Day of Laughter

Today has been a day of laughter. First of all, I read this post on Alina's blog. It was cracking me up because it was written by our friend Tom. Last night Tom was using Alina's computer to update the ward website, or so we thought. When I read the post, I was laughing so hard I was crying!!

The other thing that was cracking me up was this clip from the daily show. It's a little long, but the real good stuff is between 1:30-2:40 minutes, especially the last 15 minutes of that time. Watch it!!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

President Goofus and President Gallant - Peer Pressers

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Puzzling with my BFFs

Tom & I have been working on this puzzle for ages (okay weeks).
We finally finished - YES!!

BFFs - Alina, Tom, & Me

Ward Christmas Party

Me with gift number one - singing fish.

Gift number two - Chipmunk CD
(and Christmas bow courtesy of Alina)

Alina with her "Girls Rule" bike license plate.

The two of us - Alina had had a little too much to drink.

Traveling Pants, Anyone?

Yesterday a group of girls from my ward went to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I loved it. Now, I usually don't talk during movies, but I couldn't help myself. It was such a fun movie to see with a bunch of girlfriends - we had to comment on all the best parts. "What parts," you may be asking. Well . . . nude sketching, riding (and falling off of) mules in Greece, and miracle pants dancing just to name a few. Here's a picture of us, wearing our favorite pants:

Memories

I saw this on a Ruth's blog and thought it would be fun! Please participate. I can't wait to see what people put here!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Thanks!

Scottish Festival

Today I went to Utah's Annual Scottish Festival with Christi and Lesli. We had loads of fun watching the Highland games, the bagpipe competition, and all the men in kilts. Here are a few pictures and videos:

Me, Christi, and Lesli.

Mark participating in the Sheaf Toss.

The Caber Toss

The Bagpipe Competition

Salt Lake's Scottish Rock Band - Swagger

Summer Break - One Week Down

Summer break began one week ago. In that time, I've done the following (not in this order):

• Cleaned my house.
• Cleaned my garage - it's so clean!! Plus a push broom is quite the workout.
• Exercised 3 out of 7 days. Not so great, but better than when I'm working.
• Found the perfect swimsuit - it only took 4 hours and 8 stores.
• Went out to eat with friends on 3 different occasions - must stop going out to eat!!
• Road my bike to the library twice.
• Spent Sunday at my aunt's house with the fam.
• Bought a wedding gift for a friend.
• Saw Speed Racer with Lesli. To read Lesli's review, click HERE.
  
• Hosted game night at my house.
• Attended FHE.
• Wrote an essay on narrative vs. expository texts.
• Renewed my ballet subscription for next season.

Wow, I'm exhausted. Anyways, here's a few pictures from the week:

Me with my bike. I'm actually not going to the library -
I'm at Christi's house.

Me, Shelli, and Christi at dinner.

Me with my greasy, fattening food.

Me (my knees) and Mitch on the trampoline.

Again, out to eat - Me and Sara.

Me, Mitch, and Zack on the trampoline. I am filming. Mitch is bouncing - so cute. Zack is being a brat.

Single Life vs. Family Life

The purpose of this post is to tell a funny single life vs. family life story, but because I haven't posted pictures for a couple of weeks, I thought I'd include this picture of Katrina and me at lunch today (even if it's not the best - we're blaming bad lighting). Besides, the picture is still applicable because having lunch with your girlfriends is easier to do in single life than in family life.


Anyway, to the story - after lunch I spent 3 hours searching for the perfect swimming suit. I want a chocolate brown swimsuit that does not have a halter top. I didn't care if it was one-piece or two-piece, all I cared about was the color and the straps. I searched 7 stores and still couldn't find anything!! I was quite distraught over the whole situation when my phone rang. It was a phone call from one of my closest friends, Ruth. Our conversation went something like the following:

Me: Hey

Ruth: Hey, how are you?

Me: Fine (but not sounding fine)

Ruth: You don't sound okay. What's wrong?

Me: (This is all said in one exacerbated breath) I've been trying to find a new swimsuit. I've been to 7 stores and I haven't found anything!! It's not like I'm being too specific. I just want a solid brown suit with two over-the-shoulder straps.

Ruth: Oh

Me: (Realizing how stupid my "drama" sounds) Soooo, how are you? How's Oscar?

Now let me explain - Ruth just had a baby (Oscar) last week and he's been in the NICU since then. I know my stress over finding a new swimsuit must have sounded so trivial and down-right lame compared with her stress, but because Ruth is such a fantastic friend she laughed it off.

Here's where the funny part comes in. Apparently shortly after I talked to Ruth, she called our mutual friend Camie. Camie is also a single girl who is able to stress over trivial things. When Ruth asked Camie how she was, Camie went on to complain about leaving her favorite shampoo at Ruth's house (Camie lives in Virgina and Ruth in Pennsylvania) and being upset that she wouldn't get it back anytime soon. Camie also realized she was complaining about something stupid. Again, Ruth, being such a great friend, laughed and said it was funny because she had just listened to me complain about swimsuits.

Poor Ruth - having to listen to us stupid single girls bitch about random things. I'm sure she's thinking, "Seriously? You think that's something to be upset about?" But because she is such a great friend, she would never say so.

Anyway, until I have a family to worry about, I will continue to worry about swimsuits. Luckily, because Camie had experienced some similar swimsuit issues a couple of weeks ago, she knew exactly what I was going through. After she hung up with Ruth, she called me to give me some swimsuit leads. So, I'd like to thank my single and family friends. Single friends for understanding my concerns and my family friends for not mocking me for those concerns.

Picture from Girls' Night

The novelty of my camera has obviously worn out. I haven't posted any pictures from a long time because I hadn't taken any. Yesterday I remembered to take my camera out on the town with me. Here's a picture of me, Alina, and Betty. We had a dinner and a movie girls' night.

Pictures of People I Love

My mom and Zack.

I love this picture!! Zack slept over (that's why they're both in their PJs) and in the morning my mom made sugar cookies with him. Look at my mom's face as Zack tries to pour the sugar.

Zack with a beater full of frosting.

Tara, Lesli, & Alina
Tara had come up from AZ so we had a
Girls' Night of nachos, Rice Krispies treats, and cards.
This is a hilarious picture of her.

Me & Sara with our matching shoes.

Mitch - He's getting so big.

Pirate Birthday Party - Arrrr

How does one best celebrate turning 30? Why, with a pirate themed birthday party, of course. On Friday I had one of the best birthday parties ever. Here are a few pictures.

Pirate Feast

Delicious birthday cupcakes

Katrina helping with the feast.

Team Honest: Me, Mike, & Larissa

Team Cheat: Tim, Alina, & Matt

Pirate Mike - sporting his eye patch.

Pirate Alina - sporting her jewels

Happy Tim - or maybe he's mad

Me with the pirate chest

(there's treasure in there, I promise)

Manly Movies vs. Chick Flicks

This weekend I saw two movies - Cloverfield (manly movie) and 27 Dresses (chick flick). I actually enjoyed both of them, but which one would be victorious? Which one will receive my recommendation? The winner is - the manly movie. That's right, Cloverfield. It was an exciting, surprisinly funny, movie. I was kind of nervous because I knew it was filmed with a hand-held camera, similar to The Blair Witch Project. But, no need to be nervous. It wasn't annoying nor did it give me motion sickness. Not only that, but it actually had a story and characters you care about - at least I did. So, there you go. If you're trying to decide between the manly movie and the chick flick, definitley go with the manly movie.

As a side note, I'd like to thank all my manly (Kevin & Kyle) and chick (Alina, Lesli, Christi, & Larissa) friends for enjoying the movies with me.

Cloverfield

27 Dresses

New Years Eve - Part 2

After dinner with friends, Christi and I went to Jeff's house to rock in the new year playing Rock Band. Here are a few pictures:

Christi with all her foriegn candy

Katrina & Jeff

Me with my instrument of choice

Megan, Jeff, Katrina, Tim, & Jared

More Holiday Pictures

A couple of weeks ago, Katrina threw a lovely Christmas party. We spent the time among friends eating a delicious Christmas dinner and playing Rock Band. Although I was barely recovering from my near death experience (a cold), I had so much fun. Here are a few pictures:

Alina & Me - we look so precious.

Playing Rock Band - that's me on guitar.

Me & Alina singing (or screaming).

Jared playing guitar - look at that rock-n-roll face.

Singing - Jared, Charlotte, Tim, & Lesli.

Rock Band

Matt (and Jared) recently purchased Rock Band. Last night we spent 5 hours rockin' until 1 am. (That is why I don't own any video games - they would turn my house into a den of slack). I must admit, I'm pretty good at the Rock Band. I always thought being a teacher was my life calling, but now I'm not so sure - maybe I was born to rock. Here are a few of our favorite songs:

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Halloween Hilarity

So this weekend I went to a few Halloween parties (Ward Halloween Party & Summer's Halloween Party). I wasn't really in the mood to dress-up so I pulled out my old gypsy costume. This year I give Alina and Shawn the award for best costumes (There is no actual award for this honor). Bishop Bowman's was pretty good too - he gets runner up. Here's a couple of pictures from the festivities.

Ward Party:

Lesli, Alina, & Me (plus the Bishop)

I'm reading people's fortune's by using the Bishop's Date Ball - the Eight Ball for Dating. He seriously uses it to give people counsel. Plus, the Bishop came as Steve Carell from Evan Almighty aka Noah, but he kept saying he was Moses from the movie Evan Almighty. Several times we had to remind him, he was Noah. I even suggested he might want to read The Bible to learn a little more about the two men.

Me playing (and winning Family Feud).

The Family Feud Winners!!

Summer's Party:

The Girls: Val, Alicia, Alina, Me, & Summer

Best Costumes:

Alina as Ugly Betty

America Ferrera as Ugly Betty

Shawn as Alex DeLarge (pictured w/ Val)

Malcom MacDowell as Alex DeLarge

Lesli, This One's For You

Fiesta

Last week, my roommates and I threw a combined birthday fiesta for our friends, Katrina and Matt. I think it went smashingly. We decorated with festive fiesta colors, including a few mini-pinatas and a streamers of chilis. I made 7-layer dip and pina coladas and Alina made sopapillas. It was good times. Here's a few pictures:

Guests of Honor: Katrina & Matt

Katrina & Me (plus delicious food)

Alina & Clark (who's trying to steal sopaipillas)

Katrina & Megan