Southern Utah Extravaganza!

 Don't let that blue sky in the corner fool you - it rained for three days straight! And it was WONDERFUL!! I am going to tell you the story of the last week of my life. You see, my last post left off with me attending conference on Saturday morning and....whatever else happened Saturday. That's where this story begins!

Sunday morning, I travelled to my grandparents' house in Payson to watch conference with family. It was quite nice. The home-cooked lunch didn't hurt any either :) I didn't get to see my aunt and cousins til about 5:30 p.m. though, and when I went to their house, they were getting ready to visit their other grandma in the nursing home which she now lives. Alright, I'll go too. Unfortunately, just ten minutes after getting there, Malcolm (my best cousin's husband) tells Anelise (my best cousin) that they have to head back to Cedar City now. "Nooooo!", says I. "Why don't you come with us??", says Malcolm. So I did. Bahaha! Ok it took a little more persuasion and thought (on my part) before I decided to go, but I did end up going! They would be returning next weekend anyway....why not?? So I got to spend the week hanging out with my best cousin and her husband. Some might think that would be awkward. Some would be right. Just kidding! It really wasn't that bad. Anelise only worked on Tuesday and Friday, so we just got to play the rest of the time! Great fun! As you can clearly see from the badminton picture below :)

 Now, I just have a few sights to mention and stories to tell. First of all, Anelise and I drove around southern Utah for 3 hours on Thursday trying to get to Alton. We had hiked to the Red Cliffs (which was beautiful!) with Malcolm in St. George, and we were going to go to Malcolm's parents' house and quad around their podunk little hometown called Alton. However, we took a wrong turn and ended up in Arizona! The happiest surprise of all!! I told Anelise to turn around so we could take a pic with the Welcome to Arizona sign, but she ended up flipping a U in front of a cop and we got pulled over. Bahaha! He was nice though and only gave her a warning. My favorite part though was when he said "have you ever been pulled over in Arizona before?" and the welcome to Utah sign was like 500 ft from where we were stopped. Give me a break, popo! Whatev. Anyway, on our scenic route to Alton, I saw a place called Doggy Dude Ranch. I just really thought that was worth mentioning. I also saw a man bicycling. What's so special about that, you may ask? Well, this man had a long beard that was rubber-banded right under his chin and then again a few inches under that. CLASSY.

And now, my favorite story: Anelise works for Lifetouch, so she travels to different schools and takes the kids' pictures for the yearbook and whatnot. The school we went to on Friday was the smallest little place, that just happened to be an hour and a half away from Cedar City, and the gym in which she took the pictures was just quite puzzling to me indeed. All around the walls were these huge bold words that were obviously supposed to be qualities that the elementary kids are to be working towards. However, the tense of the words was constantly varied in the most confusing way! I will list the words for you now: "Sportsmanship, Effort, Considerate, Trustworthy, Happy, Respect, Honesty, Friendly, Integrity, Attitude, Kindness, Perseverance". Am I the only one who doesn't get it?!? Should "respect" not be "respectful"? And where does "sportsmanship" and "effort" come into play?? Don't worry, though, they had classy pictures like the one below to help their students become model citizens. I just couldn't leave that place without noting these things.

We did finally make it to Alton, just Anelise and I, and it was so much fun! That whole week was just perfect. I got to be lazy (what else is new?), spend more time with Anelise than I have in years, enjoy the cool weather, and watch at least two movies per day :) What more could you want??

Thanks for tuning in, folks! See ya next time!

Crazy Utards!

I have now been living in Utah for 2 months exactly. Some might think that my existence in this state is pointless because I still have no job and I'm not going to school, but I will have you know that I have learned some very valuable lessons from the experiences I've been....experiencing...? Anyway, I want to share a couple stories about the crazy state I live in.

First off, Utah drivers are all out to kill you. I thank my lucky stars whenever I finish a journey in my car (no matter how long the journey) and safely park, because the chances of me dying via car crash seem to be much higher in Utah. The other day I was headed home from the UPS store, and as I began to exit the parking lot, this crazy girl just zoomed right in front of me! She did have the right of way, and it wasn't even necessarily a close call, but I could tell she had seen me even though I couldn't see her around some huge truck. Whatever. We ended up at the same stop sign and both turned right and then both waited in the left turn lane, so it looked like I was following her out of anger or something. I noticed that she was driving a Ford F150 (Yeah baby!), and it certainly puzzled me! It just didn't make sense; Ford drivers aren't crazy... However, upon closer inspection, I noticed a miniature state of Texas emblazoned on the license plate. Pf! Go figure!

My second experience happened just this morning! After only getting 1 hour of sleep (that's right - 1), I joined my roommate Kelly and our good friends from EAC on a quest to Conference! It was my first time being in the conference center for conference!! Anyway, turns out the driver of the car we were following does not regard the speed limit in the same way as most normal human beings, and we had no choice but to speed as well because we really had no idea where we were going. So after almost dying a handful of times on the freeway, we finally reached Salt Lake City, only to find that our designated parking lot was full. So we parked a galaxy away and walked/ran to the conference center. So worth it! My favorite thing, though, was seeing the numberless concourses of Mormons marching their way to glory! I have never seen such a thing! There were Mormons EVERYWHERE!! All converging in the same place. It makes for a lot of people, I can tell you that. I decided that when I retire, I will buy a tour bus and only take it around Salt Lake on conference days and just let the tourists view what looks like a mass exodus in reverse - but they're all so smartly dressed! Oh wait...I take it back: my favorite part of the conference experience was definitely the people standing outside the conference center yelling at us for being murderers and deceivers. I especially loved one man who was saying "How many of you people are gonna go home and get drunk now? How many of you women are gonna go do drugs as soon as you get home??" Hahaha Is it wrong that I think they're so funny? Like seriously people... We don't tell you how to live your life and accuse you of being scum. Why do they think it's ok to do it to us?

Whatever....I'll add that to the list of questions that may never be answered in my lifetime. All in all, today was GREAT!! I wanted to stay in that Conference Center all the live-long day! I couldn't believe how fast that session went! It was the morning one, by the way. Anyway, I just thought it was important that I alert the masses about their impending doom, should they ever choose to migrate to the land of milk and honey. And Utards. Can't forget them! :)

Scientfic Breakthrough

Some of you out there might be wondering: what makes a great roommate? Luckily, I have been collecting data over the last 2 years on this very subject, and I am now ready to produce my results.

Is it someone who will read to you as you fall asleep? Yes.

Is it someone who will wash your hair for you when you are too lazy to shower? Yes.

Is it someone who doesn't do their own dishes? No.

How about someone that does their own dishes, and everyone else's? YES.

Is it someone that is always willing to share their food and/or clothing with you? Yes.

What about someone that constantly helps you to be a better person? Are they a great roommate? Most definitely yes!

The data above is just a preview of the facts and figures I have gathered thusfar, but like all scientific observations, the data is ever-changing! Hopefully this sample-conclusion can help the rising generations to live up to the unflinching standards that will classify them as a "great roommate".

That's Right!....

I GRADUATED!!!!!! And what a crazy time it was! Graduation seemed more like a rock in everyone's shoe by the time it rolled around, but I'm super glad I got to walk anyway! The two weeks leading up to graduation were MAYHEM, and you can pretty much tell exactly how that night was by the picture above. Yuck. I actually had a fever that day and everyone just kinda wanted to get it over with. It was funny. My favorite part of graduation was when the EAC Orchestra played the special musical number, which was "Selections from West Side Story"!!! CLASSY. Furthermore, I would liken our orchestra to that of my junior high. So it was really nice. It was a night to remember :)

I'M DONE AT EASTERN ARIZONA COLLEGE!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

Oh wait...I have to take a summer class.......aw heck....

Have a good one!!

"You're Not Hardcore, Unless You Live Hardcore!"

Yesterday I had an epiphany of sorts as I realized that I had successfully achieved the status of "hardcore". It's an accomplishment that I am beyond proud of. But I would be entirely too selfish if I kept my experience to myself and denied others the opportunity to learn how to become hardcore. Of course, there are multiple ways of obtaining said status, but in case anyone wants to copy my own, this is how it happened for me:



First, I gave blood! Only my second time doing it, but it is one of the most rewarding things I've ever done! It is so great everytime, and you get to wear a vastly conspicuous bandage on your arm for the rest of the day :)




Secondly, get a sweet tat!! It works especially well if the artist took the SURGERY MARKER from the blood drive in which you participated. As you can see, dragons or mickey mouse heads are always good options when choosing which tat you want to have put on your arm. My friends and I decided that this is a traditon that must be carried on, so we will be celebrating Tatuesday every week! Bahaha!

This is just one of the many life lessons I have learned while in attendance at Eastern Arizona College. I will forever praise the day I officially became "hardcore", and hopefully my journey will inspire others to seek this great accomplishment. It is worth it.

That's all I have to say about that.

Save Lives--Check!

What an eventful week!! To say the least. Well I suppose it was Halloween week that was crazy, but saving lives a few days later was great too! :) I conquered a fear!! Look at that blood rushing out of my body! Bahaha It was my very first time giving blood and I may or may not have acted like a 4 year-old that's getting a shot! Lol! Oh well...they were patient with me. And I loved it! I was super scared but everything went great and I'm so glad I did it! And I will definitely do it again in 6 months. Although I can almost guarantee I'll still act like a 4 year-old...

Yay for giving blood!!

This is the time when Wendy and I dressed up as Cholas for "costume day" during Spirit Week :)

The night before Halloween we had this crazy bonfire/pizza/dance party for no reason. It was pretty awesome. Complete with fireworks and the Haka!! And displayed below:

Intense, right??

And to end the week, we had the most insane block party at our apartment complex! I use the term "insane" loosely, considering it was just a ton of Mormons, but still....it was awesome! There were 6 apartments with all different music playing and 2 or 3 with games going on. Massive amounts of people were just wandering to and fro from apartment to apartment and dancing and celebrating Halloween.... It was just awesome! So fun.

And that's it! I thought that the semester would slow down once we got a ways into it, but it has only gotten crazier and crazier! Last night I stayed up til about 3:00 a.m. (cause I watched a scary movie and was too scared to go to sleep) and then got up at 8:15 for a service project. We drove about an hour to a chili field and then gleaned chilis for 4 hours!! At 2:00 they served us a DELICIOUS lunch and then we drove an hour back to Thatcher. I showered, didn't get the nap I needed, my roommate came home from clinicals, we ate dinner, got ready, and then went to a 7:30 basketball game. Now I am beat. I vaguely remember a time when Saturdays were relaxing, but it was way too long ago for me to recall! Every monday I am ready for the weekend to start. But we do get school off this Wednesday! Yay!! Ok, that's all. Hope you enjoyed this little exerpt from my life!

Have a great week!!

Those were the days...

I had a thought the other day, and it was very random indeed. But I felt like it was blog-worthy. So here's my story:

I had the opportunity to be a mommy for three kids for five days ab0ut a week ago. The eldest son was 7 years old, then the younger daughters were 5 and 2 years of age. On one of the days, the oldest two children were at the Treehouse (which is a child drop-off and pick up place here in Yuma. You can drop your kids off for a few hours and they can just play and do crafts and then you are free to get stuff done or just relax or whatever. It's basically awesome.) from 8:00 a.m. til about 1:30 p.m., since their aunt is the co-owner and their cousins play there all the time with them. Anyway, they played with their cousins at the Treehouse for hours, came home and played games and stuff for a few more hours, and then their cousins came back that night around 8:00 and they immediately started playing with their toys and running around like maniacs outside and participating in other childish activities. I was kind of amazed. I began to analyze the situation. You see, these kids play with their cousins several times a week, usually, if not every day for even just a few minutes. They ran around at the Treehouse all morning that one day I was previously talking about, and they never stopped! And then when their cousins came over again that night they still had tons of fun just playing with toys and being outside! So much playing! So I began to think...

When did "playing" turn into "hanging out"? As a child, I remember going over to neighbors' houses every single day to play. It was always "Ariana, can you play today?" or she would come over and say "Can you come out to play today Stephie?" or something else along those lines. Every day. And I knew I was in big trouble when my mom wouldn't let me go play! But do we ever ask that question now? No. When friends get together these days, it's always to "hang out". "Let's hang out at my house" or "Can we hang out here for a little while?". And more often than not, "hanging out" consists of sitting somewhere and talking or watching a movie. When do playing children transition into teenagers and young adults that hang out? And is this transition for better or worse? Why don't we still run around all day long and never get tired of sharing new toys with a good friend? Ok that sounds weird....but that's the point!

As of right now I don't know where this is going. But I guess there never really was a specific goal. I just never thought about the difference between all those childhood days of "playing" with my friends and neighbors and all the recent days when I've done very little with my friends on any given day besides hang out. Why is that? I just don't know....

That was my thought. Or several of my thoughts.... Yeah. Oh yay I get to sing in church tomorrow! And the next week! Bahaha. Should be great. And that is all :)