Pioneer Day Weekend

I haven't done much in the way of writing about our experiences of late - I've been mostly focusing on pictures. But that's understandable right? However, don't expect much improvement with this post. It's late and my creativity is not up to par.

And with that out of the way, this weekend was so much fun!! There were 22 people in the Mt. Pleasant house, doing such activities as weeding the garden, riding 4-wheelers, dirt bikes, playing cards, joking with cousins, swinging in the backyard, petting the horses/sheep, sliding down the slip-n'-slide, etc.


The horse whisperer.


Is it time to go home yet?


Maddie and Maddie :)


Crowded?


Maddie high in a tree.


A mammoth skeleton in the Fairview Museum.


Aubrey enjoys the horses.

Water Park and Fishing Ponds

For Family Home Evening we met Grandma D. and Nathan at the water park in Boulder City. We walked around the fishing ponds and then went down to the water park. It was so hot outside and so humid (30%, haha) so the water felt really nice and we had such a fun time.

Funny Faces

I know - another video, but I haven't posted in a while and I thought this was a little funny I was trying to get a video of Aubrey singing and waving to me but I got something else instead (No child was hurt in the making of this film).

The Claw

Our new cat Charlie enjoyed this box very much. He enjoyed getting in it and then attacking people as they got too close. We had to take this video because from our point of view it looked like just his paw lashing out.

Arrr...a Pirate

Mom and I were cooking dinner when Madison and Julie called for me to come see what they were doing. I finished what I was doing and went up stairs to Madison's room. As I walked through the door both girls burst in to laughter. Julie looked up and me and it was suddenly clear why. After I got over the shock, I laughed pretty hard (I hope she doesn't mind that I put this picture on here).

Don't worry - it was washable marker.

Poor friendless Maddie...

I was sitting on the couch reading when Maddie ran over and asked me if I wanted to play a board game with her. Like the mean big sister that I am I told her that I just started reading and maybe we could play later. She begged and pleaded for a while but I was at a really exciting part in my book and I cruelly brushed her aside (can I be blamed? Book lovers, help me out!) Maddie, the sweet thing that she is, jokingly said, "Fine. I'll play with Charlie then." (the new cat).

When I looked up from my book a few minutes later, this is what I saw:







A nice rousing game of cat mancala, anyone? It was so funny I had to get my camera. And don't worry - I did play mancala with her after I took the pictures!

Kayaking

This morning we decided to go kayaking and it turned out to be more of an ordeal than we expected. We drove all the way down to the lake only to discover that we forgot a life jacket. Since we didn't want to risk getting caught by the rangers we turned around and drove back to get one. When we finally made it down to the lake it was so windy that we could hardly launch ourselves out into the water. Mom and Dad were on the tandem kayak and Madison and I shared the one-man kayak.

That was an adventure - with every slight movement we made the kayak threatened to tip and we were riding so low that water was spilling in over the sides. And on top of it all we were paddling directly in to the wind. Maddie and I were laughing so hard and making such a complainey ruckus that I was sure someone was going to run us over just to get us to shut up. Eventually, Maddie transferred to the tandem and we paddled to shore.


Once Maddie was on with the other guys it was WAY easier for me to maneuver. Poor Mad. She was smiling but she didn't want me to put that picture on because she thought she looked dumb.


I was trying to get people to smile and look like they were having fun (which they were) but for some reason they all look somewhat distracted...


Mom told Dad and Maddie to just let her get out and she would swim to shore. Here she is trying to fight the wind and Dad and Maddie going back to rescue her.

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).