Les's Blog

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2011-06-21T22:05:00.001-06:00

So After a year and a half in a foreign Country I have finally set foot on American Soil and let me just say that I am full of confusing emotions. Don't get me Wrong I love to be home But sometimes I find myself Yearning for Costa Rica and the people there. I'm sure that all Return Missionaries go through this awful state but it's different to hear about it and then actually experience it. I Don't exactly know what to do with myself. I have a weird sensation of being lost all the time now, like I should be doing something but I'm not sure quite what it is. oh well, I'm sure that it will wear off and I will get use to being a normal person again. So, also I find it hard to concentrate on any one thing for more than a few minutes so this blog will mostly be pictures because I have a short attention span (I'm sure that that too will go away soon, hopefully because it's really frustrating)

Bubbles bubbles bubbles!

Impromptu Yoga Class

Suck it in girls those wraps are mighty fattenin'

CR dresses

Raggamuffin

um yum

Lil sure enjoyed that mousse

"Thanks mom" she says as she pats her pleasingly plump tummy and heads of for a dip in the pool

Hey morg whatcha doin' upthere

NOOOOOO! I don't wanna go Home!!

As for me and my horse we will serve the Lord

2010-09-13T20:43:00.000-06:00

Okay so it´s not my horse but it lives nearby.

This week has been a lot better than the last few fruitless weeks. We have investigators with baptismal dates and we are praying that they will complete with their goals. It is already halfway through september and we are getting anxious for some baptisms.
Apart from that here are some pictures of my life.

If you look closely you will see a sad-faced kitty in my slingshot. a recent convert made me and H. Hunsaker slingshots and taught us how to shoot them.

Poor Elder Lopez got egged and floured on his birthday.

This bug is the reason they filmed Jarassic Park in Costa Rica. You can´t really tell from the photo but this Dragon Fly is about the size of my arm.

My friend waving hello (seriously)

I just liked the colors of this Iguana

Well here´s some fuana at least. There´s not enough of that around here.

The 50 foot Jesus Statue that looks over the city. Might I add that it was a very strenuous hike to get up to him.

Notice anything in this river? maybe a 20 foot python? gross.

This is a blue morph butterfly they are from Costa Rica and can be sold in the USA for a lot of money

So also this week we went to the temple, always a good experience. It is very interesting to go through the temple in spanish. To get to the temple we had to wake up at 3 in the morning and take a little shuttle (ps I just spelled that word wrong with an i instead of a u. My comp. had to tell me to correct it as it would be inappropriate to say that word. It cracked me up though if you read the whole sentence.

This animal is a mix between a bear and a dog and has a really loud squeek. They like to eat fruit.

Anyway, not sure where I´m typing this but it will end up somewhere. Those are some of my adventures here. And still the Gospel is Preached fighting off weird creatures and all sorts of strange animals. The Gospel is true Sigue adelante. I love you all so very much and can´t wait to see you all. 9 months is going to go by in a breath of a breeze. Anyway, love you and PURA VIDA A TODOS! P.s. don´t mind the spelling errors I don´t have spell check and you all know I don´t function without it.

Costa Rica

2010-08-03T13:41:00.000-06:00

So this week I thought I`d jazz it up a little and blog instead of write an email. This week we recieved a contact of a family of 8 and we are hoping that things go really well with them. The work in Costa Rica is hard compared to the other central american countries. Where in Panama and Nicaragua, for example, the baptismal goal for the month is 8 or 10 our highest goal is 4 and that is a really High goal. On average a companionship will get one or two baptisms in a month and feel like they did a pretty good job. When one has more than that they feel super blessed. I´ve realized that I use the word super more than I used to when back home and that is because it is a spanglish word that people use here like we use the word like. Everyone and their dog says super.
This week we found a strange couple and taught them. She was from the United States and He was from Costa Rica, she didn´t speak or understand spanish and he only spoke a little english but he understood english pretty well. She told us as a greeting ¨I am not going to ever be a Mormon but you can practise your lesson on me if you want to¨ she then proceeded to tell her partner in really slow english about the mormons and what we believe. Most of it was pretty factual but I could tell that she had heard a lot of gossip about those ¨strange mormons¨. We taught them in Spanglish which really was wierd we would say one thing in spanish and the next in English and it went that way for about an hour. We taught mostly in spanish because he was more interested than she was.
Anyway the work is going on a little slowly but surely here are a bunch of pictures of my adventures in CR they say a picture is a thousand words so this is the longest letter I´ve ever sent.
Love you all so much thank you for your support you don´t know how much it means to me.

So a little explination about these photos
1 The Dominical Beach probably my favorite place in Costa Rica so far
2 The Nauyaka Waterfalls very pretty and a 2 hour HIKE to and back from them(yes I was really tired the next day)
3 Weird bug bites
4 I colored my desk when my Companion was sick (one can only read the book of mormon for so long)
5 my cook in San Carlos
6 Our recent convert
Okay so that may not exactly be in order but you get the idea
love you all so much
love les
PS don´t mind the spelling this computer doesn´t have english spell check and you all know that I don´t know how to spell so...

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

We had the most amazing snow storm last week. There was at least 12 inches of snow. But what was really amazing is that it has been so stinking cold the snow has barely melted at all. Almost every day for the last week we have had freezing fog. Our trees are frosty and glittery it really is like a fairy land.

So the trail in the picture was made by Sox she won't walk in the grass anywhere but there. Silly Kitties. Jenny and Schauerhamer #2 wins the Blogger points.

So along with Jenny's food list I think we should add somewhere in there probably on Monday or Tuesday after Christmas a Fry Fest and the Missionary Dinner (Everyone makes something from their mission, or if you didn't go on a mission make your favorite food.)

I have been making a list of all the things that I want to do over the Christmas break most of them are games that I want to play, anyway, here it is.

1. major game of DOOM so everyone needs to bring their laptops
2. Card games: Pit, Pinocle, Hearts, Diminishing bridge, Scum, Cheat...
3. Body, Body
4. Fruit basket
5 The chair game where everyone tries to keep one person from sitting down
6. Add on story writing
7 Ice skating, tubing, snowball fight
8 Pass the sign game
9 Bladderdash- as Banner calls it
10 Name games
11. Board games: Masterpiece, Clue, Cranium...
I can't think anymore. So If you have any games you want to play over the break list them.

I think that's all. I'm so excited to be with everyone for Christmas. P.S. Shelley can you bring some pickled green beans down if you have any. I love those things.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-12-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

This is probably going to be my last post for quite some time so I have to get a lot into it. First and

foremost My Mission Farewell is December 27th at 1:00pm in the Orangeville 1st ward chapel. We are singing Gesu Bambino there is an adult part and a kid part so everyone who wants to will be singing. I have completed almost all of my shopping and am packing my bags, I'm ready to be off. My mom has just one more skirt to sew and then she's done for a while. I'm sure she is relieved. I have been doing project after project and I can finally glimpse the end of the line of craftings. I went out with my mom the the pageant sight and trimmed some trees for decoration. They were so dry I decided to put them in the bathtub to soak overnight. It looked like I had an entire tree in my tub. Meanwhile in the opposite direction I dried some oranges in Grandpa's fruit dryer and threaded them with red ribbon. In the morning I wired the tree branches together, hung the orange decorations on them and hung them up in the entree hallway. They turned out really cute. P.S. Wiring trees branches together is no easy bake oven let me tell you. My next project was a gingerbread house. It was so much fun to build and it took me about 3 days. Tenny came down and helped me melt my candy windows with a blowtorch I think she had a little too much fun with that. Then the next day I started placing all the candy on it. I got through about three movies during this process. I made a nut tree and a little train and a pond. The last thing I did was make spun sugar trees. This was the most fun thing to do by far. For those of you who haven't spun sugar let me tell you the process. I laid down parchment paper and melted the sugar 'til it dripped smoothly from the spoon and then I hurried and placed the pot in cold water to stop the heating process. I had two forks rubberbanded together their tines facing out and a wooden rolling pin. To spin it you dip the forks in the sugar and flick it really fast back and forth over the rolling pin. the faster you flick the finer the sugar strands. So I was in the kitchen flicking melted sugar like a mad woman. Once you have lots of tiny strands you softly pull them off the rolling pin and wad them into a ball. There was one point when the sugar strands were hooked one end to the front of my shirt and the middle to the rolling pin and the other end to the bottom of the plate cupboard. It looked like I had acupunctured my stomach. It was so much fun to do. My other projects are Christmas presents so I won't tell you about them right now you'll see in a couple weeks what they are.We have started "the treat list" of things that we are making for christmas so I guess that that is my next project. We've already made caramels and salsa, lovely combination, and we're slowly checking our way down the list. let's just say that no one will be loosing weight over the Christmas break. I can't wait for all of you to come down for Christmas I am so excited to be all together. I feel like I am forgetting something. I guess if I remember I'll just do another post.

10 Blogger points to anyone who can guess what made the dent in the grass.

I love Food!

2009-11-09T18:53:00.004-07:00

First off, I had a dream that the entire family sang the Hallelujah Chorus at my farewell, and when you guys were done the congregation got up and applauded you so that is why this music is on my blog.
I have been experimenting with new foods. In a magazine that I have been getting recently there are some beautiful delicious meals that I have wanted to try. So, after stake conference the girls and I made an "English" meal. We had 4 courses. Banner and I set up the dining room with all sorts of dishes that we rarely use. It started with some homemade mushroom bisque and then a lovely little salad. After that we had a main course of Beef wellington, Potatoes and Veggies and Yorkshire Pudding. The Beef wellington had a really good flavor which I suppose was kept in by the pastry wrapped around it but, even though they turned out really pretty and tasty I think we all agreed that the breading was a little much. After all that we had individual traditional Trifles. AND THEN we all had to take a ceremonial nap. Actually we had to lay down to create more room in our stomaches or risk implosion. It was worth it though. This last week I made a cornucopia which was really cute. However, the it did involve the de-feathering of a bird. I asked Whit to get me some Pheasant feathers not knowing that Jim would have to rip the entire behind off the poor little bird. I guess that the bird is now safe from the hunt. Unfortunately my mom can't look at my cornucopia because it makes her cringe.

I have been trying to eat a lot of veggies and try to put them in every meal. And I just thought that I would share one of my Favorite creations.

Les's Grilled Veggie Sandwich

1pkg fresh mushrooms
2 medium zucchini
1 Yellow bell Pepper
1/2 red onion
1 Lrg. tomato
1 Avocado
1 pkg. Ciabatta rolls
A few slices of Mozzarella
1/3 cup ranch dressing
1 1/2 Tbs. pesto

Slice the vegetables in thin slices so you can layer them easily on a sandwich. Saute mushrooms with a little oil and garlic. Grill all the rest of the vegetables except for tomatoes and avocadoes. While the vegetables are grilling mix the pesto and ranch and set aside. Open the Ciabatta rolls and lay cheese on one side and broil in the oven for 2ish minutes. Put some of the pesto dressing on the Ciabatta and then layer you grilled Veg., mushrooms, and tomatoes and enjoy.
You can add a little grilled chicken to the meal but that just adds weight watcher points. It's better without the chicken, but if you feel that life just wouldn't go on if you were deprived of your meat then put it on. ( I had a slight confrontation with one such carnivore so I thought I better put in the notes that if you are offended by just vegetables please feel free to add a little chicky to the recipe.)

And Guess where...

P.S. Tenny & Banner the second song on the blog is for you

oh yeah

2009-10-27T22:36:00.000-06:00

I meant to put this on my last post but somehow it didn't get there so... here is the kicker

Happy Halloween

2009-10-24T18:25:00.002-06:00

About a month ago my mom commissioned me to paint her little china cupboard like a Mary Engelbreit book. Two seasons of smallville later this was the result.

Today was cleaning/craft day/ decorating. Banner came down last night and made wreaths with me. they turned out really cute. This morning I decorated with our latest craftiness. Later in the afternoon Tenny and I tackled the scary basement room. I'm pretty sure we were harboring mice this last year. As we went through things we kept finding evidence of our little friends. It was confirmed however, when I found that the Indian corn that we set out for Halloween was nibbled on. Some of the ears were completely empty. While we were down there we also came across the Halloween costumes, and you Tenny, any Photo opportunity... well, lets just say that at one point she was going to be a pioneer cavewoman impersonating Elvis. While we spent a lovely few hours buried in camping gear and Christmas decorations my mom made four batches of rolls, two dozen cinnamon rolls, one dozen orange rolls and the rest just regular rolls. She got "Super Pumped" for baking after she watched the Lion House Bakery CD that came with her new cook book. She sent most of them over to the Sharp Family though. Good thing I think all I had to eat today was BREAD in some form. I feel like Paul in Trust in Thelma's way. This is what it must have felt like being baked into a loaf of bread.

RANDOM PICs

This is when Tenny And I were "cleaning" up the apples. More like we were having a flinging competition to see who could fling them furthest into Richard's yard

And this is... Guess

News Worthy...literally

2009-10-21T17:44:00.000-06:00

So today was Hectic in the extreme. There was a double Homicide in Castle Dale. Guess where? The next door neighbors of Sharon Smith, My boss. So I went to work as usual this morning at 9:00 and everything seemed normal. Then the phone calls started. (Who knew that everyone in Emery County had a scanner so they would be able to be the first ones up on gossip??) well I soon found out that Sharon's neighbor (the only neighbors in that area) had had a major blow up. Apparently the son (whit's age) got in a fist fight with his father in front of 4 of his siblings ages 8-15 the son then left the house and returned with a shot gun and shot his father in the face in the bedroom and then went to the kitchen and shot his mother. His fifteen year old sister then wrestled the gun away and he ran off. So at 9:00 about 3 minutes after he shot his parents and ran out of the house I show up to work. A few minutes later about 12 assorted government vehicles showed up, lights on and sirens whining. Oblivious to what is happening next door I am bombarded by the phone calls of the obsessive scanner listeners wondering if I heard gun shots and if I had seen anything on and on, over and over I answered the same questions. Ironically the people calling me had more information than I did seeing as I was the ONLY ONE on the block who was home during the shooting. Yes, Both Sharon and Tom had left me at the office for the day. So there I was at the office getting calls that my neighbor was a homicidal maniac and that they hadn't found him yet.! It was not good for my peace of mind. At about noon the news vans started showing up. When I got back from lunch I was jumped on by KSL, ABC, FOX and an assortment of local paper people asking me for interviews. I answered their questions as best I could but told them that I didn't want to be put on the evening news. And to top it all off the Jehovah's witnesses came to give me a message! I told them I was in the middle of a Homicide investigation and now was not a good time. (As if they couldn't tell by the 24 police cars and news vans blocking the street.) Anyway that is how my day went today. Hopefully tomorrow won't be this trying.

Important information!

2009-10-04T18:21:00.000-06:00

OK for quick delivery on the info. I am going through the Temple on October 17th. It's the same day Jonas is getting Baptized and I thought that this would be the most convenient for everyone. We all need to be in the Bountiful Temple Chapel at 5:00 pm. If there are any questions or things that I forgot to let you know about let me know. I'll try any get you all called before so I know you all got the information.

Newest News

2009-09-15T17:29:00.003-06:00

So much has happened since I last posted. First and foremost I have a job. I work for Target Pest Control, I'm a secretary and I sit in an office with Sharon Smith and input invoices into a computer. Let's just say I've learned a lot about insects and pests, more than I ever wanted to know. My second not so serious job is doing major projects for my mom. Right now I'm painting a little china cupboard. But for the last few weeks my mom and the girls and I have been doing some major remodeling/ deep cleaning of the house. We switched sides in my mom's room so now we have more space to party with the new TV and Wii. And I finally got fed up with my dangerous shower doors and ripped them down!

We have also started our smallville marathon. That's going really well. Last weekend I dragged the girls to the temple to teach the primary kids about the baptismal font. Real thrill. The flowers were beautiful though. My mom and I have joined an aqua-size/lap swim class at the new pool. It is actually a lot of fun. Only a few people are in the class so it is very enjoyable. It feels like we have the pool to ourselves most of the time.

"Also mainly" I'm thinking of going through the temple in October the weekend Jonas gets baptized so everyone won't have to make more than one trip. I have to make some calls but I will let everyone know all the details soon.

Helping Hands from Labyrinth

2009-08-24T12:14:00.004-06:00

Last night we were having some fun with Photo Booth and decided to do the Helping Hands from Labyrinth, and some other photos.

Tea party

2009-08-23T19:46:00.008-06:00

This afternoon the Fauverettes came over after the Temple dedication for a little tea party. The food was delicious as always and the set up was quite charming. I started snapping some shots and needless to say I got some good "smotos".

This one is my personal favorite. I laughed so hard I was crying. It reminded me of Igor from Young Frankenstein.

And some more comparisons...

Tenny is one photogenic babe.

COSTA RICA

2009-08-21T00:21:00.004-06:00

Well most of you know that I got my mission call and am going to Costa Rica! YAY. Sara kept telling me I would be called somewhere I'd never even thought of. Too true. Even though I had to open my call behind Shelley's garage (because I was too nervous to do it in front of anyone) I'm glad that almost all of my family was there. The memory of walking in a dazed stupor towards the huddled group in Shelley's front yard, all of your expectant faces turned towards me, will be branded in my brain forever. Thank you all for being SUCH A SUPPORT;-}

PS 5 blog points if you can guess what this music is from without looking.

READY, SET, GO!

2009-07-28T21:09:00.003-06:00

I had my Bishop's Interview today which means all I have left to do is get an interview with my Stake President and he will turn all of my papers over to the Church and then I'll wait... and wait.I don't care where I go I'm just excited to go. I am moving home next week and Whit is taking my apartment which is convenient for both of us. I didn't have the intention of moving home quite so soon but considering all the dentist appointments I will be going through I thought that it was wisest.

Also, I have started Morgan's Jorgensen's Biggest Looser Blog which should be very helpful in my plight.

This weekend Mo and I went to Moab and through Arches. It was beautiful down there and although it was blasted hot it was a really fun mini vacation. We Hiked to delicate arch the first night and the next morning we drove up the colorado river highway which was voted the second most scenic highway in the world. After that we drove through arches and then went on a hike to mill creek which is the picture of the guys jumping of cliffs into the waterfall pond. We also stopped in Castle Dale for my Mom's Birthday which turned out to be another gluttonous affair. BBQ ribs up the wazoo and alfredo that would make Lance Armstrong go into cardiac arrest. We finished the meal with a good old pound cake that is aptly named (not for it's weight but the weight it puts on you). And on to the Biggest Looser Contest we go!

Update!

2009-07-14T19:27:00.003-06:00

Well I went to Castle Dale this weekend for Dentist and Doctor's appointments. In less than 2 days I have had 11 shots and had my blood drawn. The last time anyone ever poked me with a needle was when I was probably 10 and my mom decided that I needed the flu shot. contrary to what you may believe lizzy is ruthless when it comes to vaccinating someone. Ben had to hold me down. I remember this vividly mom! Anyway, this time I was brave and got a sucker for my good behavior. Why do doctors think that suckers and a cool band-aid are a panacea? The thing that freaked me out the most though was the typhus shot. Let me just tell you that I felt like James Bond when they had to inject a tracker into his arm. Very freaky to see something under your skin like that.

I almost had a setback with the dentist. He doesn't want me to go unless ALL of my dental work is complete so let's just say that after some brief tears and some considerable thinking I will be going through a rash of dental appointments that will put me in the Guinness book of records. And by the end of it I will have twinkling teeth just like the Great Leslie.

The funniest things happen in Castle Dale. We were listening to a little Michael Jackson in the kitchen and my mom decided that she wanted to learn how to moonwalk. I tried to get this on video but all the cameras were dead. So just imagine lizzy thighs clenched for balance trying to moonwalk across the kitchen floor. Then she went to look up a moonwalk tutorial on youtube. About the 3rd time watching it she comes back into the kitchen where tenny is trying to moonwalk and says, " I didn't know that you had to move backwards! I thought that you moonwalked forward"

By the way if any of you want a discount at Apple you need to let me know because I will only be there for the next week and a half.

Fireworks

2009-07-05T12:12:00.003-06:00

Last night I went to Sugarhouse Park for the city fireworks. Blocks before we arrived at our destination I knew that we were headed for the biggest crowd of people I have ever been in in my life. It was like I would imagine the end of the world to be like. hundreds of thousands of people gathering in one place trying to find loved ones and unable to get cell phone service because EVERYONE is trying to use their phone at the same time. Every inch of the parks was covered with swarms of people. Like piles of sugar ants that you see sometimes on the sidewalk. It was a bit unnerving. We only ever found half of our group, and we had to be real friendly with our neighboring blankets but other than that I loved the Fireworks. They have always been somewhere in my top ten favorite things. How was the Family reunion? I wish I could have been there. Yesterday was the first time in my life that I have not been in CD for the fourth of July and I felt a little lost. I didn't know what to do with myself. I hope that everyone had a great Independence Day.

WINNER

2009-07-03T18:32:00.001-06:00

Congrats to Sara the only one who got all places correct.

Although everyone else was really close.

Happenings

2009-07-01T10:02:00.012-06:00

Not much has gone on in the past few weeks. I gave a talk on Sunday, then first talk I've given since I was probably 12. I was a little nervous but Now it's over and I can relax. I went to the chalk art festival and must say that people who can produce such art on such a medium are amazing. I have filled out most of my Mission papers and now only wait for my Doctor and Dentist appointments. Last Saturday I went to a Michael Jackson Wake which was more a joke on mormon funerals than anything. We had funeral potatoes and I painted Michael Jackson on a cake. I think that I should make it a profession, painting cakes, its such a fun thing to do. It was really entertaining and I wish that I had Photos but they are all on Mo's camera.

Sadly I won't be able to make it to the family reunion so take lots of pictures and put them on your blogs.

Now Let's play Name That Place:

Mission

2009-06-17T10:33:00.003-06:00

I am going on a mission! Yes, I have finally decided to pluck up the courage and go. I have spoken with my Bishop and have started my papers. I want to go as soon as possible. So that is all I really have to update. I'm sure that there will be more in the coming weeks.

I am very fond of making lists so this week I was coming up with a list of my top five favorite things which ended up in sublists and so forth. Here are a few of my favorite things.

It would be great if you all wanted to list you top five favorite's lists.

Top 5's

computer games

1. The curse of monkey island

2. Roller coaster tycoon

3. Doom

4. Wolfenstein

5. Kid's desk

Georgette Heyer books

1. Powder and Patch

2. Devil's cub

3. Arabella

4. Sylvester

5. Regency Buck

Things that make me happy

1. Lightning, rain/ Nature in general

2. Fireworks

3. Holidays/Vacations with the

family

4. Warm day, cool pool and a good book

5. Good conversations with people I love

Favorite Movie Quotes

1. "Pause, Reflect!"-Jane Eyre

2. "Fiddle dee dee", "Good-bye you great Leslie y

ou. I hope you win, I hope you win" - The Great Race

3. " And to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading" -Pride and Prejudice

4. "When they made George Kimball they

thew away the book", "The kids'll love it, It's a real thrill." -Send me no flowers

5. "What's the matter with these scissors?!"-Hercules

Favorite family trips

1. Idaho trips- Thanksgiving, Beckler meadows,

Morgan's wedding

2. Smoky van Coeur d'Alene/ Barf mobile

3. Shakespeare trips

4. Washington DC

5. Nauvoo sweat lodge

Places I want to go

1. Europe- ALL of it

2. Lake Como/ Bora bora

3. Egypt

4. Petra

5. Victoria waterfalls

There are many other fav five, But It is a long exhausting list. And all of these lists are really much longer, it's hard to limit to five. So let's here what your favorites are.

Goofy Pictures

2009-05-28T10:48:00.008-06:00

Now I know that the last time I did this people were offended and I got a little tongue lashing but I believe that these pictures are worth it. I would have put a picture of myself in to show that I am not trying to be mean but, I have no photos of myself on my camera. So feel free to add your own bad photos. Notice that one other person is missing from the pictures. I decided that Lizzy has a tender soul and cannot bring herself to laugh at others. Therefore, I will not bring her into this. Plus, she was the one who gave me the tongue lashing and I don't care to go through that again.

This is my favorite goofy picture. Shelley is watching me and Sara while we are waiting for our lunch.

This is josh laughing so hard he began to cough. I know that he didn't want this picture posted but it was so funny I had to include it in my goofy picture blog.

This was a group picture but I cropped it for full effect.

My dad doesn't like his picture taken so he either is making a funny face or has his eyes closed in almost all of my pictures of him.

Noah was doing an impression of Donald Trump.

Now Please have a sense of humor here. I just thought they were funny and I don't want to offend anyone.

"I cannot live without books"-thomas jefferson

2009-05-20T17:33:00.009-06:00

OK. I am utterly exhausted from our exertions of this one day. We woke up at 6 o'clock DC time (4 o'clock Utah) so that we could make it to our first tour of the day. We had a crappy motel so we made a mad dash across the street to a nicer hotel (with all of our luggage, at rush hour scary) I'm sure that Shelley will tell you all about that though. Anyway, Our first tour was the library of congress. Every book, movie, cartoon etc. WHATEVER you want is at the library of congress or within easy access. If you want your work copywrited you have to submit a copy to the library of congress. So you can imagine all the works that they have there. From there we went to the supreme court. The pictures are backwards so start from the bottom and go up. I started to describe the buildings but then realized that I started every description with, "It's the big tall white one with columns and stone carvings/statues." Not helpful sorry. The Supreme court is the one where we are sitting by the columns. (shelley is particularly impressed with the SC as you can tell in the picture of her by the column). from there we went to the Botanic Gardens my mom calls them botanical and my dad was not happy that we were in DC looking at plants. (that is where I snapped the lovely picture of sara with a leaf in her face. still cracks me up) Sara will have the pictures of those on her blog. From there we proceeded to lunch with our congress. the building was packed full of people in suits who were willing to pay horrendous amounts for a simple meal. However, we were starving so we did what we had to. We then walked across the street to the Capitol of our Nation and our next tour. Sara will also write about that. Our next destination was the National gallery of art. Let me just say that at this point we were flagging and we only got through half of the west wing before Lizzy collapsed on a couch and refused to go any further. We left her there with dad and the bags so we could at least get through the last 5 points of interest. One of these being shelley posing as a statue and josh showing the beautiful works of monet. We staggered to the Metro to try to comprehend the mess that is the public transportation in DC. we made it to the Union Station before we gave up to rest our tired legs. after a brief respite we got up most of us limping and gimping our way to the train. (we looked like a herd of grandpas playing it up for the greatest dramatic effect.) We made it to our NEW hotel even though it seemed as if we couldn't even make it across the street with a walker let alone half way across town. After josh had a slight skirmish with the desk clerk about the "hottub" (a utah word apparently) we made it to our room and ordered some great Chineese delivery. That is the sumation of our day and I look forward to the rest of the week. More pics and adventures to come I'm sure!

Friday Night

2009-05-15T20:04:00.006-06:00

Well this week has been full of fun and entertaining moments provided mostly by Banner and Tennyson. "From all that I can collect by your manner of talking, you must be two of the silliest girls in the country. I have suspected it some time, but I am now convinced...[I] think our two youngest daughters uncommonly foolish.'' I thought that qoute from pride and prejudice very apropos to those two. However, nothing could top our friday night of fun. If you are thinnking to yourself..."hmmm I bet that they watched Riverdance" then You would be right. If you have never had the experience of watching Riverdance with Tennyson, Banner and Dennis then you have not had a true Riverdance experience. Anyway, there was no seriousness to the event. I usually like to watch riverdance with an analytic frame of mind. But, what with all the "Fluffy" shirt and tight pants comments it was very difficult to take the movie seriously. I happen to like Lathario's tight pants thank you very much it goes well with the golden mullet. I wish that he would wink at me;-) Later we tried to do Tenny's hair like the girl who sings lets just say that it turned out well. the second picture is my favorite.

I laughed so hard I was crying. The video isn't the best quality i wish you could all have seen her in person.

HOLA

2009-05-06T11:04:00.002-06:00

Holy COW! This semester has dragged on like no other semester has. I just got done today with all of my papers. I am now a free woman. What a relief. Two more days of work then I am off scott free for 3 weeks. In case you didn't know the apple store is closing for three weeks of remodel so I am going home for a very long vacation. I'm so glad that the break came at the same time the remodel is going on. What a coincidence. Nothing has really happened in my life besides school. So that is all I have to say until three weeks from today when I will have much more to report. Such as what Washington DC is like and also what my new classes are like and finally what my new job looks like. That is an exciting time to look forward to. I hope that you are all well and I'm excited to see most of you at some point in the next few weeks.

P.S. For those of you who have a mac and looooove photobooth as much as me here are some pictures that you might appreciate.

California

2009-03-23T14:11:00.005-06:00

It was a rude awakening to go from lazing about in the California sunshine and balmy beaches to homework in the harsh breezes and snowfall of Utah but it's only a few more weeks 'til Easter and I think that I can make it...hopefully. I had a really relaxing week in California we went to the beach a couple of times and we went to the San Diego Zoo but mostly we just wandered through orange groves and laid by the pool.

Apparently it is the fad to have purple flowers in your lawn. It is called ice plant and it is a very popular thing to have covering half your property. But, I have to admit it was very beautiful especially when combined with the bright orange poppies.

There were some amazing sunsets. Almost every night we would go out and watch the sun go down. It was even more amazing if there had been a fire earlier that day, which did tend to happen.

The Picture of the Seals was actually not at the Zoo. We went to a beach in San Diego called Seal Beach it is there natural habitat. It was very cool. The picture is of a mama seal who had just given birth. FYI seals smell like stinky wet dogs. gag.

Anyway, It was a real thrill.

Yo soy muy bien! A mi me gusta estudio en la Universidad..

2009-02-03T12:12:00.005-07:00

Well hello my familia y amigos. I have been way mucho busy this semester and haven't posted since before thanksgiving. However, I did have time to write a remix to an old favorite song you all know and love. here'goes "The life of a student is just nothing but work, the life of a student will just drive me berserk. The life of a student is a beau-ti-ful thing, when Hea-ven-ly Fa-ther pre-sents me some ne-cks to wring!" I sing that everyday when I get on the trax at 6:45 in the morning. So this semester I am talking 3 english classes, a service learning course and as you may have guessed spanish. Speaking of Service learning, I am so fortunate to personally know a certain teacher at Jordan who is letting me do my service with her. YAY it's so fun.

I am constantly bogged down with reading and writing but I guess that's what to expect from an English class. Right now

I am reading Gulliver's travels and am greatly enthralled. Next week we are reading Jane Eyre. Also I am writing a poem daily in my English 3400 class, and I am memorizing conjugations of verbs like nobodies business for my Spanish class. I feel like with the amount of time I put into my classes I should be the most fluent spanish poetry writer EVER! Also, I am starting up my choir again. Thankfully the Bishopric has realized the amount of work I was doing with being in charge of ALL of the music in every meeting and have finally gotten some people to support me in my calling. I'm still the chorister and ward

choir director but now I don't have to play for relief-society and they have called some girls to play the organ and the piano for the choir. We'll see how this turns out. We are starting to get our Easter songs together we are singing Consider the Lilies, Beautiful Savior, and This is the Christ. I have also made up my own Arrangement of Where Love is there God is also, which I am going to have my men sing this month in Sacrament meeting.ANYWAY, the real reason I decided to blog was this; I am trying to compile my favorite recipes and I need help. I know that you all make some of my favorite dishes and since there are so many of my favorites I can't remember them all. So here is what I want. I want each of you (I mean EVERYONE who is reading this) to LIST your:

top 5 favorite main dishes

top 5 Desserts

top 3 Other

and then write out completely 1-2 recipes of your choosing.

I do have some requests.

Shelly- lime melt aways

Jenny- cabbage rolls, and that fruit pie/pastry thing with cream cheese filling that you make at tea parties

Jim-egg casserole

Sara- Zucchini bread, Baclava(i don't know if this is your recipe, I just remember you making it.)

Stacy- Sweet and sour meatballs (you know I love 'em)

Josh- I think they are Swedish pancakes (they are like crepes)

Morgan- That salad with mustard poppy seed dressing

Adela- that chocolate thing you made at New Years

Mo- Those one Rolls. ya know?

These are all that I can think of right now but I know there are more. I'll think of some more later.

One last thing. Funny story actually. So, I work at the Apple store right? And so I get to learn some pretty cool things about computers on a daily basis. Well, Last week I learned a really good trick. I learned how to make computers talk. I was sitting at my computer at work and decided to have some fun. I programed my computer to make the other computers talk. So I would be sitting across the room typing in "Hello John" right as john walked by and the computer across the room from me would say "Hello John" in the VIKI voice from irobot. It was the funniest thing to see grown men freak out because the computer knew them. they

would look covertly around and then some of them would try to talk back to the computer. And it (I) would answer them. I can change the voices so it sounds like the typical female computer or Have a deep male voice tell them to "get to work". I almost wet my pants.

My roommate has a Macbook pro. So last night I was in my room doing my homework;-) and I heard her get on her computer. Ha ha wicked thoughts, So I typed, "Hello ashley."

"Hello Ashley." I heard VIKI say.

Ashley's, "WHAT THE!!" was not very loud but full of nervous astonishment. Had my hands not been clamped over my mouth maniacal laughter would have escaped.

"Are you doing your homework Ashley?" the computer asked. "Who is that? Leslie, My computer is talking to me!"

"What?" I asked in all innocence.

"Would you like me to play you a song?" VIKI said.

(Now this is really wicked of me) My Iphone has a remote that will let me play songs from anyones computer without them knowing or having control. I went into the living room and sat down next to Ash with my phone. Ashley leaned into her computer and said to it, "i guess" so there I sat, my own victim my alibi and pressed play on my Iphone and her itunes on her computer popped up and started playing a random song. She looked so scared that I couldn't contain myself I was light headed from laughing so hard. Good thing she was a good sport about it and thought that it was a good joke.

NOT Much

2008-11-13T00:32:00.003-07:00

The Mo I know has this on her blog so I stole it and you all have to do it.

TOP 8

8 T.V. SHOWS I LIKE TO WATCH

1. That 70's show

2. The Office

3. Gilmore Girls

4. House

5. Law & Order

6. Heroes

7. How it's made

8. Food Network

8 FAVORITE RESTAURANTS

1. Albertos

2. Barbacoa

3. Bombay House

4. Little World

5. Mad Greek

6. The Roof (or ruff as mom would say)

7. CPK

8. China City!

8 THING THAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY

1. Work

2. Declared my Major (officially)

3. School

4. Albertos with Mo

5. Hot cocoa and Ice cream

6. Fell asleep at my old apartment (awkward JK)

7. Got a call from someone who wanted to come look at the Apartment (HE was totally cool with a shared room!)

8. Finished A wrinkle in time

8 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO

1. My own house/ yard

2. Graduation

3. 5 Thanksgiving dinners

4. Being with friends and family

5. Road trip!

6. Holidays

7. Organized life

8. A new car

8 THINGS ON MY WISH LIST

1. To marry my best friend

2. Own my own house with a garden, a library (with all my favorite books), and pool.

3. To be as happy as I can be (relieved of stress)

4. Healthier living aka exercise and diet

5. To be wise/well educated

6. Children

7. To visit every place on my list

8. A deeper knowledge of the gospel

ROOMMATES

2008-10-24T20:10:00.004-06:00

So this week has been really crazy I'm moving into my new apartment and trying to find roommates for both places. I've had a couple potentials but... I guess we'll see. I'm a little worried about moving for some reason. I guess its just that i've been here for such a long time that I just feel weird about moving to a new place. I'm sure once everything is settled I will feel more comfortable. So its a Friday night and I'm home alone its really really weird. I don't think this has ever happened to me Sarah is on a date, my other roommates went to a really cheesy movie and I am here blogging. Nice. Tomorrow night is our halloween party and I have decided to go as Tinker bell. (a very tall Tinker bell) whatever, my friend made my costume for me, very cute and modest don't worry. I'm reading The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and it is completely freaking me out, little kids are creepy. That is the real reason I'm blogging; I'm trying to get back to reality so I don't have to turn all my lights on and call a friend over to ward off frightening apparitions. well, that's really all that's on my mind right now. Also, HAppy Birthday yitto Ye-ah! P.S. Wheat, if you can possibly arrange to have your ipod sent to me I'll see what I can do to get you a new one for el cheapo-er!

Basically technically

2008-10-06T17:34:00.003-06:00

This is to all you cousins who say basically technically(which is all of you). I don't know if many of you know how that saying got started so... Whitney, Miranda and I had a geology class which was very late at night. Our teacher was a VERY dry man and we had to keep ourselves entertained by any means possible. We took to making fun of basically technically everything the poor man said. He was giving a lecture one dull evening and he said this phrase and we all thought it was hilarious of course; you know us. So we have merged it into our favorite sayings. Last week my friend Christa came over to my apartment with a funny story to tell me. She is a student at SLCC and has a History class there. She was talking to the girl sitting next to her and the girl uttered the golden phrase of basically technically. Christa said, "I have a friend who says that all the time." The girl sitting next to her said, "what's her name?" Christa said,"Leslie" And Madison said, "That's my cousin." What a small world we live in. Speaking of small worlds I ran in to Alexis, Tahna, and Seth Bott on saturday at the Gateway. I haven't seen them for it feels like years which it probably has been. And speaking of Seth Bott, Kelsie you SKUNK what were you thinking? Mind you, you better run for cover when next I see you.

BUSY

2008-10-03T08:35:00.004-06:00

So My life has continued being hectic and seems to be getting even more so. This may make some of you think I'm not myself or even unwell but I have joined a punk rock piano band. Yes, unbelievable I know. I am the lead singer and I also do the piano, Jake plays the guitar and sings backup, and Mike is our drummer. We're actually pretty good. Now, contrary to the title of genre we don't play PUNK music we cover bands and write our own but we're more mellow. I don't know how to describe what we play. Kinda, Ben Folds ish. anyway, I've also started teaching piano lessons. I enjoy teaching my students seeing as they are not elementary students. They're a little older and actually care about what I teach them. Also, I've Joined a writing group called writer's collective. We meet every week and read and discuss the pieces that we've written. And, I've decided to become a substitute teacher for those days that I'm not working at the Apple store.

It's official. I'm moving out sometime in the next couple of weeks. I've found a roommate and we actually have an apartment upstairs from where I live now. Her name is Ashley and she is in my ward and she's really sweet.

This last week I went and visited Timpanogos Caves. It's so beautiful in the mountains this time of year. The weather was perfect and the hike was slightly strenuous but I didn't feel like I was going to die. All of these pictures were taken from my phone. pretty cool.

Thank you Whit for the Birthday Letter. It made me cry of course. I miss you waay mucho. Did you get my letter that I sent you like a month ago? Also, When you get home I have someone I want you to meet. He works with me and he is a return missionary from Honduras...he's really nice.

I love you all And hope to see you soon. Love ya

Sunday

2008-09-14T16:44:00.002-06:00

This Sunday was regional conference for my ward. so this morning i went to the conference center with my roommate Jewel. We left at 9:30 because we expected a little bit of a crowd (there are a lot of singles wards that are in our region). HOLY COW! so apparently it was the whole salt lake region and not just singles so i had to park at the gateway. there were masses of people it was like general conference. So we finally make our way through the extensive lines and sat down, in really good seats considering, just in time for the meeting to start. we were down in the front plaza in the middle so pretty close to the speakers. President Hinkley, (President Hinkley's son) got up and announced that President Monson would be presiding. Ok. no one in our ward told us anything about this meeting so I was a little stunned that not only were there tons of people at what I was thinking was going to be like a singles stake conference but the prophet was literally a few hundred feet away from me. It was a really enjoyable meeting. The prophet was the last speaker and he kept cracking jokes. I didn't realize what a funny guy he was.

Anyway, that was my exciting sunday.

OH yeah

2008-09-13T16:15:00.000-06:00

by the way my new number is 1801-448-4218

whoopsi

2008-09-10T16:52:00.002-06:00

Okay, I know that this is going to sound like I did it on purpose but that is not so. I went to Lagoon on Saturday and went on wicked. At the very tip of the top low and behold I see my phone floating in front of my face right before it plummeted to the ground. SOOO, i conformed and bought the iphone. It happens to be one of the coolest things I've ever owned. However, I don't have any numbers so if you guys would be so obliging as to get your number to me I would be greatly appreciative. cell and home if applicable. Thanks

HOLY LABOR DAY!

2008-09-03T18:45:00.003-06:00

Let me tell you all about my labor day weekend starting from the very beginning. A group of friends and i decided to go camping/ hiking down in little wild horse canyon this weekend. Little wild horse is a slot canyon right next to goblin valley. We left on Sunday night around five o'clock. It was kathy and pam, who are sisters and Jake and Jared who are brothers and me. we got to our camp spot about 9 pm that night and set up our tent. It was very windy and a little bit rainy but it was still warm. however, because of the horrible wind half of our tent collapsed about 6am so we decided to get up and start our hike early seeing as it was a nine mile hike we thought we would get an early start. after putting up camp we headed out around 7am. It was a beautiful canyon it really was amazing. Sheer cliffs about 30 ft. up on both sides of you you can reach out your hands and touch both walls. Anyway, we were about a mile in and Jared decided to go up to the top of the cliffs and take pictures of us down below. Pam and i were ahead of the group and had turned around to watch jared try and come down. He slipped on some loose rocks and plummeted down the 30 ft. drop. he dissapeared behind a rock so all I heard was his thud and the rocks landing a few seconds later. We all thought that he would be just fine so we made our way to him not really in a rush. His brother was the first one there and as soon as I heard the fear in Jakes voice I knew that it was bad. I ran to them Jake was trying to lift Jared off the ground to carry him out. Jared's head was bleeding and he was completely unconscious his breaths deep and labored. I screamed at Jake to not move him. we didn't know if his back or neck was broken so we laid him in my lap and Jake ran for help. I have rarely prayed so hard or been so scared. I thought that Jared was going to die in my lap. So we prayed and mid-prayer Jared started to moan. HIs eyes fluttered and he looked up at me. Both his pupils were the same size so and he recognized his own name. I had to keep him awake until the EMTs could arrive. I checked his body asked him if other things hurt and he would grunt at me. then he rolled to the side and puked on his arm and my leg. (I will never drink gatorade again) both his hands were sliced open and I could see the bone of his right pinkie. I grabbed Jakes bandana and wrapped his hand. His head was what I was most concerned with after I realized that his neck, back, legs and arms were okay as far as i could tell. He had a gash on his forehead and was also bleeding from his nose and ear. After about 45 min Jake and the EMTs arrived and we rolled him onto a back board. Me, Jake, and four goblin valley rangers hiked him out over rocks and boulders. It is amazing what you can do when you have adrenaline pumping through you. We got him out it took about two hours and finally we reached were the ATVs could drive up and we loaded all our bags on those and the big ranger switched me out and I drove kathy and the bags on one ATV and another lady drove pam out. while the rest continued on with Jared. WE got him to the ambulance and loaded him in and they drove him to Castleview. WE went to goblin valley to fill out a report and then followed after him. We were at the hospital until 5pm I think we got there aroung 12:30 or 1. they did x-rays and CAT scans and realized that Jared had a fractured skull so they life-flighted him up to provo. ironically enough Jared is a fourth year med student and he is doing a rotation at the same place they life-flighted him. We drove up to provo and Jake and I dropped kathy and Pam off at their house and then we went to the hospital. I was there until 10:30 pm. Fortunately, Jared is fine his face is broken and he has a wicked black eye and his pelvis is fractured and he has too many stitches to count...but his brain is fine he is still really smart he remembers mostly everything. They moved him out of ICU today and they think that he will go home tomorrow. and that was my long weekend adventure which I hope never to repeat.

2008-08-19T22:28:00.004-06:00

Hey all, This week has been very interesting because all 3 of my roommates decided to go to washington so I have had the apartment all to myself for this week. It is quite relaxing to have a bit of time to myself. Also the best thing about not having my roommates around is that my apartment is blissfully clean! Last thursday I received a very exciting package. My new IMAC yay! It is so much fun I play on it all the time. there are so many new applications to play with. Anyway, school starts on monday and here is a list of the classes I've decided I need to sign up for sometime in the near future: The pleasure of chocolate 101, Communications (animal comm. that is), end of life issues, Ghost hunting, and African drumming.Unfortunately, my schedule is full this semester and I was unable to fit these fascinating courses into it which is slightly depressing i've always wanted to know how to talk to animals. I'm glad that someone in the world has figured out how to speak the language of animals. And I'm sure that i would have taken great pleasure in chocolate this semester however, it is not to be. Speaking of school I found out that apple will reimburse me for my education if I apply for a full time position. sooo...

I have been riding my bike to work every day this week I love it.

Other than that nothing much has been going on this week. I hope that I am still able to go camping this weekend we will see. I'll let you know later this week when I find out more about m

y schedule. Love ya

p.s. remember this little thing?

Iphone 3G

2008-07-19T11:22:00.003-06:00

WOW! it has been one crazy week I don't think I've ever had to work so long in my life. It all started last Thursday (the day before the iPhone release) I had to work a 15 hour shift just to prepare for the phone. All of our visuals in the store had to be changed and everything had to be spic and span. people started lining up at about three that afternoon. The next day IPhone day was one of the craziest ever. I came into work and there were hundreds of people lined up around the gateway. INSANE is how I would have to describe that whole day. 15 hours of giving people water, sunscreen, shaved ice, answering phones and crazy questions and demoing the new phone . It was so hot and I was exhausted by the end of the day (7am-10pm) I went home and fell on my bed and didn't move until the next day when I returned to work and more lines. there has been a line every day since the release of the phone. It has been really fun and can I just tell you that I really coveted the phone that I was given to demo all day long. It is awesome. Anyway, Monday I played mini golf in the institute building which was funny because I am a horrible golfer anyway but putting me inside a building just made it ridiculous. On Wednesday I went to Lagoon/lagoona beach all day long and didn't get a sunburn yay! Yesterday was my roommates birthday and we decided to go float the Provo river. Noah was supposed to come but he called me an hour before from the hospital because he had dropped a piece of glass on his leg and had to get stitches. So we did a little floateroo down the river and it was beautiful and so much fun. but, stupid me I brought my phone along. huh, i wonder what happens to a phone when it gets filled with water. Let me tell you what happens... it dies. Completely! i thought it would be alright because I had it double wrapped in a zip lock bags but NOPE. It will never come back. which makes it even more hard not to covet the iPhone. if only i could get the iPhone on Verizon, but i can't so... Oh well. Madi and I are singing in church tomorrow yay fun. so that is my crazy week in a nut shell. I'll see all you concert goers this weekend. love ya.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2008-06-23T23:10:00.001-06:00

Yummy cookies. Nasty bugs eating my mint. Grrrrr. Beautiful hikes in utah.

So the Blog nazi told me that i hadn't been doing the required amount of blogging. Who knew there was a quota? well now that I've been informed... here is a birthday blog for dad. (I've been told that all you want is to know what I'm up to for your birthday, which sounds like a cheesy parent's answer to what do you want for your birthday. "All I want is your love". Well you got it dude!) soooo here go. Sunday 15th: went to churh had a mix and mingle and then went to choir practice. Monday 16th: worked from 10-6 and then went to FHE. Tuesday17th: went swimming then straight to work 'til 9. Wednesday 18th: worked 9-4 then went to lagoon (claude lost it on the swinging ship and I haven't stopped laughing about it since). Thursday 19th: went swimming and then to work. Friday 20th: went swimming. cleaned my fridge inside and out. (it WAS amazing, now 3 days later it looks the same). Saturday 21th: for some reason I have no idea what I did saturday before I went to work until 10:30pm. then I came home and baked cookies until 3am. Sunday 22nd: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! went to church 'til 12 then I went to work 'til 6 (first sunday i've worked in my life and hopefully the last) went to choir and then to ward prayer. I basically was never home on sunday. Monday 23rd: came home from work and found the fridge the way it had been on THURSDAY and decided to move. SO right now I am looking at apartments. I can't take it any more. And that, sir, is a faithful narrative of my doings this week.

Love ya dad I'll see you on Monday the 30th.

2008-06-23T21:04:00.001-06:00

So I have been doing some gardening and although I have some nasty little bug eating my herbs I am still getting some great produce. Isn't my pepper cute?

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-06-23T19:52:00.001-06:00

2008-06-19T23:03:00.001-06:00

Remember this ragamuffin? What a little devil. Isn't she so cute? I love this picture

Iphone

2008-06-15T23:28:00.002-06:00

Short blog. The new Iphone comes out in a less than a month. It is going to be a CRAZY day at apple. people are planning on camping out the night before just to be first in line. This is more intense than Harry Potter. Who knew?

2008-06-15T21:49:00.004-06:00

So Recently I have been camping almost every weekend. Either that or I go to lagoon which is a blast let me tell ya.

On saturday I went on a camping trip to Heber . We went canoeing. The week before We went to Diamond fork canyon which was so much fun. I think we need to go camping there as a family. There weren't a lot of people it was beautiful and there was an easy hike to the hot springs where you can soak for hours. it is so relaxing. There are natural hot waters coming out of the ground and a freezing cold waterfall that runs into the hot water so it comes to the perfect temp. to sit in. Also this weekend was the Utah chalk art festival. There were some amazing pictures drawn I don't know how they can do such amazing art on such a difficult medium. Anyway that is really all I have been doing. Oh, and by the way, My pool finally opened. I'm sooo happy. And if anyone wants to come swimming just let me know. love ya and see you all in two weeks.

TAG

2008-05-02T22:27:00.002-06:00

Mom, forgot to tag someone so she tagged me in person when she visited this weekend. Haha.
so here are my answers:
1. Who do you love?
My parents, Ben, All of my cousins and aunts and uncles and Grandparents. I love being so close to them all. I know that God knew that we would need such a close relationship with eachother here on earth and that is why we are all in this family. You have to admit that our closeness with eachother is not exactly the norm for cousinly relationships. I love everyone. the people I live with and work with and go to church with. EVERYONE.
2. How long have you been married?
well, it's going on 20 years...how time flies.
3. Who said I love you first?
I'm pretty sure my parents said I love you first seeing as they were able to talk before me;) But I say it most often. (I think I would like my future spouse to say it first though. I'm such a wuss)
4. How long did you date?
I'm still dating. sometimes it seems interminable.
5. Where did he propose?
? I don't care where it is as long as no else is there besides us. I'm too easily embarrased.
6. Who is taller?
Oh heck! he better be taller. awkward!
7.Who is smarter?
I love this question. He can be smarter as long as I'm always right;) hopefully we will be equally smart in different ways.
8. who does the laundry?
ME
9. Who pays the bills?
MOM
10. Who mows the lawn?
Dan the Maintenance man.
11. who cooks dinner?
On days when I work, Barnes and Noble. On Sunday, Me, for about 20 people.
12. who drives?
me. although my car has kind of been giving me grief. I think I need a new one. P.S. I hate driving so my future spouse better like driving.
13. who has the cooler job?
Me! hello I work at the Apple store and it is soooo exciting. If you don't believe me read my blog right below this one.

Ok I'm going to tag...Maren and Leah and Grandpa and Grandpa's second wife Joaney. (that should be interesting to see how long they were dating and how he proposed!)

THIEVES!

2008-05-02T21:51:00.002-06:00

How dare they?

So, last night I was at work and it was about fifteen minutes until closing. I was standing by the doors greeting and farewelling people. Part of my job at the Apple store is to greet EVERYONE that comes through the door recognize them and sort of judge their character and just keep an eye on them as they move throught the store. There were a couple of teenagers behind me looking at the Iphones. I wasn't really paying attention to them they hadn't been there that long and they were about five feet right behind me. Suddenly the alarms went off and right as I turned to see what was going on these two boys plowed past, each on either side of me. They ot away with 3 Iphones and so headphones. I am sooooooo angry. I hate that they were able to take advantage of me that way and that I was really not able to do anything about it. Even had I had my wits about me Apple does not allow its employees to chase after thieves. I felt so helpless. It was stressful and ruined my night. My adrenaline was rushing and I couldn't get to sleep. Why do people think that they can take advantage of others like that? Why are they entitled? JERKS.

Relax

2008-04-30T12:34:00.003-06:00

YAY! the Semester is over and I can finally relax. However, now I basically live at the Apple store. So if you were ever wondering where I was... just kidding. I love my job it's pretty sweet I get to know all the new stuff that comes out. I get to see it the first day it arrives which is cool. I am so excited to be going to Shakespeare this summer. Can't wait. Other than that I really haven't been doing much. I do however need some helpful tips to get people to come to Choir. NO One comes. What's up with that?

Check list:

School; OVER. YAY!

Work; I live at the apple store.

Church; I live for Sundays (except when people don't come to choir)

Dating; here and there nothing serious.

And that is my life in a nutshell!

P.s. these pictures cracked me up and totally made my day so I decided to share the humor!

2008-04-11T19:09:00.002-06:00

I guess its the in thing to have a picture of spring flowers on your title. Well I'm not conforming just yet because I don't have time. I just wanted to say that I've started my new job at the Apple store in the Gateway. It is really fun and it is taking up all of my time. I miss all of you and I feel like I haven't seen any of you forever. Sad. Anyway, if any of you want to come and visit me at the store and do a little mall shopping it would be fun to see you and I could help you pick out a new computer! YAY. jsut kinddin but if you want an ipod or iphone or a new TV we have those too. Well, just thought I'd put in my two cents and see what you all are up to and to say that it is kinda strange you all have flowers as a background to your title. was that planned and I just missed something? Anyway, come see me and I'll try to come visit as soon as the Semester is over in less than two weeks! BLISS.

2008-03-25T23:39:00.005-06:00

Sorry I forgot that there was a password to see the pics so here are my favorites until I figure out how to post 88 photos.

Disney

2008-03-24T15:07:00.002-06:00

For all you hopefuls that have been searching my blog this week in anticipation of disneyland photos I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that I would be bolgging that week I just meant that I would blog all my pictures when I got back. So here they are. I had so much fun. Here is how my week went. We started our drive at 7:00pm on Sunday evening and drove through the night. We visited Randa in Cedar then continued on our way. We reached Los Vegas At 1:00 am and drove down the strip. I have never been to Vegas before so it was pretty cool. We got to California at about 4:30am. On Monday we visited Riverside and David showed us The Mission Inn which is the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen. On Tuesday we went to Hollywood and walked down Hollywood Blvd. Then we went to the street market where you can find anything you want at a blackmarket price. We went to Disneyland on Wednesday. California was beautiful this time of year. It wasn't hot the weather was perfect. I loved disneyland I felt like I reverted to being 8 again. I was so excited to see all the disney characters and ride the rides and see the parade. But most of all I loved the fireworks! Disney has the best firework show on earth it was awesome. On Thursday we went to Huntington Beach and can you guess what happened? well lets just say it happens every year a few times a year and since I haven't learned my lesson yet I doubt I ever will. SO no more harping on it ok. I know, I know, I know. This Just happens to be the worst sunburn I have ever had just so you all know. I don't think I've ever had such big blisters and I've never had blisters on my legs before so this is new to me. Anyway, while we were at the beach we were picking up shells and I grabbed on and all of a sudden legs came out of it and started grabbing for me! I screamed and threw it back. It kinda freaked me out. On Friday we went to California Adventure. That was a lot of fun. My favorite rides were California Screamin' and soaring over California. Then we drove to Castle Dale on Saturday and spent Easter there which was great and relaxing. And Laree Dye asked if Noah and I were serious. I laughed so hard. And now I'm home and trying to get back in to school mode and I start my job this week so if any of you want to come visit me at the Apple store in the Gateway feel free. I can help you with anything you want! I hope you all had a good spring break and are as excited as I am that the weather is getting warm and that summer is almost here!

Disneyland

2008-03-12T17:45:00.002-06:00

I'm going to Disneyland! I'm so excited. I'm leaving on the 16th and then we're coming through Castle Dale On the 22nd and we'll be there for Easter.
I got a job. I start this week. I am now a Mac specialist at the Gateway. So if any of you need help with your macintosh computers;) or I guess I should say ipods I'm here to help. I guess that's all I have to say I'm sure that I'll have a lot to post next week after spring break. I will see you all on Easter!

In Memory

2008-02-15T15:49:00.004-07:00

In memory of Morgan Schauerhamer. We loved her dearly.

2008-02-15T14:29:00.004-07:00

Well another week has gone by and let me tell you it has been a really stressful one. school is kicking my trash at the moment. I had 1 website, 6 journals, 5 summaries, 1 Lit paper and an oral report all due this week. Add to that my confused state of mind. But now its all over and I can relax and see all of you this weekend. Singled out is tomorrow I'm kinda nervous. Here are a sample of some of the things/questions that I came up with. 1. Could you bench-press a member of the bishopric? 2. Can you quote something from the princess bride? 3. Serenade me. 4. what is your worst fear? 5. besides the scriptures what is your favorite book and why? It is almost guaranteed to be an entertaining night.

Dave and I went to Gilgal Gardens which is actually pretty neat its practically in my backyard. Its this park place where this man made all of these rock art type things. This is a picture of Joseph smith in a sphinx's head. He was an interesting man, Gilgal. http://www.gilgalgarden.org/

So how was everyone's V-day? Mine was good. We were going to go hot-tubbing but the hot-tub wasn't open. So we just went to dinner and watched a movie. This Saturday my roommates are having a Valoween party. It should be interesting. Well that's basically all. I'll see you all tomorrow. Happy Valoween!

Bangs

2008-02-02T17:58:00.000-07:00

nothing

to say about it. I look completely different!

It kinda looks like I'm wearing a wig most the time.

What's Up.

2008-02-01T14:08:00.000-07:00

So I haven't seen any of you guys for it seems like weeks and it feels kinda weird. I got a cryptic message from Sara but I was in class so I didn't get it until it was too late. So this week I had to make a website. It isn't completely finished but I'll let you know so you can visit it. It will be a little lame seeing as it is my first made from scratch website. I went to apply for a job at Bath and Body Works in Trolly Square and they are out of business. Trolly is really sad these days there are at the most five stores still running and I don't know how they do it when there are No customers. Have you all heard of the game show singled out? Well, in our ward we are going to do a game very similar to it, and guess who the lucky girl chosen was? yep me. So here is how it works. All the boys in my ward basically have to answer a series of questions that I come up with, things that I like. For example, I would say, "Which is a better date? A football game, or a picnic?" and whoever chooses my answer gets to stay in. we go through a few of these and the last one standing gets a date with moi. So a potentially embarrassing evening is in my future (the game not the date). I don't know how I was chosen out of all the girls in my ward but somehow it happened. I went to see Across the Universe last night and I have to say that it was a very very good movie and I recommend it to everyone. I really liked the music. My computer won't let me upload images. So sad. i'll save them for next time. My roomates have discovered leg wrestling so every time we have company over we have a little competition. And I have some classic pics. see ya all soon.

Can You Say Purple Seashell Bra?

2008-01-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Well I've dyed my hair again and lets just say that Disney will be calling me to see if will star in the live version of The Little Mermaid. It wasn't supposed to be so red but it is so oh well.

I have finished my second week of school and I still love it. Nothing but school has been happening in my life. I haven't even had time to look for a job but I will I just need to stop procrastinating. I read this fascinating article by Jonathan Swift called A Modest Proposal and I recommend you to read it. I hope you are all well and that I will see you soon.

MACs

2008-01-11T15:52:00.001-07:00

I've been converted. My next computer will definitely be a Mac. they are so cool. Very user friendly and just what I need for future art projects:)

2008-01-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

It's been at least a month since I've last Blogged. Sorry I've just been really busy. I just started school and I'm so excited. I'll just tell you a little bit about my classes. Every T, Th, and F I hop on Trax, which for someone who has never really ridden a public transport is quite an experience. My first class is computers and the arts. So far, so cool. There are a lot of computer geeks in my class. They are really amazing people they make video games and computer games I even met the boy who made the marble on the platforms game that we all play. He is only a few years older than me. Can you say WOW? Anyway, I was a little intimidated at first because we have to work on Macs. So right now I'm at school blogging on a Mac so that I can get the hang of these things. I love my computer class. Its going to teach me everything that I want to know about computers and the art programs on computers. YAY. My next class is already causing me stress. It is the highest level English class I've ever taken and we were assigned homework the first day of class. I have to read the Koran and the not King James version of the Bible to compare the story of Joseph. Also we watched this old video made in about the 70's. It was a debate between an English man and a woman about Literature and Philosophy and let me just tell you that I had to concentrate Really hard to just understand what the heck they were talking about. They used words that I had never even heard before and they talked about books I've never read or knew about but they acted like everyone and their dog should know who and what book they were talking about. I was floundering in gigantic words and I felt I was in way over my head which I am but oh well I will live until my first paper is due. Then you can all sing at my funeral.

Tuesdays are my long day. I'm in school for 8 hours straight and my final class of the day is three hours long. The class is Political Economy and race and gender studies. My teacher informed us on the first day that we will be staying all three hours every class. Joy. Our first class we watched a movie called 12 angry men. Its about a jury that have to decide if an 18 year old boy is guilty of murder. I actually enjoyed it. Lots of debating in this class let me tell you. And then there are Fridays when I have badminton and ballroom dance. I haven't been to ballroom dance yet but badminton is really fun so far. My teacher is Asian and he talks super quiet so I can't understand anything he says. I just do what he does. He can't say his l's so he whispers, " stand on green rine an move reft foot to da reft" I just smile on do what he does. I expect you all to show up to my game when I become a world champion Badmintoner. I hang out in the library a lot they have more books than I have ever seen in one place I just drool.

That is mostly what I've been doing for the past week. And I will try to keep you posted on my goings on here at the good ol' U of U. I will see you all very soon love ya. P.S. I wish that this was a picture of someone in my badminton class seeing as half of them are Asian but somehow it just wasn't my luck and the other picture is of the Marble blast that the kid made in my comp. class.

What's goin' on.

2007-12-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

My life has been so busy and yet I don't know why it should be. I offically became a University of Utah student. I met with an advisor and went to Orrientation last week I also found out that with little effort on my part and unbeknownst to me I am now a senior (somehow I skipped the part of being a sophmore and a junior). I am now a pre-fine arts major. I don't know what kind of career I'll get with my degree but I'll at least be able to provide Christmas presents for the next few years.(Be prepared). I graduate from UIDA next week. I will finally be a dental assistant for real. It's really stressful to have your life not settled. I am really worried about trying to balance being a full time student and going to work full time and trying to have a little bit of a social life. I guess I'll survive. I don't know what I'll do without Whit. She usually helps me with my class schedule. Yet again I guess I'll survive for 18 months without her but only because I know I can write her all the time. I finally got a Christmas tree. I got it for free too. It has no decorations yet but I'm working on the popcorn, cranberries and paper snowflakes:) I'm almost done Christmas shopping (laugh) all I have to do is find presents for my mom and dad. THEY ARE IMPOSSIBLE. You know how I asked you all to make a list. Well, my parents didn't of course so it was not really helpful in that way. Which is what I was kind of going for. Oh well. They both asked for World Peace (both in different conversations) what sillies they are. Also, as you may know if you've read Morg's blog we started the Biggest Loser again. I know it sounds bad to start that kind of thing right before Christmas but really that is the best time to start. Bob always says the best time to start is right now. I was feeling so bad about the way I looked and felt that I had to start right now! I can't take how gross I feel anymore. I love feeling in control of my body and the only way I can get that is if I work out. I already feel better because now I have motivation! Yay! I'm so excited even if I don't win. I'm Sthuper pumped! I can't wait to see ya'll this weekend. HAPPY CHRISTMAS;)

Congrats!!

2007-12-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Tenny YouWon!
And Whit you get second place.
I don't know if the prize is any conselation for the humiliation but you'll survive. I'll give you your prizes when I come down. Love ya.

Clarify

2007-12-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry if anyone was confused with the rules of the contest let me see if I can make them more clear. Put up all your bad pictures of anyone we know. Then EVERYONE will click on EVERY picture and rate it a I, II or III. The picture with the most (I) ratings wins. The person who posted the picture will win first prize and the person in the photo will win second prize. You can only vote once on each picture and yes you even vote on the pictures you yourself posted. If there are any more questions just e-mail me or give me a call. the contest ends Sunday.

Battle of the BAD

2007-12-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have yet to be involved in the Photo Wars here is your chance to join in. Whoever posts the worst photo wins a prize it's as simple as that. It doesn't matter who the photo is of as long as they are in the family or at least well known to all of us. This compitition ends on Sunday Night when I can tally the votes. To vote just leave a I, II, or III on the comment space of any photo. (I) is for the best "worst photo" and so on and so forth. Good luck to you all and no hard feelings this is just for fun.

Tenny Wars (Double click the second picture to get the full effect)

2007-12-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

I Just Couldn't decide my favorite

Santa

2007-11-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

I decorated my apartment for christmas today. Christmas time makes me happy! As I was driving to school the other day I saw Santa walking across St. Street. He was pulling along his reindeer and waving to all the cars. His reindeer wasn't being very cooperative. It made me smile. You know what else makes me smile? When I see my cousins doing funny dances by the christmas tree. You have to watch this sideways sorry.

2007-11-27T22:10:00.000-07:00

All I really have to say about this video is Hee Hee Hee. It makes me happy.

Memoriea

2007-11-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
Thanksgiving is over and it's sad but Christmas is around the corner so we have something to look forward to. Meanwhile we will bask in the memories of last year

Christmas List

2007-11-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

K everyone Christmas is SO frustrating. whenever you ask someone what they want for Christmas they tell you "nothing" but you KNOW that there is something that they want. And then there is the other side of that where you tell someone that you don't want anything for christmas but then secretly you do have something or a few somethings that you want or need. SO this is what I want everyone to do. Write down a christmas list, actually you will be writing two. One list of realistic items that someone could afford to get you (that doesn't nessisarily mean cheap, it just means you can't put Villa in the south of France on this list (save it for the next one).And one list for the unrealistic items that you really want but know that it's impossible or an "unrealistic" fantasy (here is where you put the Villa). Have fun, go crazy make the list as long as you can. Add to it whenever you think of something new. Happy holidays and i hope you've been good this year so santa will get you what you ask for.