Independence Day

Another Fourth of July come and gone and we had such a good time! In the morning we went to the parade (which Maddie and I were in, marching for Joe Hardy) and then we had a barbecue and swim party at Grandma D's.


A very patriotic cake dessert.


Syd wondering why I'm photographing her.


Aubrey looking at the blanket with disgust...and a messy face.


Is it just me or are none of the kids smiling for me today?


Flowers.


Sydney and the flowers.


Finally, someone who will smile for the camera. Even if it is a pretty fake smile.


This picture is a little blurry but I love it! Maddie is so good with the little kids.


Syd the Giant.


Well, those smiles were short-lived and Tyler proceeded to give me a series of "funny face" photos.

Sequoias, a Wedding, and the Beach

This last weekend Dad, Mom, and I went to California for Kelly Sargeant’s wedding (I guess she is Kelly Beruman now). Mom and I drove to Exeter where Dad is currently working and then we all drove a few hours away to the Sequoia National Park. The trees there were amazing! In pictures they are impressive but in person they are breath-taking. Then we drove back to the hotel and Dad and I went swimming, where we were both impressed with ourselves for treading water for fifteen minutes. The only bad thing was that Mom got sick that day and couldn't enjoy much of the sequoias, although she was determined to see the General Sherman - the largest living organism in the world! Poor Mom stayed in the car most of the day while Dad and I traipsed around. However, we did go to the store that night and get her some soup and we all ate dinner while watching part of Anaconda - the most excellently lame movie ever made.

The next day (Saturday) we drove another 3 hours to Morro Bay. The drive there was really pretty because there were lots of green trees and beautiful hills. The beach was fabulous as well – the weather was nice and even though it was a hazy day (due to the fires) we still had fun. We saw a family digging for clams, several fat chipmunks, some sea stars, a life guard running to rescue someone, and we found out that Morro Rock cannot be climbed by the public. From the beach we raced across California, through some desert in the middle of nowhere on the windiest road in the world, so that we could make it to Kelly’s wedding on time. We made it on time even though the wedding didn’t as it started one hour late (we blamed the combination of Mormon standard and Hispanic time frames). Here are some pictures that I took:


Rocks at Morro Bay.


Morro Rock (in the Sequoias, not to be confused with Morro Bay)


Dad and two Sequoias. These were the only two that we could get close enough to touch, and these were just little guys!

"Ojo de dios"

I apologize for the lack of exciting updates (or the lack of any at all) but in my boredom I happened upon an interesting find. If you have never heard of the Nazca Lines then I suggest googling it and taking a look at the pictures there. An ancient culture in Peru dug shallow ditches into geometric shapes, lines, and stylized forms of humans and animals. Each geoglyph is so large that the picture they form can only be seen if one is standing on a high hill or from the sky. There have been many explanations as to why the people created this glyphs; one of which is that they were created so that the gods in the sky could see them. One theory that goes along with this is that the ancient people of Nazca believed that during a solar eclipse the "Eye of God" was watching them. Since I have never seen a total solar eclipse I decided to look for some images of one so that I could get a feel for what the Nazca people would have seen. I found several images that all looked very much like this:

Is this not the coolest? It really does look like a giant eye in the sky. This is I thought that this was so awesome that I could not resist putting in on my blog. I hope everyone enjoys the nerdiness of this post.

National Geographic Saves the Day

I am sorry that I haven't posted in a while but that is only because of the lack of noteworthy news that has become my life. Lately I have been working on home for an online class and looking longingly at travel websites and National Geographic photographs. While in my search I found something called My Minute on National Geographic and it is a video compilation of photographs that are sent to National Geographic. There are many categories and it's a fun way to see lots of photos in only 1 minute. These were some of my favorite ones so enjoy.

Travel
http://ngm।nationalgeographic।com/video/player#/?titleID=1539384746&catID=१३

Humor
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/video/player#/?titleID=1526603485&catID=13

Questions....

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I don't think so. Well, I think I heard something about my parents getting the name from the President's daughter....would that have been Reagan?

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I got a little teary a last week.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? yeah, I guess so.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Ham - it's the only lunch meat ;)

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? nope. Someday though.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I'm not sure. I think I'm friendly enough but being friends requires a certain amount of openness and I'm not too good at that.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? absolutely not. Never in my entire life have I ever used sarcasm.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? As far as I know....

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I always have wanted to, but I don't know what would happen when I actually was standing at the edge with nothing between life and death but a rope.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Life and those Quaker Oats squares. And probably O's. And Honey Bunches of Oats. And don't forget Grapenuts.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Not usually.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Sometimes....until I arm-wrestle with Abby. Then I remember that I'm a weakling.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICECREAM? Moose Tracks. Or mint with brownie. But I must agree with Allyson that Chocolate Malty Crunch is very very good and may beat my selections.

14.WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their temperament.

15. What is your favorite color? blue, but I'm starting to really like orange.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? my awkwardness

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Cousins and friends.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? I think they're fun. Even if they are time consuming....so yes! everyone should post this.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Blue jeans and black high heels.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? toast and peanut butter. Man, I'm hungry.

21. WHAT ARE YOU listening to RIGHT NOW? Some engineers mumbling about something and What If? by Coldplay.

22. If you were a crayon what color would you be? Orange

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? bread, freshly crushed coriander, the desert after it rains, apple scents, book stores, that one cologne from Banana Republic.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom (sad, I had to look that up).

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes. I think it was Allyson so yes. Although there aren't too many people that I don't like so whatev.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? I don't like to watch sports. Unless it's a movie about sports and then it gets intense because you know the characters. I guess I like to watch people that I know play sports. I like to watch people I know play anything but basketball (no offense to anyone).

27. HAIR COLOR? Mine? or my favorite? My hair color is "dirty blonde" as my family says. Brunette as other people say. I would like to have dark hair and dark eyes but whatever.

28. EYE COLOR? My eyes are blue (like a fish, someone told me). I like striking eyes, whatever color they may be.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes, unfortunately. They're not bad, but it would be wonderful to be able to see without them.

30. FAVORITE FOOD? Greek/Mediterranean

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I like thrillers with happy endings. However, those aren't my favorite types of movies.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I watched Adventure in Babysitting with Maddie and Abby. Ah, what a classic.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? A white button up with pink and brown stripes and a pink tank top.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer!! I used to say winter but that was before I lived in Provo. But Fall is my favorite.

35. HUGS OR KISSES? It depends on who is giving them. Usually, I would say neither.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Tiramasu. But it's off limits so I'll go with Sis. Campbell's homemade oreos or chocolate cake with pastachio pudding. Or maybe mango sticky rice.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND??????? Those with nothing better to do like me.

38. Least likely to respond??????? Probably someone I don't know like the president or something.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Far Pavilions by MM Kaye. It's so good thus far! Don't be intimidated by it's 1000 pages though.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I don't have a mouse pad here at work. I don't even have a mouse at home. But I guess if I had one it would be something awesome like Zelda or Finding Nemo or Star Wars or some Maya ruins....or whatever.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? Didn't watch TV but we did watch a movie (see asnwer to 32).

42. FAVORITE SOUND? Ocean waves, little kids laughing really hard, a beautiful note of music, my parents whistling while they work, a car door shutting outside when you have been waiting for someone to come visit.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Neither. Well, if I had to choose then the Beatles I guess.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Greece!! Or maybe Turkey was farther.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I don't know. I would say the one talent that I told Maddie about while we were standing at the counter in the kitchen but judging from her reaction I guess people don't really consider that a talent. Um, I can play the piano and the cello.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Heber City, UT. And I haven't been back since. Well, I'm sure I have, but I don't remember anything about Heber or Midway.

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO READING? whomever posts this it will be awesome...which means everyone had better do it.

Argh! Just release it!

This is the book cover as there are no real movie posters out yet (see the trailer)

Excuse this somewhat angry and irritated post, but I had to rant about this somewhere and what are blogs for? The novel Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, is one of my favorite books and when I heart that New Line Cinema was going to turn it into a movie I was so excited. The cast was great, the preview looked awesome, and the story is so original that it couldn't possibly be ruined. I first heard about the movie production in early 2006. The movie was projected to be released around Christmas time that year. However, the date was postponed until March of 2008. I was so frustrated that I would have to wait over a year for it but I've been patiently waiting and waiting. Somehow, the March date got lost in the void and the new date became sometime in May 2008. This is where I must thank that wonderful screen writers for their fabulous strike that made nobody happy except for their greedy little selves (okay, I don't really know anything about the strike - don't attack me for false information). Thanks to the writers' strike the production of Inkheart was further postponed and now the release date is set for sometime in January of 2009....

....stupid book.

The song that helped bring things around...

During this last semester there were a few weeks where I was really down all the time. I had a hard time getting up on time to go to class, I had no motivation to do homework, and I felt really sad and lonely all the time. I couldn't really pin down any real cause for this state except maybe I had what some people call the "winter blues." I'll admit I really did not like the snow very much...at all.

One morning I went to my 8am physical science lecture and we had a substitute. As I walked in, a very familiar song was playing over the sound system of the auditorium-like classroom. The lecture that day was on sound waves and properties of light so our sub thought it would be appropriate to play Coldplay's "The Speed of Sound" before class started. Being a die-hard Coldplay fan, I had heard the song before. However, when I heard it that morning it was like I was listening to it for the first time. I don't know if it was lyrics, the music, the imagery, or the fact that I was simply tired of being depressed, but I walked out of that lecture determined to be happier. I also realized that familiar songs sound so much better on good sound systems. This song became one of my most-listened-to, and I am not sick of it yet. My roommates (the good sports that they are) even allowed me to write phrases from it on our mirror.
Click the song title to hear it.

Speed of Sound

Coldplay

How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where To, where do I go?
If you never try, then you'll never know.
How long do I have to climb,

Up on the side of this mountain of mine?

Look up, I look up at night,Planets are moving at the speed of light.
Climb up, up in the trees,
every chance that you get,is a chance you seize.
How long am I gonna stand,

with my head stuck under the sand?
I'll start before I can stop,before I see things the right way up.
All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.

And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand?

Ideas that you'll never find,
All the inventors could never design.
The buildings that you put up,
Japan and China all lit up.
The sign that I couldn't read,
or a light that I couldn't see,
some things you have to believe,
but others are puzzles, puzzling me.

All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand,
ah when you see it then you'll understand?

All those signs,
I knew what they meant.
Some things you can invent.
Some get made, and some get sent,
Birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.

Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand,
ah, when you see it then you'll understand?

Graduation!

Congrats to Loretta and David who graduated this last Saturday. We're so proud of them!



The fam.



Hanging out before the graduation.




A very poor quality picture of David in line. We were in the balcony so it was a long way.

Sydney

I felt like taking some pictures of around the house and Syd happened to be the object of attention at the moment. Enjoy~


Mama's sunglasses (with a toy stuck on them).


Watching "Princess of Horrors."


On the way to the Orchestra Concert.

"Too Much Time on My Hands"

For those of you that don’t know (and honestly, you probably all know because my complaints reach to the end of the world) I am currently working at the Southern Nevada Water Systems water treatment plant near Lake Mead. It is a pretty boring job since I am almost done with the projects that were supposed to last me all summer, and that’s going as slow as I can! Anyway, I heard this song on the radio when I was driving home the other day and I was laughing so hard because I couldn’t believe how appropriate it was to my situation. I only posted an excerpt of the lyrics; it's a pretty good song if you want to look it up. However, there are some swear words - I'm sorry, I didn't write it. The above picture is the band Styx, just for the sake of having a picture.

Too Much Time on My Hands
Styx

Is it any wonder Im not crazy?
is it any wonder Im sane at all
Well Im so tired of losing-
I got nothing to do and all day to do it
I go out cruisin but Ive no place to go and all night to get there
Is it any wonder Im not a criminal?
Is it any wonder Im not in jail?
Is it any wonder Ive got

Too much time on my hands, its ticking away with my sanity
Ive got too much time on my hands,
its hard to believe such a calamity
Ive got too much time on my hands and its ticking away from me
Too much time on my hands, too much time on my hands
Too much time on my hands

.....you've got to love such clever lyrics...

Home! (and packing)

I finally made it home yesterday. I guess finally is not the right word but the drive seemed really long this time even though it really wasn't that long. Maybe it was because I was alone and tired. Good thing I had some bumsty tunes to listen to.



It's good to be home. I even had a "Welcome Home, Amy" sign in my room. However, I think it's ironic that I've only been home for 2 days and it looks like my stuff exploded everywhere. The only bad thing is that I can't find 3 boxes (the clothes and shoes box) and I lost my keys.

Here are the packing pictures that I forgot to post:







I didn't really want to take pictures of the unpacking because for one thing - that's just silly, and for another, I've only been here 2 days and my room is a disaster. So here is a picture of Tyler, Aubrey, and Sydney playing "night, night" (it obviously didn't go over too well).

Packing

Well, it's all packed. And it's a miracle that everything fit in my car because I was shocked at how much stuff I have accumulated in the last 8 months. Packing was quite the process but luckily my roommate Aleks and I were packing at the same time so we had fun together. I took pictures of the process but unfortunately my camera got packed away somewhere. The only problem is that I don't have room for one thing - my cello. Maybe I should rethink my packing skills...

Update...

I figured that it was time for a new post, even though things aren't too exciting around here...ok well maybe they are. These past two days have been "reading days" where we don't have any classes and we're encouraged to study for our upcoming finals. So, I've been studying and being a bum. I got to go out to dinner with the Duncans because Elisabeth and Jared were leaving for their new life in Texas. We went to Asuka's and I tried sashimi (raw fish). It wasn't really that bad.

Other than that, nothing much going on. Kaylee, Aleks, and I decided to release some tension (and burn cookie calories) by going out for a midnight stroll. However, we didn't get very far and ended up playing soccer in the street. Then the sprinklers came on behind our building so we decided to run through. It was so freezing that I couldn't even turn the handle of the door to come back inside. Good times, though. However, it's time to haul it through the weekend because my first exam is tomorrow - Spanish. Shouldn't be too bad...

Munna Bhai, M.B.B.S.

We watched another Hindi movie on Saturday night - Munna Bhai, M.B.B.S. I think out of all the Hindi/Bollywood movies I've seen (and I've probably seen more than the average caucasian American) this one was my favorite. It was hilarious! I definitely recommend it to anyone that is not afraid to read subtitles.

Hiking the Y!

I finally hiked the Y! For all of you who don't know, it's the trail that leads to the Y on the mountain by BYU campus. I had heard that the climb was pretty strenuous but I think all the stairs on campus have conditioned me enough so it wasn't that bad. It was steep though and the trees weren't very pretty but the view was spectacular! I only wished that we had a pair of binoculars. The hike took us about an hour but we hardly noticed the time because we were having so much fun.




The awesome view. Some of it at least.





Kapil Lamichhane and Anil Dhungel, our friends from Nepal. They live in Wyview and hang out with us sometimes. I've watched some Hindi movies with them and they took me to an Indian restaurant that was amazing! These guys are the coolest around.


Kaylee and Anil striking a pose.


We finally made it!


We tried to run up the length of the Y but we were so exausted. Anil wasn't smiling so we made some snide comment about his attitude and he laughed. Pretty good timing, I must say.

I hate Utah weather...

Sunday morning greetings....argg.

Holi (Festival of Colors)

Yesterday, we spent a good part of our day pretending that we were Indian again. The Hindu festival of colors (or Holi) was celebrated at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. It is a celebration of the coming of Spring by throwing scented colored powder at each other. A bunch of us from our ward got together before we left and had a potluck Indian lunch. Then we all piled into the cars and drove down to Spanish Fork and waited in an eterni-line to buy our bags of powder. But after waiting in line for an hour and a half we were frozen stiff from the cold and the wind (what happened to Spring?) so we hurried inside the temple and defrosted while our friend Kapil told us the story of Holi and the names of the statues inside. Finally, the much anticipated moment had arrived - the lighting of the bonfire and the signal to start throwing powder. We quickly hurried down to the crowd (about 3 thousand people) and all of a sudden we were transported to what looked like the inside of a rainbow. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen.


Here we are waiting in line and before the colors (obviously). Notice the clean air, the distinct faces...



After the colors (obviously). Notice the hazy air, how everyone looks the same...


From left: Allison, Amanda, Kapil, Ben (the tall one), Amy, Aleks, Anil.

Some funny stuff...

Don't ask me how I find these (seriously, not my kind of movie) but the first video on here is pretty funny.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/preserve-our-planet/film-fest/film.html

And here's something for all you Lemony Snicket fans out there:

http://www.lemonysnicket.com/vilevideos/ (the 3rd video that says "don't watch please")

Around Campus, part II

So, this really wasn't on campus; I was driving home from the library and I saw these two girls playing on the sidewalk, probably about 7 or 8 years old. They were so cute running down the street, racing or something. Then all of a sudden the smaller girl tripped and fell. The older one stopped, reached down to pull her friend up, and promptly proceeded to put her arm around her and they bothed walked down the street together. It sounds corny, but it was the sweetest thing I've seen in a long time.

I was walking behind a couple and happened to hear some of their conversation. I didn't hear what the girl said but the boy answered timidly, "Well, you know, the Underground Railroad wasn't really a railroad." The girl gasped in astonishment and said, "No way! No way! My childhoood is ruined, I can't believe it...So, what is it then?" She was so loud in her response that I couldn't help choking back a snort, and the boy looked around in embarassment to see if anyone had been listening. Luckily, I don't think he saw me. Underground Railroad...and to think that girl got accepted to BYU...

Friday Night

Last night I went with a bunch of friends from our building for a girls night out. We ate dinner at Gloria's Italian Cafe in Provo. It's a very authentic hole-in-the-wall restaurant that serves "Mormon" tiramisu - I almost died from excitment :D So, after dinner we went to the BYU planetarium for the Zodiac show. It was pretty awesome, even if the host was a little dry. However, the best part of the night was when we wandered up to the observatory (which we thought was off-limits) and discovered Jeremy the lone astronomer who showed us the moon and some star clusters through the mega-telescope. It was probably one of the coolest experiences ever. Except for the part when it was my turn to look and there was about 4 inches of space between my eyes and the eye-piece, even with my heels on. Luckily, there were some movable steps just for that purpose (because, as Jeremy put it, "No offense, but you're kinda short.")

After the nerd-fest at the Planetarium we all came back and finished the night with Dan in Real Life, which is a pretty good movie if you haven't seen it yet. That's about it though. Not quite a spring break, but a good Friday night break from school, I think.

A Night Well Spent

A girl in our building put together an Indian party and we had it tonight. Several of us dressed in our Indian garb and we ate basmati rice and curry and naan bread while listening to Indian music. Then we watched the best movie I've seen in a long time - Lagaan. It was basically the Indian version of the Mighty Ducks or Remember the Titans but with singing and dancing and it was an epic. The best part was that our friend Ben brought his two friends from Nepal, Kapil and Anil. They both speak Hindi, they both like Lagaan, and they know how to play cricket (a huge part of the movie). It was a really entertaining night because they explained the game of cricket to us so that we could better understant the movie. Now we all have a new favorite sport, singing songs that we don't know the words to, and we learned the phrase "Chale chalo!" All in all, it was a night well spent.

Tengo un lugar para vivir el proximo semestre!

So, I officially have a place to live next Fall/Winter. I got in to the Foreign Language Student Residence program (let's be honest, it wasn't that hard). I'll be living with 5 other girls and at least one of them will be a native Spanish speaker. We are only allowed to speak Spanish and watch movies in Spanish in our apartment. Sundays through Thursdays we have dinner together with other apartments and we'll have assigned days to cook for everyone. I'm pretty excited!

Presidents' Day vacation

This last weekend, my roommates and I went to Boulder City for a much needed vacation/roadtrip. Aleks and Kaylee had never been to Las Vegas before so we went to see some of the sites. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when we were on the Strip but we did end up going to Hoover Dam. I love that place. However, you can see that my pictures were somewhat focused on other things :)







What a classic Syd face:)

Asher's Blessing

This last Sunday was Asher's blessing. It was such a fun experience. He looked so cute in his crocheted blessing clothes and us "gringos" had a good time sitting in the back and trying to look as inconspicious as possible in a Spanish speaking ward. It was cool though because those who wanted some could wear headphones and listen to a translation of the meeting. Ellie was sitting next to me on the bench and found the headphones fascinating. In the middle of the meeting she turned to me and said, "I want to make myself one of these things, and then I can undertand any Spanish that I hear!" I couldn't help laughing.

The Coolest Job

My religion teacher, a Professor of Mesoamerican Archaology, is a crack-up. He's really animated, very into the subject, and puts pictures of viking action figures next to Mayan paintings in his slides. He also likes to spout random phrases in Mayan and then talk about their correlation to what we're studying. However, my favorite parts of class are when he says things like this:

"I just love BYU because you're generally surrounded by good people all the time. It's such a different animal than any other campus I've ever been to. Yeah, so the other day I was driving to Salt Lake and there's this billboard that has like a power-ranger battling Godzilla or something and it says, 'Is your job this cool?' and I was like...*shrug* yeah."

Funny Moments Around Campus

A boy on crutches and a girl on crutches both turned to enter a building. Both were injured in the same foot. Boy: "Okay, what happened."

A guy coming out of the science buidling glances furtively around as he whispers into his phone, "I would sing for you Grandma, but I'm on compus now."

I was crossing a parking lot and about to hop over a harmless looking puddle when a guy said, "Don't try it! It doesn't look bad but that is a lake my friend - like four feet deep."

Family Home Evening - Where's Waldo?

For Family Home Evening last night we teamed up with another family in our ward and had a Where's Waldo in the mall. I was the designated driver for the "actors" so I got to see them in their costumes before the activity. It was hilarious to see friends from our ward run around the mall, while the store clerks were giving us hints as to where "Waldo" was (notice that we have our very own Waldo). The actors were Amanda as the Emo, Sarah the granola fashion-guru, Aleks the scary goth, Curtis the cool Utah kid, and Todd as Waldo. Afterwards, we went back home and had refreshments and a good time was had by all :)

Snow!

I finally got the chance to play in the snow for the first time. Kaylee, Aleks, Abby, and I went to a park behind the Provo temple and went tubing for a couple of hours. It was so much fun and we had a blast. We had a snow-ball fight, I made a snow angel, Kaylee mowed down some guy on a snowboard, and Abby football tackled everyone to the ground, except for Aleks who has a hidden talent for staying on her feet. Driving today was scary though, because it snowed about 6 inches overnight and it didn't stop until about 2 in the afternoon. However, we came home and watched Sleeping Beauty (Kaylee had never seen it) and we did some homework. I'm so glad that we had a day off of school!

Disneyland!

Some Disneyland pictures from our New Year's trip.

10 Things I Learned About Snow:

1. When it's snowing, keep the hood of your coat up.
2. Double-check to make sure that your backpack is zipped up all the way.
3. Don't shake off the excess snow while you're in a stairway.
4. Depending on your footwear, it's better to creep across the ice than to wade through slush.
5. Snow sounds crunchy when you drive over it and sounds like you've just run over some small creature.
6. Fur looks great around your hood but wet fur is not fashionable.
7. Snow packs and sticks to the bottom of your shoes and makes it awkward to walk.
8. Don't take cover under a tree. Apparently the trees think it's funny to dump 50 lbs of snow on you while you're seeking refuge.
9. You never know how important the painted lines are in a parking lot until they're gone, and then some jerk has to double park so that you can't get out (It's also hard to even find your car when they're all covered in 6 inches of snow).
10. Snow is wet, cold, icy, cold, dirty, cold, and a number of other things. However, it is also one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Christmas and Disneyland

What better way to celebrate Christmas and New Year than to go to Disneyland? Although, I must admit, I feel quite spoiled in the fact that we had a fabulous Christmas and then a fabulous trip to Disneyland on top of it. However, I did take some pictures with my new camera that I got for Christmas.


It's a Small World lit up for the Holidays.


Waiting in line for Indiana Jones. The only line I don't mind waiting in for an hour.


"Up, dang-it! Up, dang-it! Down, dang-it, I'm fallin' out, dang-it!"

...only a few will understand...


The Haunted Mansion looks great as always with its Nightmare Before Christmas holiday decor. This pumpkin patch is behind the mansion when you're in line. Halloween and Christmas...my two favorite holidays. It can't get much better ;)

The Saturday Update

Saturdays are always good days, and yesterday was even better because there was no snow. Well, there was snow on the ground but it wasn't snowing. Ahhh, que bueno. So after Karate, Sam and I weren't sure what to do with ourselves because Matthew had taken the gamecube the week before, so we had to content ourselves with playing the N64 (pathetic, I know). I also read about a quarter of the Man-Eaters of Tsavo that Uncle Todd let me borrow. It's is an excellent book, and if you haven't read it, you should. Then we bummed around until Sam's friend Kip came over and Sam, Ashley, Kip, Ashley's friend Julianne, and I played Munchkin and Munchkin Fu (fabulous card games). Sometime during all this, Matthew and Kelly came over (with the gamecube!) and they played Munchkin with us for a while. All in all, it was a very pleasant way to spend one's evening. Far more pleasant that going to a Jewish barn dance, which almost was a reality.

Triumph!!

This is the first National Geographic article that I've ever seen that expresses this viewpoint. Buahaha, the liberal monster admits its folly!! ....sort of.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070228-mars-warming.html

Happy Hanukkah!

This weekend I went up to Logan with Audrey Crandell. We had fun visiting Mandy and hanging out with her friends, although the drive up there was a little hazardous as we were driving through a snow storm. However, we went out to eat and to get ice cream up there (why, I don't know because it was freezing) and then we played games like Mafia and Settlers of Catan (we "settled" according to Mandy's friends). The drive down was much better and we had a good time.

Yesterday was the annual Jerusalem/Hanukkah dinner at the Stubbs and we had a good time. The food was great (pita bread, hummus, latkas, talapia, etc) and then after dinner we had a great Nativity play put on by the family and directed by Ellie. Then we busted out the Von Crap Family Singers and we sang Christmas songs and hymns for almost 3 hours. We had Ashley on the keyboard, Ivan on the trumpet, and me on the cello, and everyone else sang. It was so much fun and very loud. I think we sang every Christmas hymn, then every other Christmas song we could think of, including the Hallelujah Chorus. But now it's back to school since I have several essays and projects due by Wednesday, so I hope everyone is doing well.

Let it Snow!

This weekend was pretty fun. Aleks and I went to get some Christmas decorations on Friday and we were visited by Lori and Jessica that live next door and then Manda and Ivan came to see the apartment. We had a lot of fun, decorating, drinking wassail, and eating popcorn and this amazing bread that Manda brought over. Then Aleks, Kaylee, and I watched Anna and the King because they had never seen it before (one of my favorite movies).





When I woke up Saturday (Dec 1st) to go to Karate, I was greeted by a strange sight. It had snowed all night and it didn't stop that whole day! My car was covered in snow and my roommates were so excited that they helped me clear the snow and ice from my car. Driving to Karate was quite the experience - not being able to see the lines on the road because the snow hadn't been cleared away, sliding every time I hit the breaks, almost getting stuck at Karate because we parked in the lower parking and had trouble getting back up the hill (Sam - "More gas, faster! We're gonna make it, go faster!"). It was exciting...not. Anyway, then I bumstied around the Stubbs house all day partly because Manda and Ivan were there but also because I didn't want to drive anywhere. When I finally did leave, Ivan had to help me get out of the gutter because of the ice. Here are some lovely (and gloomy) pictures of the snow:





These were taken today so a lot of the snow has melted. However, there was a ton yesterday.