in this photo. I love them with my whole heart. Aaron is the sweetest child I have ever met. I wish you all could meet him. He is a genius but always seems to be working in slow motion. He speaks in a mono-tone voice and is seriously NEVER in a hurry. Claire is the complete opposite. She talks a million miles a minute and is involved in 1,001 things all the time. They take such good care of each other.

I just made Claire a birthday dinner tonight and Aaron said he wanted to make her a cake all by himself. She requested carrot cake. Unfortunately the All Star game is on right now and it has taken his full attention. Here is the conversation I just heard from the living room:

Claire- "Aaron, make my cake!!"

Aaron- "I will. I will."

Claire- "Di said to use Bertas recipe because it has pineapple in it and she said it makes it moist."

Aaron looks at the recipe

Aaron- "Oh my gosh there are so many ingredients! Ugh.."

Aaron watches more of the basketball game

Claire- "Aaron!! Start making it!!

Aaron- "I will."

Claire- "Aaron hurry! We want to eat cake tonight!!"

Aaron looks at the recipe for a while

Claire- "Please let Riana help you, this is going to take you forever."

Aaron- "NO!"

5 minutes later Aaron is grating carrots on the couch

10 minutes later he is still grating carrots on the couch

Aaron- "...This sucks!"

Unless you are my family, you may not appreciate that but it had me laughing pretty hard.

Friday was a funny day. I bought Ryan tickets to go see Murder By Death. Seeing them live was on my bucket list. I introduced them to Ryan a couple months ago and he said he liked them, he may have just been humoring me but that was good enough for me. I printed out the tickets and looked at the address of the venue-- Bar Deluxe 666 S. State Street. What the wha?... 666?! I took him straight into the devils lair to see a band called Murder By Death. Ha ha. Good times.

I'm not exactly sure why I look like a deer in the headlights, but I do. I'm fairly confident that we were the only sober people in that bar. Hearing them play Brother was absolutely wonderful. I could have gone home happy if that was all they played, but they played a great set.

Their Cellist is incredible.

Life is good. 11 days till Germany. 2 1/2 months till New York. Summer is coming. Gladys is funny. The Piano is rocking my world. My life is filled with people I love.

Peace out.

Ich bin nach Deutschland gehen!

2011-02-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I bought my ticket last night.

I'm going to blame it on Skype. I spoke with my family in Germany on Sunday and decided it's been too long. So what do I do?... buy a ticket for March 3. Best impulse decision yet.

Dusseldorf part 4.

I love this city. I'm so happy my aunt and uncle decided to live in the fashion hub of Germany. Good choice guys!

I need more of these girls in my life.

Love, love, love, love, love.

2011-02-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

I love her. Whether we are eating ice cream in St. Marks square, gluing our mouths shut with caramel in Park City or watching Youtube videos on the couch, we always have a good time.

Janelle turned 22 yesterday and our weekend was no exception. Vegas did not disappoint.

Jessie loves caressing my arm.

My highlights:

-"he Flu"

-"Oh my gosh I'm gonna be sick."

-ZUMBA

-"Get the tiger out of the dragon!"

-"I think I might be too sick for 50 chicken nuggets."

-Watching Janelle drop after getting shot in the neck. Seriously, the funniest thing I have EVER seen.

-"Guys, I'm not cut out for this anymore."

Changing the World

2011-01-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

My family rocks. Seriously. I've been SO So lucky to live with my aunt and uncle the past few months and I have learned so much from them and appreciate them more every day. Ann served her mission in South Africa and then lived in Nigeria for another 3 years doing humanitarian work. She has such a great heart, I love her so much. She got lucky and married one of the greatest guys ever. John is a rock star. He fully supports her in everything she does and now they both work with the The Ouelessebougou Alliance.

They left yesterday for a 2 week trip to Mali to help evaluate the needs of the villages that the foundation supports. She sent me some of the photos from their trip last year and I am obsessed with them. She is a great photographer. I edited quite a few of them for her and these are some of my favorites. Sometime I am going to go with them and help. Don't those faces just melt your heart?

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." ~Desmond Tutu

2011-01-17T07:11:00.001-08:00

Well.... I'm back with Glad. I sure do love this little lady. She is so kind and so polite, I learn a lot from her. We've already watched a couple Audrey Hepburn movies and I am really starting to like her (Audrey). For some reason in the past her acting kind of bothered me. Anyways, I was looking through a magazine and found this quote by her:

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others;

for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness;

and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."

Isn't that wonderful? I like her even more now.

Go. Go see it.

2011-01-06T09:13:00.000-08:00

This is the best movie I've seen in a while. Everyday I have to restrain myself from going to see it again. The Johnny Cash song at the end of this trailer is perfect. I wish I lived in the Wild West so bad.

Wow.

2010-12-30T19:34:00.000-08:00

This has been quite a month. I've loved every second of it. We kicked it off with a trip to the cabin with the gnomes. It was lovely.

I didn't even bust out my camera which is very unlike me. I stole this one from Kya. We had some good times. I love these girls.

Ryan invited me to go hang out with Lebron. Even though the Jazz lost, it was awesome.

We made our annual trip to the lake on Christmas Eve. We missed the daylight somehow and had to visit the pole in the dark. It was still fun even though the lake wasn't frozen. Maybe next year mother nature will get on the ball and freeze it for us.

Earlier in the day we hit up the Grand America for breakfast. It was as delicious as ever, and afterwards we hung out in the lobby hoping some of the classiness would rub off on us. I don't think it worked.

We got to see David Archuleta sing with the Tab. It was wonderful. I don't really listen to him but he was so cute. I wanted to go up and squeeze him after. His hair was fantastic.

Here we are trying not to freeze to death before the show.

This is Dex, Katies puppy. I'm in love with him.

My parents won "best ugly sweater" at the Nielson Christmas party. My Dad did not disappoint.

-I don't know why that text up there is so messed up.

We went back up to the cabin on Monday and got all sorts of snowed in. The snow plows couldn't even get in to plow the driveway so we were forced to stay an extra couple days.

We didn't mind.

Here is the "early morning crew". Everyone else slept till noon all the time. Notice my Dad's ridiculous shirt he sported the whole week. He thinks he is a pretty big deal.

The power went out in the storm and we were forced to stay warm by the fire. My Dad got on the rafters to spin the fan by hand to blow some of the heat down to us. He is such a good Dad.

Check out that snow!

I still don't know how my Mom did her hair without any electricity.

My furry sister.

Candlelight dinner.

Notice my reflector snow pants. They were awesome. I thought I loaded a picture of us snowshoeing but I guess it didn't work. Too bad.

No power equals a lot of reading.

And writing.

It was a pretty good time. No it was a really great time! I loved it. We tried to leave thursday morning after they finally plowed, so we started heading down the mountain. We got down to the resort only to find that the canyon was closed due to an avalanche. So we trekked back up to the freezing cabin. Luckily, a miracle text went through Claires phone at 4:05 saying that the canyon would be open at 4:30 for a half hour to let people down, then it would be closed for good. We were not going to let the window of opportunity close, some of us were getting cabin fever. So, we booked it down the mountain and made it out. It has been quite a week. We probably played 10 hours of Banana Grams. I'm obsessed. When I close my eyes, I see tiles.

Ryan decided to be a punk and skip out on the snow and head south to Grand Cayman. Ugh... Anyways, I think we only have two pictures of us in existence, so I thought I would put this up. I'm ready for him to come back already.

Happy New Years Ya'll!!

100 Awesome Clubs

2010-11-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was a day I'll never forget. It all started at 12:30 a.m.. I wanted to meet President Bush in Sandy and have him sign my book. I wasn't planning on camping out but when I saw a line forming the night before I decided to grab a sleeping bag and wait with the crazy people. There is nothing like sleeping on the sidewalk in front of the Costco in the middle of November. I think I got 45 minutes of sleep out there. It was windy and crazy and I had to stand in line for six hours without ANYTHING to do, (they said we couldn't have any purses, books, phones, or anything. The secret service wouldn't allow it.) I felt like I was being tortured. Standing in one place for that many hours seriously blows, but it was worth it. I wish they would have allowed cameras in there. President Bush was wonderful. I tried for the six solid hours in line to try and decide what I should say to him. After ruling out about 5 conversations that made me seem crazy, I finally decided to ask him what his favorite book is. I know he and his wife love to read and I've always wondered. After shaking my hand he said, "My favorite book?... The Bible." It kind of caught me by surprise but I responded with, "Good answer." Then he said, "Well it's the truth." Then he smiled at me and I walked away. It was crazy. He is so great and I'm excited to read his book.

I would like to thank Kylee, Jordan, the mail man, the quiet man behind me in line and Costco for making my dream come true.

After I got home I had to put on my game face to cover up my, oh so tired eyes. Ryan invited me to go to the Jazz game with him. His family is a member of the 100 Club. I had never heard of it but it rocks! We got to have dinner in that fancy restaurant up top before the game and then sit court side! It was wonderful. The last and only time I went to a Jazz game I was in the nose bleed so this was a completely different experience. I loved every second, especially having D-Will practically fall in our laps.

It was a Good day.

Good News!

2010-11-16T12:15:00.000-08:00

He is going to give us a New Years present!

Kiss Each Other Clean

January 25, 2011

Bad news: I think he may have cut his hair.

It's true!! He can fly.

2010-11-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday morning.

2010-11-04T21:42:00.000-07:00

I have been having dog withdrawals lately. I need one in my life! Luckily, I am patient and will wait till I have room for him.

.that will be a great day.

How precious is this?!

Any woman who does not thoroughly enjoy tramping across the country on a clear frosty morning with a good gun and a pair of dogs does not know how to enjoy life.
Annie Oakley

Suuuuch a good song...

2010-11-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

"There is a Pirate over there suckin some Goo."

2010-10-31T15:07:00.001-07:00

There is nothing like waking up at the crack of dawn, putting on a run-able costume, waiting in line next to a hearse to get bused up to the snow topped mountains with a bunch of freaks dressed up like astronauts, cops, Hillary Clinton, a human out-house, and strawberry shortcake only to be dropped off and expected to 13.1 miles.

I swore I would never run another race after both 10K's at Bear Lake but somehow Janelle talked me into a Half Marathon. We had everything working against us with this race- shin splints, the early stages of bronchitis, stomach issues, cold weather and severe lack of training. But somehow we pushed all that aside and ran our a's off. The first five miles were bliss. Running from Aspen Grove to Provo Canyon was the prettiest thing I have ever done. The sun was just starting to rise on Timp and everyone was so pumped. I loved being able to smell the gun powder as I crossed over the line. Those wings lasted 6 miles and then I threw them in a ditch. Worst thing ever to run with! Actually, I bet the worst thing was a cardboard car that "Peach" was driving/running in.

This family picture is pretty lame but I had to document Takashi. He is the Japanese exchange student staying with my parents. He probably thinks us Americans are CRAZY!! Especially after watching this race. We have really been wearing him out. He is always falling asleep all over the place. Look at the picture, he can hardly keep his eyes open. Poor guy.

The medals were pretty cool too. If you are going to sign up for a half marathon, sign up for this one. It is so pretty and so entertaining. I was literally laughing 3/4 of the way down.

Things I learned from this:

-Never exceed the maximum allowable dosage of Ibuprofen. It messes you up! Janelle and I thought it would help us fight through the pain to load up before hand. Janelle started taking loose pills laying of the counter just for fun. Not a good idea. I think I took 1800 mg within 12 hours by accident. My stomach paid for it dearly.

-I need to train more.

Well... It's official

2010-10-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

You can stop looking! I found the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. Janelle and I have been looking for it ever since we learned how to crack an egg. I've come close a couple times but I always had a complaint or two about it. It's hard to get the fat right. Some recipes use butter, some margarine and some shortening. This one struck a perfect balance with half butter flavored crisco and half butter. Margarine is not welcome in any of my cookies, EVER! I bake cookies every Wednesday and have learned a lot about making them perfect. Some of you may already know this but if you don't... well... it may change your cookie baking life.

In my experience, cookies mixed in an electric mixer never turn out as good as when you mix it by hand with a wooden spoon. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with over mixing. It will work your muscles but for some reason they are always better.

I always set the timer for 8 minutes no matter how long the recipe says. Check them and if they need more time set the timer for one minute intervals until you find the perfect "done-ness" and then set every batch for that same time. I always take them out when the edges are a little golden and the tops are just starting to turn golden. This recipe is perfect in my oven at 9 minutes 45 seconds.

If you take them out when the edges are just starting to turn brown, the middles will be pretty soft. I take them out and drop the pan on the stove, kinda hard. Then let them continue to bake on the pan for 2 minutes. Take them right off and let them cool on a rack.

Use good vanilla, it makes such a difference. Go to mexico and buy the good stuff. I thought my mom was crazy when she filled her suitcase with Mexican vanilla on our cruise but now that I've been spoiled with it, imitation crap vanilla is no bueno.

When I refrigerate unused dough, it never bakes as well. It is still pretty good but not quite the same. I always try and bake them all fresh.

Okay, I think that is all. Here is the recipe. I hope you guys make them, and I hope you like them.

Chrissy's Chocolate Chip Cookies

350 Degress

10 minutes

3-4 dozen

2/3 cup Butter

2/3 cup Butter Flavored Crisco

2 eggs

2 tsp. Vanilla

1 cup Brown Sugar (packed)

1 cup White Sugar

3 cups Flour

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Baking Soda

8-12 oz. Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine, shortening, eggs, vanilla and sugars.

Add dry ingredients and stir. Add chocolate chips.

2010-10-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

Sundance 2010

First snow of the season.

It's lovely up there right now. Those lifts are just aching to stretch their legs. I love living 20 minutes away from this.

Spooky...

2010-10-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

So my photography class got a new assignment last week. The theme was "spooky". I really strained my brain trying to think of creative ideas and nothing came. Luckily while I was running on Friday up Provo canyon I noticed a car wrecked in the river. It seemed a little odd to me so I stopped and noticed that there were two cars. One of the cars had a fake bloody hand on the steering wheel. The photo assignment popped into my head and I decided to head back up today with my camera and see if I could make it work. It was even creepier than I thought it would be. It was like a car graveyard down there. There were probably 8 vintage cars buried in the bank. I'm so curious how they all got there. I always take my Digital with me when I go shoot my 35mm film camera so that I can see what I like instantly. Anyways, I thought these turned out kind of cool.

(See that hand?)

Things I like about this time of year:

2010-10-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

-Running up the canyon. Those leaves are off the hook!

-Chai tea. Even though it makes me a "jack mormon", according to Jo.

-Being able to wear my Mont Bell again. I've missed it dearly.

-Yards that don't have giant inflatable decorations in them.

-Writing letters. For some reason I always write more letters in the fall.

-Pumpkin pancakes at Village Inn. They are the bomb!

-Liking apples. I can't get myself to like them the rest of the year. Probably because they aren't covered in caramel.

-Getting bundled up and hanging out with these freaks.

Here are a couple pics of the last day or two with Adam.

"Always remember, there was nothing worth sharing like the love that let us share our name."

-oh, that's another thing, I love The Avett Brothers.

Family

2010-10-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

So this is Adam. He is one of those guys that everyone secretly hates because he is incredible at everything he does. He took state in tennis and was in the paper every other day for rockin Mountain Views basketball team. He is kind and respectful and plays the piano and guitar. He makes a mean bowl of ramen noodles and acts like everything I cook is the best thing he's ever eaten.

He is the first Laemmlen cousin to go on a mission and he is going to rock at that too. I have become pretty good buds with him the past month and a half and I am going to miss him so bad!! How do people send missionaries off? Agh...

This is Adams younger sister Claire. There is a reason Janelle and I call these guys "the beautiful cousins". She is just as talented as Adam. Sometimes it makes me sick but I love her guts. Tuesday we realized that she loves getting her picture taken and I love taking pictures so we make a pretty good pair.

See that old guy on the tractor? That is my Grandpa Art. He is 80!! Can you believe it? Look at that head of hair! He is quite a handsome man.

This picture is super random but it is crazy! This storm blew my mind. That cloud dumped on me a couple minutes after this was taken. I love the contrast against those clouds and blue sky behind it.

(Dear Ortons- If you are reading this, tell your Dad that the pictures I took of him turned out pretty sweet. I'll have to make him a copy.)

Aloha!

2010-10-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

Janelle and I went to Hawaii a couple weeks ago. We learned the hula, ate way too much pork and basked in the sun.

Okay, maybe it wasn't really Hawaii but it was pretty dang close. Patricks mom turned 50 so they planned a crazy huge surprise luau for her. I had never been to a legit surprise party either, it was so great. She had been in Las Vegas all day with her husband and she came home to a yard full of crazy Utleys and a full on Luau. The dancers came all the way down from Salt Lake and were so wonderful. They even dragged Janelle and Pat and I up to do some weirdo rope dance. It was hilarious.

One of my favorite parts of the night was having their 4 Japanese exchange students roaming around confused. They definitely had never seen a luau before and kept getting lost in the house. That one over my shoulder has such a perfect expression on his face. All they wanted to do was go to bed and sleep off their jet lag but there was no sleeping in that house. We found them crashed all over the place. It was great.

Fall'in

2010-10-02T21:17:00.001-07:00

Today was so lovely. Janelle and I did the Alpine Loop and could not get enough of our mountains! I have to do portraits for my Photo class so we stopped and got some cheezy model shots in the leaves. I cannot believe how lucky we are to live 20 minutes from this little piece of heaven. Happy Fall and Happy Conference!

Life is good.

2010-09-28T18:24:00.001-07:00

I kind of hate blogging lately. The only reason I am posting is because of an experience in Hurricane this weekend. Mckay, Hayley, Juje and I were trying to come up with funny inside jokes to tag all over Natalie's wedding gift. When our memories failed us we turned to Mckays blog. Lo and behold every last memory was documented so perfectly. An up-to-date blog is such a good resource for people (like me) who don't have a memory. So... even though I really don't feel like posting I'm gonna do it anyways.

The past month (ish) has been wonderful. I love living with the Lewis's in Orem. I feel so loved and taken care of here. They are so hospitable. I pray everyday I can be like them when I grow up. School is so great. I love all my classes. I don't feel like it's a real semester though. My schedule consists of Photography, German, Nursing 1400, Golf, Tennis and Weights. I refer to my classes as "lessons". I was hoping to get in a digital photography class to help me out with my SLR but ended up in a film photography class which I am learning to love. My teacher said I was a natural yesterday and it made me so happy. My first project turned out so great. I hit a birdie golfing the other day, which was partially a fluke, but I'll never forget it. Tennis is wonderful. My nursing class sucks but only because it is pointless and online. I decided I hate online classes. Anyways.... I'm becoming more and more well rounded everyday.

Natalie and Matt got married this past weekend and it was so beautiful. They are so great together it makes me sick, ...not literally. It was so great to spend time with my Gnomes again. I've missed them SO SO bad. Good friends are priceless. I love the quote, "I have come to realize that being with those I love is enough." I'm just gonna post an array of pictures from the past month because there are too many events to write about.

It Must Be Love

2010-09-07T18:24:00.000-07:00

I CANNOT get enough tennis right now. My Aunts family is obsessed and they have passed the obsession on to me. The US Open is always playing on every tv in the house and I have to pry myself away everyday to go to school. Luckily I have a tennis class, so that makes it easier to leave. My new racquet is a dream. It's teaching me to play so much better. Anyways, tennis is always on my mind these days. I hope everyone else is enjoying The Open.

Focus.

2010-08-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

So the past couple weeks have been crazy. I decided to get serious about being a nurse. It's about time. In order to apply to UVU in January I have to finish a prerequisite class there, so I made the dreadful move. Leaving Logan was such a hard thing for me. Leaving these girls (shown below) was even harder.

I am now living in my aunt and uncles basement in Orem. They are some of the greatest people I know. Everyday I think about how grateful I am to live here. The other day I was talking to Janelle about what I had done that day and she said, "jeez, it's like you're living at a resort", and it's true. Pool and Tennis court in the backyard, air-conditioning, a house keeper, having a shower to myself and a grand piano to myself are only a couple of the benefits. The company is even better. Anyways, nothing holds a light to Logan but this is the next best thing. School is great so far. I never thought I would enjoy coming back to UVU but it's treating me pretty good. Strangers are getting used to me saying hi to them. I guess being friendly is just an Aggie thing. I'm gonna make it spread down here.

Other highlights of August:

Jessies bachelorette party on the fun bus was such a good time. Her showing up in a wedding dress was such a treat. Wendover could not get enough of her.

Favorite quotes of the night:

"You guys wanna see some crack?"

"Set those boobies free!"

(The first quote was from a drunk lady who could not wait to show us her crack, and by crack she meant cleavage. What a weirdo. The second was from a guy who won at the speedway earlier that day. )

Here is a pic from my first Demolition Derby. I just had to document it. It was so great, I'll never forget it.

2010-08-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.

When I was a little kid my Dad would set buckets out in our yard and for family night we would practice casting. Fly fishing was all he ever really wanted to do. (Quote from Norman Maclean, "One great thing about fly fishing is that after a while nothing exists of the world but thoughts about fly fishing.") Every General Conference he sets up his fly tying stuff on the kitchen table and ties flies for two days. He has feathers and materials from all over the place and takes great pride in creating flies that may look strange to the naked eye but when you hold them under water they will look exactly like the fly they are supposed to be. It's crazy how his giant fingers can be so perfect at tying tiny flies and tiny knots. I don't get it.

When I invited my friend Pat to our family's cabin with us he asked if he should bring his fishing license. When I asked my Dad he got so excited. My little brother is not a fisherman in any sense of the word and he was so stoked to have someone who wanted to go. I don't get to watch my Dad fish very often so I quite enjoyed it.

Pat ended up being a natural (like with everything else).

I was at Deseret Industries last week and I found a copy of A River Runs Through It. I love the movie so much and the book is just as wonderful. I feel like I could be a great fly fisherwoman after reading it. It is about more than just fly fishing though. In fact the person who owned it before me marked it up as if it was a Psychology textbook. It made it so interesting to read and now I appreciate the story so much more.

The imagery in the book is so great. I have to write some of it down so I won't forget.

-"When her hair glistened, though, she was worth it. She was one of the most beautiful dancers I have ever seen. She made her partner feel as if he were about to be left behind, or already had been. It is a strange and wonderful and somewhat embarrassing feeling to hold someone in your arms who is trying to detach you from the earth and you aren't good enough to follow her."

-"Yet even in the loneliness of the canyon I knew there were others like me who had brothers they did not understand but wanted to help. We are probably those referred to as "our brothers' keepers," possessed of one of the oldest and possibly one of the most futile and certainly one of the most haunting of instincts. It will not let us go."

-"Many of us probably would be better fisherman if we did not spend so much time watching and waiting for the world to become perfect."

-"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself and watch yourself softly becoming the author of something beautiful, even if it is only a floating ash."

-"You can love completely without complete understanding."

-"Help," he said, "is giving part of yourself to someone who comes to accept it willingly and needs it badly."

-"Poets talk about "spots of time," but it is really fisherman who experience eternity compressed into a moment."

Thanks Norman Maclean.

Ya'll should read it.

"It's a double complete rainbow! What does this mean?"

2010-07-31T22:50:00.000-07:00

I hope this makes all of you as happy as it makes me.

2010-07-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

Cabin Time.

Grandpa and Pat busy being twins.

One of many scrabble games, but the only one I was able to take a victory in. That's quite an accomplishment when you play Pat.

Good times. I wish I could play Sjoelbak right now.

Wow, this blog is getting lame.

Summa

2010-07-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

This post is in reversed chronological order.

The gnomes put together a birthday BBQ for me last night and it was perfect. Great food. Great friends. Only the good ones showed up and I was so happy about it. You know those friends that make you feel like you have to entertain them?... well none of those friends came. We all just sat in the driveway and laughed all night. Thanks friends. And Matt, thank you for the cereal and thanks for the burritos Kyle!

Janelle and I took a trip to St. George. It was everything a 4-day weekend should be. Laying by the pool, reading, eating, shopping and making fun of Eclipse with Pat and Janelle.

On Saturday Pat called and asked if Janelle and I wanted to help him make thai food for his fam. We made thai pizza, (which is honestly heaven) and Patrick made curry and lettuce wraps. It was so tasty.

His little sister Katie insisted that we have homemade fortune cookies and while her mom slaved away on the cookies Katie and I came up with awesome fortunes. She asked specifically for me to type one that involved Micheal Jackson. When I asked her why, she said in a sassy voice"Um... because we're the Utleys." This girl is so great.

Puppies were everywhere and I was in heaven. I wanted to sneak one home so bad but Natalie would have been ticked.

Look at those lettuce wraps! Patrick rocks at cooking. And look at how big my mouth is these days. Geez.

George Washington (a.k.a Kimball) stopped by on the Fourth to give us his blessing.

Cruise In 2010 was great. It was my first car show and I loved it.

Anyways, things are good. I'm tired of typing stuff.

Enjoy summer people!

June

2010-06-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

This has been such a great month. The rain finally stopped and summer arrived! Natalie, Hayley and Janelle and I braved the elements to run the Bear Lake 10k again this year and it was great. I shaved 11 minutes off last years time so that felt wonderful. I loved running with Janelle. Half Marathon- here we come!

Cousin Day at Lagoon was wonderful. I love these guys so bad! I'm so proud to call them family.

Patrick decided to invite an almost stranger (me) and a real stranger (Hayley) to Lake Powell with him and his Fam. Good thing we are such great travel companions. They wouldn't have known what to do without us. kidding! Pat, Taylor, Hayley and I became the A-team. I somehow got chosen to be the leader and they all just followed me around the time. It was weird. We wake boarded early and late. We tubed. We cliff jumped. We ate 100 pounds of swedish fish. We had book club. We played 1,000 games of scrabble. We never fell asleep courtesy of the full moon. We hiked. We stopped being punch bag virgins. We got wood all over us. We kayaked and we basked.

I'm already ready for round two.

Thanks Utleys!

(There. It's updated. Jordan you better stop complaining now)

Novelty

2010-06-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday before Memorial Day the Laemmlen family goes to visit this wonderful lady. People probably think we are nutso when we show up at the cemetery. We don't just drop off some flowers, we stay all night. My Grandma Grace wouldn't have it any other way.

The only thing we didn't have this year was the "guy with the hangars". I still don't know his name but I think its my dad's cousin or something. He usually shows up about the same time as our family and pulls out two metal hangars and bends them all weird and will start walking over the graves with them. He says when they cross each other you're over a body. Yeah, like I said, we look nutso at the cemetery. This years festivities included building a human pyramid, playing football while dodging headstones, catching the Swiss girl and taking fake engagement pictures with our cousin Adam who will be leaving on a mission this fall.

It's always a good time. We love you Grandma.

Part 2

My first Saturday back in Logan was perfect. I forgot how many activities these gnomes can pack in a day. We hit up the Farmers Market and then decided to do something "novelty" and go out to the Airport and check out the plane stuff. The radio said there were going to be free helicopter riders which got our attention. Too bad free really meant $20. Since we were too cheap for that and too lazy to wait in line for the free helicopter simulator, we decided to do the easiest thing possible and sit in all the parked planes. It's a lot cooler that it sounds.

After we left the Airport we tried making First Dam turn into La Jolla beach. It kind of worked. We followed that with 5 games of volleyball at the park and then finished the night off with dutch ovens and fires up at Porcupine. It was such a great day.

Summer is finally here.

2010-05-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

While I worked for Gladys I started reading/skimming a book called Living a Beautiful Life. Dianne, her daughter, had highlighted so much of the book that I thought it was worth a read. After reading about 1/3 of it, it started giving me a headache but when I broke it down it had some really nice advise for life.

It talks about the importance of reading and how we should try and read at least 20 minutes a day. It also says, "One of the greatest gifts of all is for a friend to recommend a book to you". I am recommending this book to have on your coffee table because it is too overwhelming to read all at once. I found my notepad where I jotted down things I liked in the book and here they are:

"Every spirit builds itself a house, and beyond its house a world, and beyond its world a heaven. Know then that world exists for you." -Emerson

-Work smarter, not harder.
-Write handwritten notes.
-Create beauty and order and you will be controlling the private hours of your life.
-Our 5 senses need nourishment and then they can nourish us.
-Choose to be rich by making your wants few.
-Life is too short for you to be the caretaker of the wrong details.
-Einstein claimed he got all his best ideas while shaving.
-Pay attention to the little things; when they are right they shore us up; when they are wrong, they are a burden.
-George Bernard Shaw said that to be in hell is to drift: to be in heaven is to steer.
-Keep a dictionary handy. The correct word is like any small detail that's just right- it enhances life.
-Buy or cut fresh flowers for your home once a week.

Anyways, that is a random list but I have been working on adding a few of them to my life and I think my life is better because of it. Just thought I should share.

I finished this book yesterday and I am so grateful that I read it. I would feel like a jerk if I didn't recommend it to everyone. It could definitely improve your life.

"Okay I will, but my body is just so tired."

2010-05-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

This is Abby. She and I were bestos when we were little. She dropped by on her long drive/move to Pennsylvania. I can't get over how close I felt to her even though I haven't hung around her in ages. I drug her and her boyfriend 4 miles into the air to get a view of Zion. And it was quite a lovely view. Observation Point is a must see.

Besides going to Zion, this past week in Saint George has been crammed full of action. So far I've ran, slacklined, swam 50 laps along side my grandparents (they're Crazy!), hit some balls at the driving range (thanks Pat), long boarded, hiked, and might top it off with some tennis in the morning. My body feels weird right now... but a good weird.

This kid in the park killed me. Make this picture big and take a peek at that caboose.

This is what happens when you let strangers take your picture with your confusing camera.

There was a crazy guy talking and singing to himself at the park this day. Without talking to us or anything he started singing Walk the Line from Johnny Cash while I walked my line. It was so perfect.

Yep, it's been a good week. Work starts on Monday. That will be weird, I'm finally getting used to this life.

2010-05-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

She's the best... You should check out her new cooking blog. She doesn't want it to be called a food blog because she thinks it will make her sound fat. Ha ha. It will sweeten you right up!

Sweetened up

It worked!

2010-05-15T15:22:00.000-07:00

CRUISE 2010

We didn't think it would actually happen, but it did. We almost missed the boat because we were looking for our cruise in a navy yard in a different town. It was a miracle we even boarded. Once they let us on it was smooth sailing, well... not literally smooth. It was so rocky the second day that we couldn't get off to the shore excursion. We adapted to the rocking and got ourselves some sea legs. In fact, we are having trouble getting rid of them. Juje has been tippin all over the place today. We all look like a bunch of drunks on land.

Gnomes like cruise life. Our days on board consisted of eating 4 and 5 course meals, 3 meals a day. Laying out any spare minute we had. Reading books by the pool. Getting rocked to sleep all the time.

We made some fake friends. They really are fake. We don't even know them, or like them really.

Meandering in Catalina.

Me being the only adult on the water slide. The adults followed my trend the next day realizing it was socially acceptable.

The view of Catalina from our ridiculously steep bike ride.

Our wicked bike gang.

We have fun together.... pretty much all the time.

Our waiter Roy on the right took such good care of us. He was such a good dad. And Ariel on the right always made sure we were hitting up all the skanky shows at night. They were great.

We had two hours to shop this street and it was crazy. I made the mistake of telling one of the vendors my name and he yelled it out the door as I walked out and then every other vendor on the street heard it and started yelling my name . It was overwhelming and yet so much fun. I had the best fish tacos of my life here and got to see two baby lion cubs. Too bad you have to pay 25 bucks to hold them, I'm way too cheap for that.

La Bufadora a.k.a.- The blow hole.

Things we learned from CRUISE:

-Always be prepared to sink at any time. My favorite line from Hayley, "I'm convinced we are still gonna sink. I want to tell every person I pass, 'see ya at the sinkage'".

-We are not adults. After ten p.m. everything turns into "adults only". We are all over 21 but listening to "adults" sing karaoke drunk is not entertaining or pleasant. Neither is adult comedy shows or ventriloquists.

-People in Tahiti speak french.

-How great it is to be able to order 3 appetizers, 2 entrees and 2 desserts and not have a bill at the end.

-People who drink a lot are suckers. Yeah, we saw what their bills looked like. We actually made money on the cruise. We made ten bucks riding bikes in Catalina- yes, we're that good!

See ya next year cruise!

Iron

2010-05-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

So a few years ago I served dinner to the athletes of an Iron Man that was held in Utah County. Everyone was crazy fit and I got to watch them stuff their face, which was awesome, but I never got to see them in action. They just so happen to be in Saint George over the weekend so we had to go check it out. These people swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run.... A MARATHON!!! They are crazy! We watched a man cross the finish line who had competed in 90 Iron Mans! How do you even do that?

Here is the first woman to pass the finish line. Her husband had come in a couple minutes before her. What a couple! She is 6'2" and awesome.

We also met some biggest loser competitors.

Jessie and I wanted to do this thing so bad but Janelle wouldn't let us. She said the line was too long, (the line consisted a handful of kids that were 2 feet tall). We're still ticked about it.

After watching the athletes we decided to re-create our own Iron Man. We were going to swim laps in Janelle's pool, borrow the unattended bikes on Janelle's patio for a quick ride and then run 3 miles topped off with Foremaster (a monster hill by her apartment). In the end, we laid out by the pool because it was way too windy to swim, ditched the bikes because we wanted a nap after laying out and then a miracle happened- we actually did the crazy run! We surprised ourselves so bad, we felt like iron after it. It was great. I'm so ready for Bear Lake Race next month.

This month is going to be awesome. No work, no stress. A week from today the gnomes will be cruising on the high seas. The gnomes are the best traveling friends I've ever had, I can't wait. See everyone at summer!!

Happy Birthday Juje!!!

Kyoto

2010-04-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

So Gladys and Diane took me out to have authentic Japanese food and it was tasty! Kyoto is delightful. Diane says it is almost as good as eating in Japan. I tried sushi for the first time and I am not completely sold on it but everything else I had was SO good! I can't wait for my leftovers.

I took this after I had devoured the gyoza and tempura shrimp. I'm not going to lie, I brought the raw tuna home and am going to throw it on the grill tonight. I don't think I'll ever be ready for raw meat.

Tomorrow is my last day working for Gladys. I can't believe it. It's been a good time.

Thanks Glad!

I love Wednesdays.

2010-04-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

8:00 p.m.

Spring

2010-04-27T06:19:00.000-07:00

Spring is awesome. I went to the tulip festival with Gladys and her daughter Diane and my Mom. That place is seriously a secret garden. I had no idea how big it was. I love that you can't see it from the freeway or anywhere else for that matter.

Gladys was not happy about this picture at all. Diane and I kind of forced her into it.

I'm almost officially back to being a gnome again. This is my last week working in Highland! Four months have flown by. We stayed in our dresses longer than we ever had on Sunday. It wore us out so bad that at about six o'clock we all crashed in the living room sprawled all over the place. It was quite a sight.

P.s. - I can't wait to have a gun.

Happy Be-lated Earth Day.

2010-04-23T09:25:00.000-07:00

I sure love this earth.

Here are a few of my favorite places on this great planet.

Mooney Falls, Havasupai.

Sand Hollow.

Island Lake. Wind Rivers Wyoming.

Big Sur.

Hava.

Venice.

Colosseum.

The Eagles Nest.

Normandy.

Naomi Wilderness.

Thanks Earth.

Local Celeb

2010-04-19T10:58:00.000-07:00

Please watch this. It made me so proud to see young Morgan on Colbert. I cut my first set of steps on that head. Way to represent! Booyah!

2010-04-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well the girls are gone. My brother has been lucky enough (he probably doesn't look at it that way) to be at home with the them quite a bit. Today he sent me this text, "they call the couch a soft bench". I'm going to miss them so bad. Their vocabulary is so wacked, I love it.

Fly safely girls.

On another note, I finally finished this quilt. I made it when I was in seventh grade but never finished the edging. It's about time right? My favorite thing about it is the quilt job. My aunt had it machine quilted for my birthday one year and I love it.

Ain't it pretty?

My girls...

2010-04-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

These kids may look like rag children but they light up my life. They live 5,000 miles away so we have to savor every second we have together when we visit each other. This picture was taken in Kaiserswerth on the Rhine while I lived with them one summer.

Now they are all grown up. Caroline was giving me a German lesson yesterday after conference and it was so great. She wrote some sentences on the board for me to translate and to break down into nouns and verbs and if you read it closely it says, Riana can sing good (not true) and Natalie is very loud and Riana doesn't like it (true). Ha ha. She was such a good teacher. I am so jealous that they are fluent. She may look a little handicap in this picture but I promise that she is the smartest little human I know.

Here is Olivia. She is so crazy flexible. She loves showing off her splits. She even jumps in the air and lands in the splits, its nuts.

These girls are so great and I miss them so bad when they leave. 5,000 miles is too far. I may have to make the trip this fall. I've never seen Europe that time of year.

Modern

2010-04-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

I feel like I talk about my Dad a lot on this thing but that is because I need to document him for my posterity. He is... one of a kind. Janelle and Dan and I are the only ones who truly understand how funny he is and appreciate everything that comes out of his mouth. Even when he is in a bad mood and is raising his voice I still catch myself writing stuff he says down on the notepad in my phone so I won't forget it.

Example- "Eat your twinkies!" (He was literally forcing Janelle and I to eat the twinkies he gave us. And he wasn't trying to be funny.)

Example of slang that we taught him that we have actually caught him using-

"Was she a Bi?"

Anyways... Daniel and I went with my Dad to Cabelas on monday to look at guns. It was definitely a bonding moment. I forget that there is still a little boy in that 6'5" body. He is in heaven in that store. As we were standing in the gun section waiting to be helped I overheard him say, "Gosh... they have enough guns in this store to start five wars." When I looked over at him (with slightly raised eyebrows) he was just staring at a wall of guns completely serious. Oh... I love this guy.

With that being said, I LOVE Modern Family! I hope everyone gets a chance to watch it. Its still on the first season so you can catch up if you missed it thus far. Phil, the Dad in the show, kind of reminds me of my Dad. I had to post this clip. There are a 1,000 more clips I would post, but... I'm not gonna. Please enjoy this show. I promise I'm not going to get hooked on anymore tv shows while I work for Gladys! I promise! Only one more month left.

Okay, just one more. This one has nothing to do with my Dad.

10 minutes.

2010-03-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

I love knowing that no matter what I am doing, within 10 minutes I can be here.

I drive up here every Thursday while Gladys has one of her appointments. I thought I should document the snow before it all melts. It's so beautiful here.

The General.

2010-03-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

I am watching Band of Brothers again. It is such a well made mini-series and it makes me appreciate everyone in the armed forces. If you haven't seen it, you should. It gives you such a good picture of what the 101st Airborne went through throughout the course of WWII.

I love listening to the personal interviews before each episode and hearing the real "boys" tell their personal account. It's crazy to me that all of those young men were so ready and willing to fight when the war started. One young man was denied from the Airforce and Navy because of eye problems so he jumped at the chance to be in the Airborne.

Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and 'dropped' into battle. Thus they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have an ability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. The formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capacity a huge force can appear "out of nowhere" in minutes, an action referred to as vertical envelopment.

I jacked this definition from wikipedia. The crazy thing to me is that they are trained to be dropped into enemy lines at any time. In Band of Brothers, at one point another commander is hesitant to have the men stationed in an area where they will be surrounded by the enemy. Richard Winters who is one of the great commanders of Easy Company replies, "We're Paratroopers, we are supposed to be surrounded." They were such a tough group of men. I hope there are still boys out there today with that same courage and patriotism.

Last night BYU was lucky enough to have General Patraeus come and speak about the middle east. I don't know a lot about him, but I have seen him in the news and from what I have heard he is an honorable man and a great General, a four star General to be exact and the current commander of the U.S. Central Command. After listening to him last night I felt so proud to be an American and I felt so at peace with knowing that this man was protecting our country. I loved seeing the Airborne patch on his shoulder and thinking about the young men under his command.

'Some Iraqis gave Petraeus the nickname 'King David', which was later adopted by some of his colleagues. Newsweek has stated that "It's widely accepted that no force worked harder to win Iraqi hearts and minds than the 101st Air Assault Division led by Petraeus."'

I wish I could have met him. He's on my list.

Thanks for this Jo

2010-03-23T07:25:00.000-07:00

The end kills me EVERYTIME!

2 things.

2010-03-19T18:38:00.000-07:00

1- Sunday is the big health care vote. Say your prayers everyone, no matter if you are for or against. I'm getting the same nervous feeling that I got on election day. I'll say it once more, say your prayers.

2- I try not to get wrapped up in celebrity gossip, but lets be serious, we all are kind of curious about their stupid crap. I have a mom and sister that make sure that I am updated instantly on major celebrity news updates. I have received the following phone calls from my mom, "Riana, MICHEAL JACKSON IS DEAD!!". "Riana, did you hear about Heath?!!!". "Riana, turn on the tv!! Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston split up!!" And yesterday Janelle called with the Sandra Bullock news. I have to say that I honestly feel bad for her! I'm being for real, I feel really sad when I think about it. I watched the golden globes and the last half hour of the oscars and I heard her acceptance speeches where she praised him and talked about how lucky she was to have someone that finally had her back. Ugh... normally I really don't care about this stuff at all but they were on my list of celebrity marriages that I had a little hope for.

Needless to say, guys are pigs, most of them anyways. I wish all the best for Miss Bullock.

I hope Will and Jada, Jerry Seinfeld and wife and Jay and Mavis keep going strong. They are the only celebrity marriages that I still have hope for. I hope the rest of them prove me wrong.

2010-03-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

I want to do a lot of things right now.

*I want to finish sewing my quilt, but my sewing machine is broken and in Logan.

*I want to ride my bike, but it is in Logan.

*I want to longboard so so bad, but I left my board at my parents house and I'm trapped in with Glad for the night.

*I want to play with a Swissy but I can never find one.

*I want to eat a smore over a fire but Glad only has fake fireplaces.

Ugh...

On a different note, this handsome man has kept me entertained today. I like this show. You should watch Chuck.

Juje, I'm talking to you.

I think cows really are happier in California.

2010-03-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

I saw some on my trip and they looked pretty dang satisfied.

I've missed the sunshine SO BAD!!! I forgot what it felt like to be warm. Thank you California for reminding me.

Vacations are so wonderful. I decided that I need more beach in my life.

Highlights of the trip:

*Highway 1 along the coast. Best thing Ever!

*Seeing dolphins 10 feet from my boogie board.

*Being with the gnomes on the beach.

*Eating tangerines straight off the trees.

*Seeing old friends.

*Smelling blossoms.

*Having money spending contests with Natalie.

*Eating so much food and most importantly, extra fresh fish.

*Realizing how crazy the Laemmlens are... (now I know why I'm so weird).

*Having dog parties on the farm.

*Point Loma. Look that college up.

*Seeing my dad hyper.

*Sun.

*Sand.

*Sun.

Blossom Trail

2010-03-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

Blossoms. Trails. Bees.

This is where my family will be in t-minus 2 days.

I am from a part of California that is also known as "The Worlds Fruit Basket."

My Great Grandpa settled in Reedley shortly after leaving Germany after WWI and became a fruit farmer. He had studied farming in Germany and put it to good use here in the states. The farm has been passed down to my Grandpa and now to my Uncle. Growing up with fresh fruit EVERYWHERE was nothing short of lovely. Some of my favorite memories growing up were going out to the packing shed and watching the fruit come down the conveyor belts and picking out the perfect one to eat. That or picking them right off the trees. My Grandpas farm was so huge to me as a kid. The trees went on as far as the eye could see. He grew peaches, plums, nectarines, oranges and tangerines.

We are going back for a visit on Friday and I can't wait. There sadly won't be any fruit ready but the blossoms should be ready for us. The San Joaquin Valley is known for the Blossom Trail. People come from all over to see it. The whole valley smells like blossoms (which can be a good or bad thing depending on your sense of smell). And everything is pink and white. It's beautiful.

Yum

2010-02-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

When I lived in Germany with my aunt a few years ago I fell in love with schnitzel. If I couldn't read the menu at a restaurant I knew I was safe ordering anything schnitzel. My aunt Cheryl taught me how to make it but for some reason I haven't made it since. I must have been thinking crazy because it is so TASTY! Last night I busted out the meat mallet and fry pan and had at it. It was so easy and delicious. I made dill roasted potatoes which were the perfect compliment. If you haven't cooked with fresh dill before, I strongly recommend it. I can't wait to grow some this summer.

I borrowed this picture from google because I feel weird taking pictures of food in front of other people, but mine looked just this good, probably better.

For dessert I hopped continents to Australia. Gladys's son in law lived in Australia for a while so I was curious if my pavlova would taste legit. He said it did, even though he was probably just being nice. Normally you serve it with kiwis and passionfruit but berries were delicious. This dessert reminds me of summer because it is so light and sweet. If you haven't made it, it's really easy and elegant. You should give it a try.

I don't know why I put food on my blog. Probably because I like food, and I like making it.

"When we no longer have good cooking in the world, we will have no literature, nor high and sharp intelligence, nor friendly gatherings, no social harmony."
Marie-Antoine Carême

If you're lookin....

2010-02-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

This movie caught me by complete surprise. I laughed my face off. It is my favorite kind of humor, dry as dirt. If you're looking for a good flick, this one won't disappoint.

2010-02-18T18:48:00.000-08:00

For anyone who didn't watch this with me 1,000 times over the weekend, I hope you enjoy this.

What the Heck!

2010-02-18T11:26:00.001-08:00

What does this look like to you?

A calender, right?

Well, look at it closely. There is a weather forecast everyday for the whole year! Who are these people that think they will know the weather for 365 days in a row? At first I was thinking that maybe these were the weather forecasts for the previous year, but so far almost all of these "predictions" have been right. This is one voo-doo calender.

There are fish in the corner with ratings from good to medium and fair. What does that mean? Fishing predictions? Where did this come from?

Its weird.

She's done it again.

2010-02-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

I want this. I want to win this.

ladydanburrysews.blogspot.com

2010-02-11T12:29:00.000-08:00

Feb.

2010-02-09T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well it's officially February. I like this month. Probably because it is SO much better than January. I'll have you know that my resolution for January was successful. I finished the beanies for the humanitarian center. I hope they warm up somebody special.

This month feels sweet to me. February has sugar in the air. I think that this month my goal is going to be to try to make as many new treats as I can. Maybe if you're lucky you might be the recipient of one.

Over the weekend I jumped on the cake pop bandwagon. I'm a little embarrassed for some reason. Maybe because they are the girly'ist treat ever and I've never considered myself a girly girl. All well. I'm bored a lot at this job and it was my sisters birthday so I thought "what the heck". They are pretty tasty. If you ever make them I would recommend only putting in one scoop of frosting. Just enough to hold them together. Thats what I did and they were perfect. Any more and they would be all soggy and stuff. I hate sog. Mine still tasted like cake inside.

The recipe is on here bakerella.com .

Diane, who is the daughter of the lady I take care of, loves to cook. She lets me cook for her family one or two nights a week and I love it. She is in a cooking club and a week or so ago the invite said it was a Julia Childs night and everyone was assigned one of her recipes. Diane was assigned to bring this crazy complicated, tiny, delicious French cake. I've never made such a tricky cake but it was good. I don't even remember the name of it. It was in French.

If anyone has any good dessert recipes they would like to share with me, I would love it. I think I am going to make creme brulee tonight. Juje, I wish you would be here to eat it with me. I also wish I had a blow torch.

Soup for You!

2010-02-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

Ever since I saw this episode of Seinfeld I have wanted to taste the soup that "you have to sit down to eat because it makes your knees buckle." Zupas created a lobster bisque a few years ago that I believe would be worthy of the Soup Nazis name. I recommend to everyone. It is delicious.

2010-02-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

I saw this over the weekend. I can't stop thinking about it, and to be honest, I don't want to stop thinking about it. It's dark and a little violent but the message caught me by complete surprise. I never thought a Hollywood movie and Denzel Washington would make me appreciate my religion. Walking out of that theater all I could think of was how badly I wanted to go home and read my scriptures. Is that crazy? Did anyone else see it? It's definitely not for the faint hearted but I think that anyone who watches this will leave feeling grateful.

Denzel rocks.

P.S. - It's like The Road... with a story line.

What the What??

2010-01-30T16:44:00.000-08:00

I pulled up in front of my parents house today and found my Dad digging a hole in our backyard. I yelled from the street to ask what he was doing and he replied, "I'm putting our Christmas tree in the ground." It's been sitting in the backyard for weeks because we missed the tree collector. He decided it was better to put it in the ground than to have it laying on the ground. Good logic? I was laughing so hard. My Dad is such a treat. Later I heard my brother teasing him in the garage about it and he said, "Gosh, I can't go do anything around here without someone watching me!" That's right Dad, watching you is our favorite thing. You never stop entertaining us.

I tried out that lemon cake that was posted on shemakesshemakes.blogspot.com. I guess it was from Martha Stewart. I had quite the time making it. I felt like I was having an out of body experience. Usually when I cook, at least lately, I am in complete control of everything. Today I was dropping bowls and whisks and thermometers all over the place. I mis-calculated a bunch of ingredients and burned the candied lemons. After all of that I realized that I wasn't going to have enough lemons for the lemon curd filling. I turned to the phrase- When life gives you lemons.... blah blah blah. Instead I just used my last two lemons to try the candied lemons again and just use the frosting for the filling. It turned out just great.

Here is the link for the recipe on Martha's show with the tutorial. Maybe if you follow her video closer than I did you will have even better success.

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/lemon-variation?autonomy_kw=lemon%20cake&rsc=header_

P.S.- Don't worry, that frosting is a meringue variation, it's okay to have a lot.

Strawberry Swing

2010-01-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite songs on Viva La Vida. I don't know how I never saw the video for it. It's delightful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb9X5jMofEo

So far this year I have been completely content with winter. I have loved all the snowboarding I have been able to do with my brother. I loved snowshoeing with Janelle at the cabin. I love being bundled up. I love all the deer in my neighborhood. I love pretending I am in Alaska when I am in the mountains and I love that I live in a place that can actually feel like Alaska in the winter.

Listening to this song makes me miss the warmth! It sounds like summer. Dang it! How many more months do we have? Ugh... Maybe you shouldn't listen to this song.

I'll repost this in April.

This job makes me blog a lot... sorry.

2010-01-26T19:13:00.000-08:00

So I saw this documentary today and I found it very interesting. I learned a little about the corn industry in my Political Science class last semester so this sparked my interest. It's called King Corn. Ever seen it? Well, if you like documentary's and you have some spare time you might like this one. The guy with the goatee is a gem as well as the guy with the Love One Another shirt. If you are a soda drinker or a burger enthusiast, such as myself, you should watch it.

http://www.kingcorn.net

It's on Netflix if you have it.

This is why...

2010-01-25T20:24:00.000-08:00

My friend Jordan told me to look at this website. When I heard what it was called I rolled my eyes, but later on I got bored enough that I started looking at it. After a couple dry heaves and countless cringes I continued to press on. This web site is not for the faint hearted, and sadly, I found a couple things that I actually want to make. This giant Oreo cake is the most pleasant looking and delicious thing I could find. I will make it as soon as I find that cake pan.

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com /

Apparently they update this daily, so get excited... or disgusted.

2010-01-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

Well, look who I found. He got all cleaned up.

I try to not waste too much time on the internet at my new job but I do get sucked into photography blogs. When I find someone with a style I like, I waste a lot of time looking at pictures of people I don't know and will probably never know.

I stumbled across Matt Clayton. I can't get enough of his pictures.

http://mattclaytonphotography.blogspot.com

I even found pictures on his blog of Truman. This guy gets around.

Dear Gnomes

2010-01-20T10:39:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to sneak a picture of sweet little Gladys for you guys. We went to a bake sale for Haiti and I got one. Here she is with her granddaughter. Kelly is the cutest 9th grader I've ever met.

Hayley, I hope you can stop picturing me caring for Gladys Knight now.

On top of the World

2010-01-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

I've never been on back mountain at Sundance when it's clear. The view was so great. I could not get enough of it. It was a such a good day with such a good posse.

It's almost time

2010-01-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

It is getting close to Valentines Day. The past two years, my significant other (at the time) and I, could not think of a better thing to do on Valentines Day than to go to this Film Festival. It's inspiring and delightful to watch. So get your special someone and get a ticket and get excited.

2010-01-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

This post is for myself as well as Janelle. I have been extremely impressed with Redbox since the day it was explained to me. I want to give a pat on the back to whoever came up with the idea and then executed it. It's brilliant. We just got my mom a Netflix subscription and I have heard that it is better than Redbox. I will be the judge of that, and until I judge it I have some questions for Mr. Redbox (or any of you that can answer them).

1. How come you never get a scratched DVD?

2. What would happen if you put another disk in the case and returned it?

3. When do they stock them?

4. Do the employees drive Redbox vehicles?

5. Do the employees have uniforms?

6. What if you returned the case with no disk?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

"I think wizards just have different taste buds."

2010-01-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a day for my journal. Since I don't have a journal at this moment, its going on the blog. Janelle and I decided that since we didn't accomplish one thing on our list of things to do together during the break, we would have to squeeze all of it into one day. The most important thing on the list was to go to IKEA together. I've never been there with her and IKEA is just a place that you are supposed to go to with your sister. Since Jessie is my adopted sister she came too, and we had quite the time. Janelle has these weirdo blisters on her knees that make it so she can't bend them or walk sometimes. I'm skeptical of the walking handicap because today I caught her running into the house. But on saturday, she claimed she couldn't walk so Jessie insisted she have a wheelchair. The wheelchair could easily hold two people which made it incredibly difficult to maneuver around the store. Jessie was so patient, as usual, with her as Janelle refused frame after frame that she would bring to show her. In the end Janelle didn't like any frame in all of IKEA. Figures. Jessie and I caught each other in about 48 eye rolls that day. While we were checking out, I ran to the bathroom and left Jessie with the cart and the crazy in the wheelchair. While I was using the restroom I hear Jessie bust through the door and say "Riana, Janelle needs you!" I told her I would when I was good and ready. When I walked out of the bathroom I see Janelle in the chair with the cart next to her but no Jessie. I figured Jessie finally broke her patience with her. Janelle told me that she was giving her a hard time while she was checking out and Jessie had to raise her voice at her to get her to stop. I guess everyone in line was just staring at the lady yelling to the handicap girl in the chair. Then Jessie had to push Janelle and the cart all the way to the bathroom. Janelle was laughing so hard she was crying. I wish so bad I could have seen it.

The rest of the day consisted of seeing Blindside again. I love that movie so bad. Jessie got a taste of my mom's scary side, again. Jessie got to be our driver all day as we shopped for my moms birthday. To bad the only thing that we ended up buying were the ingredients for butter beer. You know the stuff they drink on Harry Potter?... Well, we made it. We should have guessed how it would taste by the ingredients- butter, sweet and condensed milk, butterscotch topping and cream soda. We tried so hard to drink it and like it. We even had Harry Potter playing in the background. Jessie kept trying to dilute it by adding more milk and soda, the result made her so sick I really thought she was going to throw up. One of my favorite quotes of the night was from Jessie, "Janelle, can I dump this out now, the butter is separating on top." Janelle answered, "Yeah, I think that wizards just have different taste buds." It was a hilarious night. Now we can check off drinking butter from our life list.

I got to see my best friend and her two boys. It looks like we planned our outfits for this picture, I love it.

These two boys are best friends. I love them. My brother is wonderful and Hayden has helped him become wonderful. I used to babysit/live with Hayden when he was young and I used to teach him piano. Needless to say, we go way back. I haven't seen him in years and I'm so happy I got to capture this image of them. It looks like they walked off the set of That 70's Show. I love them.

More Light?

2010-01-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

Did anyone watch Oprah yesterday? Gladys hates Oprah but I caught a couple minutes and was intrigued. I watched what I missed on YouTube and was brought back to when I lived in Germany. The lifestyle in Germany is very similar to Denmark in lots of ways, I think. They have free healthcare, high income taxes, small organized apartments furnished by IKEA, small families, very little religion, fresh produce, lots of exercise etc. I was just curious about what you all think about this lifestyle. Part of me envies different things about it but because I am LDS and a conservative republican, in some ways I am sad for them. Watch this and tell me what you think. Watch part 2 if you have time.

I do agree with that mans philosophy, "Less space, less things, more light."

Cheryl, I hope you read this post. I miss talking to you about this stuff, and hearing your opinion.

My New Life

2010-01-08T07:39:00.000-08:00

Well, the first week of my new life is almost over. I've survived. The first couple days were kind of tough but I've adjusted pretty well.

For those of you who I haven't told, I moved in with a little old lady named Gladys. She is the sweetest little lady in the world. I stay here Monday through Friday. Its a pretty cushy job and pays unbelievably well. I end up with a lot of free time so if anyone needs me to do homework for them, or read a book for a book report, or needs a beanie or wants to skype with me, I've got all the time in the world.

Anyways, I miss my gnomes so much but I am doing well.

P.S.- I found a cruise to Alaska for $499 for 7 nights and flights for $250. Start saving your pennies if you want to come.

P.P.S- You are crazy if you don't want to come.

2010-01-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

I have really enjoyed reading this book. It is very simple and inspiring. It's Richard Proennekes journal while he built a cabin in the wilderness in Alaska. He didn't just survive there, he lived and loved every second of it.

It's a good read.

New Years Resolution

2010-01-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

This morning I decided that I would make myself a Wikipedia page. I have no idea how to do it but I thought now is as good time as any to create one. Before I could even figure out how to start creating one I realized my life is not intriguing enough yet. 2010 is going to be the year to change that. This year I am going to bump up the intensity level as Ina Garten always says.

Besides going to Alaska, I hadn't even thought of New Years Resolutions for this new year. I just want to thank Maridee for inspiring me to make them. Instead of making a whole list right now, I am going to make one resolution every month that I will accomplish in that month.

For January I will make a minimum of twenty beanies to donate to the Humanitarian center. We live in a cold place and I bet there are a bunch of cold heads out there. I'll start tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T11:27:00.001-08:00

We splurged this Christmas Eve and went to the Grand America for breakfast. It was grand. I could not get enough of the fresh squeezed orange juice. It was so gourmet. My family tried so hard to pretend like we fit in. I think I gave us away when I almost threw up after eating a slice of grapefruit soaked in alcohol. Why do rich peoplethink that tastes good?

They have cloth towels in the bathroom! What the what?
The fam pondering about the complexities of Avatar.
The annual trip to the North Pole a.k.a. Utah Lake was wonderful. My Dad was convinced that there was a warm spring under the ice causing this ice meltage. He has a tendency to make stuff up to make him sound smart so who knows.
Braving the Ice
Janelle at the Pole. (North)
The Fam

The night ended with us stuffing our faces with Seafood. Janelle still holds the record for eating the most coconut shrimp. I wish I could beat her. That will never happen.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.

Alaska

2009-12-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

I am planning on going to Alaska in 2010. It's official. I plan on staying in this igloo at some point and watching the northern lights. If anyone has any interest in going with me or has any travel advice for me it would be greatly appreciated. I would like to go in September.

Logan

2009-12-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

I have been living in Logan for a year and a half now and have loved every second of it. I am going to be taking on a new quest in Highland until April. I am so sad to leave Logan, even though it is only temporary. Here are some of my favorite moments that Logan has given me.

Logan, don't miss me too much. I'll be back.

2009-12-18T22:30:00.000-08:00

The gnomes have had quite a December. Here is a quick recap-

The annual 'walk the tree home'. It is always a success.

The epic Utah State game verses Byu. Go Aggies! The Spectrum was wonderful.

A weekend snowed in at my Aunt and Uncles Cabin in Sundance.

Us hiking to church because of the truck being stuck

A little glimpse of heaven

A gnome quilt courtesy of Mckay

An early Christmas

It's been such a great month so far. I'm home with the family now and it is wonderful. I wish all my gnome girls and everyone else a Merry Holiday.

Headline: Knitting becomes cool

2009-12-05T14:41:00.000-08:00

It's not just for little old ladies and me now!
It seems like a lot of people have been blogging about crazy knitting stuff lately so I guess I am jumping on the bandwagon. I'm supposed to be studying right now so don't ask me how I came across this little video. This lady is so creative and must be loaded. Yarn doesn't just grow on trees! Well... maybe it does these days.

A few months ago Mckay and I were talking about me crocheting a cover for everything in our living room. Maybe I should start. This is how much yarn I have right now. Let's see how far I can get.

Enjoy Kenny...

2009-11-30T14:01:00.000-08:00

Every year Janelle and I die when we watch this. It is the best way to kick off the Christmas season. Watch it to the end. It is wonderful.

2009-11-30T12:19:00.001-08:00

I'm grateful for these people.

They made Thanksgiving great.

When I'm alone...

2009-11-25T16:55:00.000-08:00

I do weird stuff.

Working in Healthcare means working Holidays. I'm used to it by now and I don't really mind at all. Right now I am by myself in the gnome home. Well... not entirely alone, I have this little guy. I haven't given him a name because I keep expecting to find him belly up like his two little friends. I keep finding myself talking out loud to him sincerely asking him how he is doing. I think he likes me. He is always staring right at me. He didn't used to.

I woke up with a terrible migraine today and when they come I end up throwing up and miserable. I went to Smiths to cash in my change which ended up giving me $40! That was a surprise. I tried to get some food because I hadn't eaten all day and nothing looked good in the whole store. To my amusement this little treat sounded great for some reason. Space food, who'd a thought. And why is Hobby Lobby selling it?

My new lens/Christmas present came in the mail and I am slightly confused about it. I have a lot to learn, lets just say that. Having no one in the house has led me to take pictures of weird stuff.

Tonight I am going to attempt to recreate this. That and cook me up some crab, now that all the crab haters are out of the house.

As of late....

2009-11-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

I have loved being in school this semester but I am ready for it to be over!! My life has been lacking any and every element of FUN lately. I work almost every second I'm not studying or in class. It's been rough. Because of all this, my overworked brain has been telling me its okay to spend a little money on myself. This idea is healthy and normal in my opinion. The problem is that I am not stopping! Do you want to know what my downfall has been? Wool Socks!! What the heck is wrong with me? For some reason I feel like I need to have a countless supply of them. It's ridiculous. The other day I spent 15 minutes just looking at The Sportsmans selection of Smart Wool. You'd think I was moving to Alaska or something, maybe subconsciously I am planning on it.

Anyways, this post is to promise myself in writing that I am done! My feet should be warm the rest of the winter so you can stop worrying about them.

(I do fully endorse Smart Wool. Just don't get quite as carried away as I did, it might break the bank.)

Quote City

2009-11-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

I have a love hate relationship with this post. I hate that I am writing this because it is targeted at a dear friends work (not them), but I HAVE to say it! So I am apologizing now for bashing opinions.

There was an art piece titled All War Is Suicide. Now, any of you who know me understand why I would get all worked up about this message. I am so sad that some people actually have this mentality. War is terrible! I think everyone knows that. But to say that it is suicide is insulting.

We make war that we may live in peace. -Aristotle

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy. -George Washington

"Anytime while I was a slave, if one minutes freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told that I must die at the end of that minute, I would have taken it- just to stand one minute... on God's airth a free woman. I would."
-Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, a slave who won her freedom in court after petitioning the State of Massachusett in 1781

I think that all those uneducated punk bands and teenagers who love being anti-war because its the "cool" thing to be right now, don't understand freedom or history for that matter. War is terrible, but we would not be free without it and our freedom is the most precious thing we have. I am grateful for every soldier who has fought for me and who is fighting for me now. We are not in a draft, these men and women choose to fight for freedom and I think they deserve so much respect. To say that their job is suicide in an insult.

It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty. -Sam Adams

2009-11-09T08:16:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite things about my Dad is how much he loves the outdoors. When he was a teenager my Grandparents would drop him off in the Sierras and tell him they would pick him up in 2 weeks. He would pack just enough food to survive and a map and a compass. When my Grandparents would come back after two weeks he would be right at the coordinates he told them he would be at.
Now fish are his passion. If you look through his pictures on his camera 90% of the pictures are of fish. He is minorly obsessed with them. He will do just about anything to get to where the good fish are. He will backpack miles and miles just to get to a certain kind of trout. He only fly fishes and he is dang good at it and I love that. (Bait fishing is boring in my book, no offense.) His most recent trip was to Boulder Mountain which I was fortunate enough to backpack through a few years ago. It's beautiful there. I think he was planning to be there five days. My Mom called me after the third day and said he came home early. She said he said, "It was too hard." What!? My Dad doesn't say that. When he came up here last week I made fun of him for being old and not being able to handle it. He claims he never said that and that they just caught all the fish they wanted and were sick of freezing to death.

This morning I got this email from him:

Photos of Pete & Paul's Ironman Adventure to Blind Lake Oct 20-22, 2009 - A test of men and equipment. The lake did NOT beat us. The funny looking trout is a SPLAKE (Brook X Lake Trout Hybrid)
Dad

I love this guy. I'm so glad he is my Dad.

P.S. - My tent looks great in the snow.