Freshman to Graduate

2004

This is the picture that was on my BYU Student ID card for all those many years. I feel like I have looked the same for my whole life, but I once had a teacher who looked at this picture then looked at me with my hand raised in the "here" position and did a double take. So I guess I have morphed into a less naive, more mature type person.

2010

Hide Your Kids, Hide Your Wife

Kira showed this to me while we were waiting for our meat to...smoke?






Go to my blog to watch the attached videos. Hilarious.

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day marks the end of summer. School has often started, the nights are beginning to cool down and the pools close. It's depressing, but we celebrate it anyway by getting the day off work...which is totally rad.

I can't really account for the last few Labor Day weekends, though I suspect a few of them have been spent in Boise with my Uncle Allen and his family. Usually I waste the day sleeping, but this weekend was different - it felt longer. I accomplished much.

Saturday I woke up and watched Slumdog Millionaire at the BYU International Cinema. If you haven't seen it: go now. It is sooooo good, and totally worth all the hype that it received. BYU edited the film for us because it is rated R, but it is my understanding that the rating comes from thematic elements and not actual from bad content, language, etc. I recommend it x1000. From what I can tell, even BYU had very little to cut out. Go. See it. I can't believe I've only just now watched it.

Thank you, Facebook! I noticed that Holly was in town, so I made a point to snatch her and take her to the concert with me. It was great to see her!

Kira's dad works for Thanksgiving Point and got us the tickets. This is her adorable son, Owen. Thank you for the fun evening!

After the movie, I decided to take pity upon my poor car and take her to the Car Wash. I vacuumed the inside and scrubbed the outside. I'm afraid to look up how much I actually spent detailing my car, but I do have to admit, it was worth it - she looks so clean. I finished emptying out some of the things that I've been driving around with since my move and then I came home and baked a carrot cake to take up to Holladay for a BBQ with my cousins. That didn't really work out as planned, but I got to say hi to everyone, grab some food and run to Thanksgiving Point to see John Schmidt in concert with Kira and Holly. I've never actually been into Thanksgiving Point, and it is awesome! The stars were out in full force and the gardens are beautiful. I'm looking forward to going back when I have a little more time to explore.

Can I just say, I don't remember 9 a.m. church being so hard to get to...

Today I woke up to the smell of French toast and bacon. My roommates hosted a big breakfast for a lot of their friends. William -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILLIAM -- came to represent the small numbers of my remaining posse. Our house still smells like bacon. After everyone left, I got some things together and headed up to South Jordan for a BBQ at Reuben and Kira's. This is where the real adventures began.

Owen in full agreement of the BBQ.

Reuben decided that we needed a grill for our meat, and that makes sense - it is Labor Day after all, and that typically comes with a BBQ of sorts.

The original plan was to grill up some meat, enjoy some water melon and head to the lake at Daybreak for a little kayaking/sailing. Reuben came home with a $16 grill and got the charcoal lit up. Bryce soon arrived to supervise the whole ordeal.

Of course, under Bryce's supervision, he managed to singe his arm hairs and burn his finger... but we won't judge him. Both Bryce and Reuben are pretty avid campers, and I usually trust them with fire -- if not a grill.

I think that we just didn't let the coals get hot enough before we tried to cook the meat. We were, after all, in a hurry to get to the lake before they closed for our water activities. But the fire kept going out, and the meat was cooking weirdly. In fact, it was more like we were smoking the steaks, hamburger and chicken. The chicken was turning a green, slimy color.... After much debate, we took the meat back inside to cook.

That was only after Reuben dropped the grill on the porch, causing much laughter between Kira and me... It was as if he didn't know there was a screen door. Like when you walk into a door because the glass is so clean...anyway...

We cooked the meat inside to make sure we wouldn't get food poisoning from eating undercooked meat.

One bite, and we were more concerned about getting cancer from the lighter fluid we were eating.

Owen is grossed out by the green, slimy chicken and lighter fluid.

So we gave up on the whole idea, deciding that none of us were quite ready for the grilling championships. I felt like a BBQ was such a grown up thing to be doing on Labor Day and I felt so sophisticated. But I think I love that this happened more. It was definitely entertaining.

The guys went down to the lake for a little sailing. And Kira and I played with this little guy.

And for dinner, we settled for the delicious, American favorite: In-N-Out.

Over all, it was a great weekend. But I'm definitely going to throw out there that we need some grilling lessons before our next BBQ.

Routine

I'm thinking of a new angle for how I should be spending my days.

I wake up, go to work and then come home and I'm not really sure what to do. I am, admittedly, sort of lost now that I have moved in with new roommates who aren't my best friends (...yet? Only time will tell.) and most of my besties have moved on and up.

I've never been one for routine. In school, I would make it a point to sit in a different seat every time I went to class. I don't like parking in the same spot. I hate doing my hair the same everyday. Etc. So setting up a daily routine hasn't really been on my to-do list. But now that I don't have anything else going on, I'm thinking that I should start one up so that I don't waste away the hours of my day watching Veronica Mars and Mad Men, which is what I have been doing (both really good shows, by the way...).

Any suggestions of what should be included in my routine?

I've already got the first part of the day figured out...

7:05 a.m. My alarm goes off
8:00-8:25 a.m. Roll out of bed and into the shower (it's quite a feat, I assure you)
9:00-9:30 a.m. Roll into work
12:30-2:00 p.m. Lunch (Lunch hours fall anywhere within those hours, and sometimes last the whole time, just depends on my mood.)
5:30-6:00 p.m. Go home

This new routine will have to include the following: more scripture reading, journal writing - Yes, I keep several blogs AND a journal. I'm conceited like that. One day, my progeny will thank me...

My ward seems to have a new activity going on every night. I want to attend some of the things, but honestly, reading the weekly list they send out exhausts me. I don't think I could handle all of the activities in every given week. I want to take a cake decorating class or something like that, but since I'm broke, a second job might be in order. Although, finding one job is hard enough at the moment. It seems selfish of me to think that I need two.

The nights come on fast, and will be faster now that winter is nigh upon us [insert groan here]. And I am thinking that an earlier bed time might help with the morning routine a little bit more.

Of course, tomorrow is a holiday, so even though we have a breakfast at my apartment at 9:30 a.m. (way too early for a holiday, if you ask me...) I'm obviously not starting the whole early bedtime routine tonight.

Unrealized Dreams

Chapters 1-4 of my first book, Unrealized Dreams have been made available on my blog. Check the Unrealized Dreams tab for the link.