When my sister built a house in a new neighborhood, there was nothing but adventure around us. At the tail end of a party at her place, the remaining guests, myself included, went on a walk to discover what was past her neck of the woods. About a mile or so later, we reached the park designed specifically for her neighborhood. Little did we know that it would contain the most delightsome experience.

Riding "The Green Dinosaur" is now a St. George tradition. Any time I go home, especially when I bring friends home with me, we ride The Green Dinosaur.

This trip, The Green Dinosaur was so fierce, it immediately bucked my friend, Rachael, and I right off, hence the wood chips on my back.

An adventure at Bear Lake

What does an alfalfa field have to do with my adventure to Bear Lake?
Everything.

My adventure started with this status update.
Having scored an invite, I was set to go. I didn't bother with finding out any more details than what time my sister, Casey, and I should meet them.
It turns out this was a singles stake activity. Our link to the stake was Karl, but he didn't even know what ward he was in or the names of his Bishopric. (He's new to the ward.)
Having waited for Nic to get off work, we didn't get to Bear Lake until after dinner had been scheduled to be served, so we stopped at a pizza joint.
We arrived at the stake campsite just in time for the rest of a concert.

Wanting to leave the crowded campsite behind to enjoy a peaceful night under the stars, we went in search of a place to camp on the shore. Karl told us that a former Bishop of his owned some property up on the Idaho side that had beach access. He assured us that it would be okay for us to stay there.
We trusted him.
We pulled off the road onto an alfalfa farm. He promised us that a short hike would lead to the beach.
We trusted him.
We piled all our stuff on our backs and started walking through the field. Before we knew it, we hit muddy, marshy patches. We kept going, because Karl insisted that the beach was just ahead.
We trusted him.
At one dry point, we set our stuff down and sent Karl through the next wet patch. Our trust in him was fading. He soon reached a barbed wire fence.
We decided to set up camp right there.
Nic brought a tent which he shared with Michelle. Casey and I didn't have a tent, but had planned to sleep under the stars anyway. Karl brought a tent but didn't want to use it.
Michelle had borrowed a tarp which turned out to be ginormous. How big was it? Large enough for three tacos and a tent. (You had to be there, although I will attempt to explain in just a bit.)




The forecast had stated a chance of rain showers in the area. Those of us who were sleeping under the stars staged our sleeping quarters so that we could roll the tarp over us if it started to rain. Sometime, someone called this tarp covering a taco. From then on, we referred to covering ourselves with the tarp tacoing in.
Less than an hour after falling asleep, I awoke, because I was certain that someone was walking on our tarp. It turns out I was crazy, but it still proved beneficial.
The stars were no longer visible and the air was moist. It was ready to rain. My sister woke up to me making some noise. She asked me what I was doing. I casually stated that I was going to taco in, because I suspected it would rain any minute. Nic and Michelle hadn't yet fallen asleep and erupted in laughter at the use of the new phrase. Karl awoke to their laughter; he tacoed in as well.
The rain did come. Although never a heavy rain, it was a consistent rain. The tarp amplified the drips of the small raindrops keeping me from falling into a deep sleep.
Morning soon came to our excitement. We all desperately wanted to see where we had spent the night.
(This photo was not staged. These were the real expressions on their faces shortly after waking up and looking around.)

We packed in a hurry, because we didn't want confrontation with a farmer. (I still can't believe it. We camped in the middle of a recently harvested alfalfa field. Ahhh hahahahaha!)
Below is one of the wet, marshy areas we trudged through because we trusted Karl.

The rain continued throughout the morning. Finally, we decided to pack up and head home. We didn't want to wait to see if the rain would stop so that we could go out on the lake.

Since neither Michelle, Casey, nor I had ever been to Bear Lake, we were determined to make it to the shore. We stopped near the stake campsite to view the lake. Not knowing that we could've accessed the beach much easier down the road, we three girls started trudging through the mud and river reeds to get to the water. Nic hollered at us after we had already gone halfway to tell us there was an easier way. However, we were committed (and no longer foreign to getting our pants soaked and muddy). We enjoyed the little bit of the lake we got to experience.


Although different than I ever would've imagined, my adventure at Bear Lake was wonderful...wonderfully memorable. I can't wait until next time when I can enjoy it like any normal person would.

Yippee!

I finally won something! Yay!



No. I didn't win a boy. But this kid right here has this absolutely amazing sister (who I've never met). One day when he was bumming my internet, he showed me her blog. I've read it ever since.
She's lovely. Very lovely.
She had a drawing for a 20,000 hits giveaway. She was offering jewelry as her prize. One of the ways that you could win was to be the one to comment the most. Well, it was no small task, but I took a half hour and proved that I can be crazy dedicated to a single task (hence the reason why I didn't sleep much in college). About 100 comments later, I blew the competition out of the water.
Go check out her blog. She does amazing things for the world. And I mean the world. Check out some of the cool things she's done for Mothers Without Borders by clicking here and here. She is also dedicated to service on the homefront as well setting up another blog to share service opportunities in Utah. She says that she has the ultimate project coming up soon. I can't wait find out what it is and assist if I can.
She promised me some jewelry. I don't know if it can beat the bounteous amount that her brother and Josh gave me for my birthday last year, but I'm sure it will come close.

1 of 7 deadly sins

I'd do whatever it takes to get a much envied Snuggie (short of actually buying one for myself), even if that means reading with a child.
Does anyone have a kid I can read with so that I can enter this drawing?
(Can you find and click on the three magic hyperlinks?)
If I win the Disney vacation and you win the Snuggie, I'll trade you.

A dream is a wish your heart makes

I hope that Cinderella wasn't right. I have strange dreams all the time.

I'm still at the dorms for a few weeks. I noticed yesterday that there were still several bikes left in the bike rack. I wondered what the housing director would do with all those bikes.
I dreamed last night that he clipped all the locks and gave the bikes away. I was so frustrated, since one of the bikes was mine, that I stormed into his office and yelled at him until I cried.
I just sent him an email (in real life) requesting that he save me the embarrassment and realize that one of those bikes is mine and not to give them away just yet.

And the night before (Saturday to Sunday), I had a dream that I was playing the organ for church services. My voice was hoarse from being so jubilant and silly on graduation night, so I couldn't sing while I played. I noticed that no one else was singing, either. I was so saddened that I started to cry. I couldn't be consoled. (If you know me, then this would be no surprise. Okay, maybe the crying would be a surprise, but the fact that I was so upset that no one was singing shouldn't surprise you. I love nothing more than the singing of the hymns.) Then some young man had the audacity to add to my grief by blaming me for playing poorly.
It was an awful dream.

I don't know why I've had two frustrating dreams the last couple nights. Maybe it's due to the fact that my family and I went to Outback Steakhouse on Saturday night. I used to have frustrating and stressful dreams all the time when I worked there. Serving in a busy restaurant is very stressful work. If you don't believe me, try playing Diner Dash.

Random post is now ending.

I'll take math

I just finished my last solo week of student teaching. Whew! Finally.
I asked my mentor teacher before I left today how she wanted to split up the day on Monday since we are transitioning back to tandem teaching. She had started a science testing preparation activity and wanted to finish that. Since she had it all prepared, she took that one right off the bat. She sat there in silence for 5-6 seconds. Finally, she said that I should definitely take math and that we would tandem teach literacy.
A huge grin covered my face as I tried to accept the math responsibility without laughing. I told her I'd be glad to take math, since they are going to be taking a test. I couldn't hold back anymore. I erupted in laughter! Bwahahahaha! I think that's the hardest I've laughed out loud in a long time.

Rot in prison, Paul

I'll admit it. I'm fishing for comments on this one.
I've been meaning to post this picture for quite some time. It was one of the funniest parts of my Christmas quick trip to Florida. We got gas and dinner at a truck stop in Mississippi just outside of Jackson. My sister found this little gem on the wall of her bathroom stall. I snapped the photo with my mother's cell phone. Cell service was inconsistent in the area, so I couldn't send out the picture right away. I did send texts to a few of my funnier friends and asked them to Google Paul's name in Mississippi to find out if he ever did get booked in jail and promised them they'd find out why later. Google didn't bring back any good results. Once I regained cell service, I sent them the picture. I asked them the same question I now ask you:
What did Paul do to tick off Wanda?
Why would Wanda want him to rot in jail?
Tell me more about Paul and Wanda. It must've been pretty serious for her to include last names. Please be as clever and creative as possible. Tell your friends to join in on the fun. Feel free to repost this as long I you let me know, so I can read the clever responses on your blog.

Times is hard, times is hard

This economy is rough on everyone. When times get tough, people get desperate. Dancers start taking any job available. Watch the musical performance at the end of last night's Colbert Report.

I'm sure those dancers are classically trained Juliard graduates, and this is their only option for work these days.
Didn't get enough? Watch more on youtube.

On this day of Valentine

I was scheduled for rounds on Valentine's Day. I made sure the boy who I was rounding with knew that it was Valentine's Day and that I expected flowers and chocolates. He then suggested we have candlelit rounds. We even got it approved by the Resident Manager.
I decided that I couldn't expect all that from him if I wasn't willing to do something as well. I wrote him this poem and regifted a box of chocolates a fifth grader had given me.

Dustin oh Dustin
You are so incredibly kind.
I cannot imagine
A more perfect Valentine.

When I saw that we were scheduled
My heart skipped a beat.
An evening spent with Dustin
Is always such a treat.

A romantic moonlit stroll
As we round past every door.
Great conversation and some laughs--
I could not ask for more.

We reach a door and you pause
Just two hims and not a her.
I'm always so impressed.
You are such a great listener.

We are forced to stay up late,
But I see each minute a treasure.
Any time spent with you
Is always my pleasure.

I sometimes pray we have a problem
So we have no other resort
Than to spend ten more minutes together
Filling out an incident report.

Dustin, oh, Dustin
I hope that you'll be mine
As we round the dorms together
On this day of Valentine.



He loved the poem.
Alas, he showed up empty handed. Men.

If I had one wish, then it would be

...a Snuggie and a booklight for you and me.

I still remember the first time I saw a commercial for a Snuggie. I was at my parent's house. I couldn't wait to see it a second time. After my third viewing, I had uncontrollable envy. I wanted a Snuggie. I wanted one really bad. I told everyone that a Snuggie was on the top of my Christmas list. The best part was that it was a gift that would give back. For $19.95, this gift giver could get a Snuggie for me and keep one for himself. Better yet, two other lucky souls could receive the included free booklights. Who would pass up a deal like that?

Everyone.

That's right. No one got me a Snuggie for Christmas. Fortunately, I was in Florida for Christmas, so my disappointment was hard to dwell on.

Well, I'm not the only American with Snuggie dreams. Check out this article in the USA Today.
That's right. Four million Snuggies sold to date. View these Americans sporting their Snuggies on Flikr.

There are over 300 YouTube videos about Snuggies. This is one of my favorites.



The moral of the story is that I still want one. I would be so popular, and I feel like all my wildest dreams will come true. Graduation is coming up in May. Order one for me today!
(You can pick the color. I'd be happy with any one of the three options.)

I'm in love

...with a new website.

alphaDictionary

Our first date was the link to an article originally printed in The New Yorker. How I Met My Wife caused this geeky girl the giddiness to commit to a serious relationship. We've been together ever since.

Thanks, Amy, for introducing us.

Wake me up before you go go

I've been using my cell phone as my alarm this since summer. I found toward the end of this last semester that I'd had enough. The limited number of ring tones that came with my most recent phone were incredibly annoying and even caused some anxiety. I didn't want to start my day out that way anymore. I decided to go back to what had worked for years and years prior: an inexpensive alarm clock. I picked one up the next time I was at Target.
The first night I used it, I set my cell phone alarm just in case. I wondered which would be more effective at waking me up.

(Not actual alarm clock purchased, but it would've been had it been available.)

Which was more effective? Neither.
What did get me up and out of bed? The unignorable and unsuppressable (two words that I'm not sure exist) urge to urinate. Now if I could only figure out how to make that happen every morning, I'd never be late for anything again.

Through the years

I chanced upon these great family photos when I was cleaning the attic and couldn't help sharing.

My have the styles changed.



Click here to have the most fun you've had in a long time.

Cupid

He hates his job.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Misspellings are my favorite

Call me a geek, but I love this kind of stuff. My older sister called me last night. In between guffaws, she asked me how to spell shoulder.
She told me that I needed to get down the Exit 10 and take a picture of the flasher. She knows how much I love this stuff.
Much like the time I ran through snow on the side of the freeway, I didn't think twice about standing in the road to snap this picture. I'll cherish this photo for quite some time!

Here she comes...

My parents set up a play date on Saturday. There's a new family in the ward. They have a son who is single. His parents and my mother have talked about setting Casey up with him.
Well, they set up a picnic in Zion on Saturday. The new couple brought their son, and my parents brought their two single daughters. Talk about old-fashioned.
Despite the potential awkwardness of this meeting, Casey and I had a lot of fun in Zion. While we were sitting across from one another at the picnic table, I took a picture of her. I then divulged my secret goal which was to take at least 27 pictures of her that day. I'm calling the album 27 Pictures: Zion National Park. You can see the album on Facebook, and I'll post them on here later.
In the mean time, I will share my favorite picture. Our first stop in the park was at Weeping Rock. On the trail upwards, I stopped at every informative sign and read them out loud until Casey and Adam (the boy) got sick of it and asked me to stop.
On the way back down, one sign caught Casey's eye. It was in front of a tree. Casey hollered up to me, "Doesn't this one sound like an insult?"
'Here she comes...Bigtooth Maple!'
I laughed at that so many times that afternoon. I'm laughing at it right now as I view the picture beside this text.
Casey is so ridiculously funny!
Thanks, Maple, for a delightsome afternoon. You are the bestest little sister a girl like me could ever hope for.

Soon to reign as favorite child once again

How to tell if you are mom's favorite.
(By the way, my mom is the one that showed me this picture. She said she thought about leaving it on my apartment door anonymously. That would've crushed my world for sure.)

I used to be the favorite child. I held that place in my parents' heart for years and years and years. I knew it and my siblings knew it. I used to be the favorite child until recently.
My older sister got married this year. She is the first child to get married and therefore the closest to providing my mother with her ultimate dream: a grandbaby. I anticipated a temporary shift of power, but I knew that if my sister didn't present a positive pregnancy test fast enough, my mother's hopes would be dashed. I could easily regain all the power and maintain my position as favorite.
Just as things seemed to be heading back to normal, meaning the wedding luster was tarnishing with the absence of baby news, it was time for my little sister to come home from her mission. My brother, the oldest, said the hardest thing about his transition after his mission was not having a room in his parents' house. He got his mission call while living in Florida during the (very extended) process of my family moving to Utah. He came with my mother and sister to complete the move to Utah just weeks before he entered the MTC. We also moved a couple times within the city limits while he was gone. When he got home, his stuff was in boxes in random locations and he didn't have a room to call his own. He didn't want the same thing to happen to our sister.
I had moved home for what was supposed to be short-lived, so I wouldn't have to pay rent while I went on a 5-week vacation to Peru. I didn't move out right away, because I was sick and then it was Christmas. After that it was impossible for me to leave, because I was too well liked.
In the mean time, my brother had moved back home as well. He couldn't help it. He wanted to spend more time with me.
My brother had taken my little sister's room. As my sister's return was fast approaching, it was evident that he wasn't going anywhere. I decided to leave so my brother could take my spot and free up my sister's room. I knew my mother would be sad, so I left in the night. My mother didn't figure it out for two days. That should have been a sign.
My little sister returned home and (rightfully) stole a lot of attention. I anticipated that. She was the youngest and had been gone for 18 months.
What I didn't realize was how much attention was taken from me until I got a call one night at 11pm from my little sister's friend, Jared. He asked why I wasn't partying with the family at my folks' house. My older sister and her husband were there. My brother even stuck around to hang out. Jared had been invited and was the only one to wonder where I was. My mother probably counted more bodies than she birthed and assumed we were all there. I had been forgotten! *Sigh*
These last months have been very difficult. I don't understand how this happened. I was on top! I never anticipated this day. I wasn't at all prepared. I don't understand these feelings; I've never felt them before. I'm not sure how to cope. Maybe I'll ask my siblings how they dealt with being less favored. Or better yet, I'll just make my way back to the top. I'll use my charm and wit to win my parents over once again. I've got what it takes. I'll reign again as favorite soon enough. And when I do, I'll go easy on my brother and sisters. I now know the pain that comes with being less favored.