Projects

I've been working on a few projects lately, some I can't share with you just yet. This is my latest project:

A tree skirt that I made for a friend. It was the first one I've ever made. I used the idea from another blog. I changed a few of the instructions and if I were to do it again, I would change a few more. I like it and so does my friend.

Warm the Soles 6

It's that time of year again!  It's the 6th Annual Warm the Soles donation from our school. Warm the Soles is put on by our local credit union to provide shoes and other items for kids in need in our area.  We had each of the students at the school guess how much money we collected using this picture so now it's your turn!  Leave a comment with your guess, if you live close enough to me, I'll bake something for the winner.  Those that already know the answer will be disqualified if they share.

Hamlie's Thoughts on Dating

The conversation of dating comes up quite often in my life with roommates, friends, co-workers, strangers, neighbors, etc.  The conversation changes based on who I am talking to and their relationship status.  Some have a much better understanding of it than others.  Some are quite concerned about my relationship status (or the lack thereof) while others enjoy the dramatic stories I have to tell about my encounters.  It can all be very frustrating at times and seems to be a big game with too many rules to follow or remember but the rules even change from person to person so you have to know which rule book they are using.  I've decided to throw that rule book out and just go with whatever seems to work at the time.

One thing with dating that is kind of touchy for me is being set up on dates.  Honestly, I don't mind a little help getting to know others seeing as my educational and occupational choices haven't really put me in any situations to meet very many guys if any, but there are a few things to keep in mind when setting someone up on a blind date:

1. Height does not determine personality!  This is a big one for me seeing as most dates that I've been set up on are determined by height.  Just because we are both short doesn't mean that we're meant for each other.  I'm sure it's the same for someone tall being set up with someone else who is tall.  Also, don't set me up with someone tall just because you know I don't like being set up with someone because he's short, it's basically the same thing.  If you know he and I will get along and he just happens to be short as well, then ok.
2. Just because two people are single doesn't mean they are a match.  It seems like if height isn't the deciding factor, that just being single is.
3. Do you really know both people and think they would actually enjoy each other's presence?  This kind of ties in to the first two.  I've had people set me up with someone that a friend of theirs knew without them actually meeting the prospective date first to judge compatibility.  It really didn't work out well.  In fact, I even have an interesting story that resulted in a scalded tongue and not being able to taste anything for a week because of one of these dates.

Many analogies are used to reference this lovely topic and I use them quite openly when talking to others (it's somewhat entertaining to see who picks up on what).  One of my favorites was recently told/used in a regional conference by Elder Dallin H. Oaks who was quoting another (Kathy Grant, Ensign June 2002):

"The situation of a Church member who is single can be illustrated by a simple analogy. Imagine that your favorite hobby is stargazing and you’ve just joined a stargazing club. You come to your first club activity eager to participate. It’s a cold night, but you’re not concerned: most of the club members are wearing club jackets, and you’ve been told you should be able to get one as well. But there is no jacket for you. You ask about it, and you are told to keep looking and that if you do your best, you will find a jacket when the time is right.

"Meanwhile, you are getting pretty cold and a little worried. And you notice that most of the other club members are talking about how nice and warm their jackets are. In fact, throughout the evening the topic surfaces continually in various forms: how to wash and dry your jacket, how to add extra pockets, how to mend it, and so forth. Some of the club members notice you don’t have a jacket. “You really need a jacket for these activities,” they tell you. “Why don’t you have one yet?”"

My friends and I like to reference this one quite a bit.  In fact, just tonight, Sara and I were talking about it and she asked me what kind of jacket I see myself wanting.  She was surprised that the jacket I envision isn't a real sporty/athletic jacket.  Truthfully, I envisioned something along the lines of :

Of course, it would be good layered possibly with a hoodie underneath (a little sport action happening).  It also doesn't hurt that the shoulders are emphasized a bit.  My question though is shouldn't I be looking for a jacket that would look good on me?  I mean, I could wear this one too, but is that the way it should work?

O Come, Emmanuel

This year I have decided to spend each day learning more about Christ.  I have read some familiar stories and scriptures and I have also read some talks by prophets and apostles that I was not familiar with.  It has been a great experience so far and I plan to continue until at least Christmas.  You should join me in my studies, I highly recommend it.

To start you off, I am sharing one of my favorite Christmas songs with a favorite video:

I Lost My Voice

I haven't had much of a voice the last two days so I haven't had many conversations lately so my dad suggested that I catch up on my blog.  I guess it's almost been a month since my last post.

I went home for Thanksgiving this year.  I hadn't done that since I moved to Utah so about eleven years.  It just never made a lot of sense to pay for a flight to spend a couple of days and then fly back only to repeat it a few weeks later for Christmas.  I have a good chunk of family here so it's not like I was alone for the holiday.  This year, I used some miles for a free flight and was going to spend five days at home.  My flight out was cancelled due to winds in San Francisco and I was rescheduled on the next available flight which was 24 hours later.  I didn't know what to do with my extra day.  I got to see all of my siblings, their spouses and childrens, plus a few cousins, aunts, and uncles.  Thanksgiving day was good, we ate food and enjoyed the company.  I went to Wal-Mart for some Black Friday shopping with the siblings, we picked up a few good items but weren't willing to put our lives on the line for anything else.  We took some family pictures on Friday.  It was all well and good until we all started throwing up on Saturday.  I was the last to go and Mom never did get sick.  I bounced back pretty quickly, I had to, I was flying back to Utah the next day.  None of us went to church due to the sickies and Mom staying up taking care of the baby and the sickies.  My flight back was delayed three hours.  It was a good thing that I had already decided to call in sick for work on Monday as I didn't get to my house until 1:30 Monday morning.  I emailed my sub plans to my co-workers and slept as long as I could.

As much as I bounced back fairly quickly out of necessity, I have been pretty tired since then.  I've been going to bed before midnight most nights (shocking, I know) over the last two weeks and some nights before eleven (didn't think that was possible, huh?).  I think that and the fact that it's so dry here is what led to me losing my voice.  It's quite sad.  We had a ward activity up in Heber and my roommate and I were going to spend the night with everyone else, but with my feeling poorly and it being cold, we opted to stay for karaoke (that didn't help the voice situation either) and then head home for the night.  I slept in until 10 the next morning and felt justified in our decision.  My voice comes and goes, but I was really sad because today was the Sacrament meeting where we get to sing all the Christmas songs and I could only half-sing half of the songs before I'd start getting wheezy and need a drink.  I'm feeling just fine, just a little hoarse.  It's a good thing I'm not teaching tomorrow...I'm going to my "Park City" group, but we're staying in town for this one and touring the local alternative high school.

In other news...I've made progress in doing hard things.  No, I won't share what these hard things were, but I'm impressed with myself that I actually did them.  Go me!

Rules of Blogging

I have a few rules for myself when it comes to blogging or writing emails, most of which came about out of necessity.  The most important rule is that I am not allowed to blog or email anything after 11pm or when I am jet lagged...some of you have witnessed the times that instigated the rule, some of you weren't fast enough to get to your computers before I became sane again and deleted the post.  Another rule is that I shouldn't write when I'm frustrated, this gets broken more often.

***

That's how my blog post started this evening, but then I kept going.  I decided to follow my own rules and not post the original post that I wrote.  I saved it for myself, but I don't think it will ever be published.  You see, I was frustrated and I really spilled my guts about some things.  I learned quite a bit about myself and made a few decisions as well, but I'm following my rules tonight, so you won't get to be enlightened by my insightfulness, sorry.

In the meantime...yeah for Thanksgiving break!  I only have two more days of school before I get a few days off.  The only problem is that I have to be observed by my principal on one of those two days and I still haven't decided what I'm going to show him just yet.  It wouldn't be a big deal on any other week because I'd already have things planned out, but these two days are a bit of a fluff and most teachers are just trying to survive.  We'll see how it goes.  :)

Grandpa Always Has the Best Ideas

I have to fix a broken shower handle.  It's really not that difficult of a thing to fix and I can do it, but it will require more steps than it should.  I called my parents to run my ideas past them and my grandpa was in the car so he shared his idea on how I can fix it:

Step 1: Put on a t-shirt
Step 2: Start the job, get sufficiently wet
Step 3: Once wet, go find one of my single, cute male neighbors and tell them I need help
Step 4: Have single, cute male neighbor fix it

Thanks, Grandpa!

Board Meeting

I went to the state board meeting today.  Alece, Sarah, Kathrine, and Dwight went with me.  I was recognized along with the other PAEMST finalists.  It took all of fifteen minutes (maybe) and we all got a nice piece of paper with our names on it.  My entourage kept eyeing my competition, they think I'll win...we'll see.

Afterwards, Dwight showed us this awesome cookie place in Salt Lake called Ruby Snap.  We all bought a box of gourmet cookies.  I've never spent so much on a cookie before, but they were delicious and I figured I deserved it.  We tried to go to an amazing BBQ place but the line was ridiculous so we went to the Cheesecake Factory instead.  

Me and the state superintendent:

5 days

Lately a lot of people have been hearing me ask for five days.  I just want to have five days in my classroom without me having to go somewhere else.  In the last couple of months, I have been involved in lots of opportunities and responsibilities as a and for a teacher.  The problem is that all of these opportunities takes me away from the classroom and then I feel quite disjointed.  I like to keep my students in the loop as to when they'll have a sub as they tend to respond better about the whole thing.  It's gotten to a point that they know when I approach the calendar that I'm about to tell them I'm going to be gone again.  It's also gotten to the point that if I give them the heads up about an upcoming quiz or test, they ask if I'm going to be gone as all of my absences fell on test and quiz days for awhile.

One of these opportunities takes me away one or two days a month.  I get to participate in a program through our district called Associates.  I've only gone once now and will be going again in a couple of weeks.  We basically get to spend two days talking to educators about education, public schools, and democracy (at least that's what we did last month, let's see what we get to talk about this month).  It's been quite enjoyable even if I do have homework and reading assignments to complete.  We get to talk about some things that I haven't experienced or seen since I was attending public schools and that I sometimes feel that my co-workers don't necessarily understand.

Another opportunity is coming this Friday.  I haven't really told many people about this one (my students don't even know why I'm really going to be out of class that day), but here goes.  A couple of months ago, I was invited to attend a state board of education board meeting to be recognized for my accomplishments in science teaching.  The state is recognizing each of the three state finalists for the PAEMST award this year (no, I still haven't heard any results on that and won't until this spring).  When I asked my principal if I could/should go, he told me most definitely and I then asked if I should just take a personal day since I'd be missing school.  He told me no.  I asked if I should hurry back by lunch so we'd only have to get a half-day sub.  He told me no.  I don't know how to spend the rest of my Friday.  I have a few projects to work on, maybe I'll do that.

Zooey Deschanel

Last week a random lady told me that I was pretty.  I was flattered.  She also told me that I look like Zooey Deschanel.  I can't say that I'd heard that before, but she's cute so ok.

OCD vs. Stubbornness

I have a confession to make:

People that know me know that I can be quite stubborn.  Pretty much don't tell me what to do and we'll be fine even if it's something I was going to do in the first place.  If you tell me to do something, I'll probably do the opposite.  Don't even appear to think I should do something.  For example, (I finally admitted this the other night) I don't want/like to go out with short guys because that's what everyone else thinks I should be doing, I like to go out with the tall ones.

People who know me also know that I can be slightly OCD at times.  If we're playing cards and the draw or discard pile becomes askew, I must stop and straighten it.  Rules are pretty important to me as well.

I have been thinking about these two things lately and started wondering which is stronger.  I realized that my stubbornness is definitely the winner with the following example:

I was talking to a friend quite awhile ago and he mentioned how some people must do certain things like when you change the volume on the TV or radio, the number it's set to has to be an even number.  He then called me out and asked if I was that type of person.  I am except I also use any multiple of five (they're very "clean" numbers).  From that moment on, I purposely set my volumes to an odd number.  It drives me crazy, but no one will tell me what I do!

Student Quote from Last Month

Ok, so I'm a little late with this one, I've told a few people and not all laugh, but I think it's hilarious:

Working on maps of the world identifying languages spoken.

Student: This is all interesting, but where do Asians come from?
Me (being facetious): Asia.

Waiting for student to clarify the question...

Student: Oh yeah.

Student Quote of the Day

We were working on a bit of an art project today so I was pouring paint out into little plastic cups as students needed it.  I was squeezing some white out when two students behind me noticed it was quite thick:

Student 1: It looks like mayonnaise.
Student 2: It does.  What do some people have against mayonnaise?
Student 1: I don't know.  People in the 80's didn't like mayonnaise.

Say what?  I don't recall the 80's being a decade full of mayonnaise haters.

Sorry

Sorry, friends.  I've been pretty busy so I haven't had much time to update anything lately.  Here's a Reader's Digest version:

Ever since Steven and Randi moved away, I've been in charge of managing a few apartments.  Last week I suddenly had two open up (I only had a slight heads up on one of them).  I've been cleaning, advertising, showing, etc. these apartments all week.  I finally have two new tenants set up so that is good, but now I have to replace a toilet (don't flush things that shouldn't be flushed).

School has been really good lately.  My class gets my sense of humor (at least a majority of the time).  I've been laughing at them too so it's all good.  Best story of the week: I decided to go over district policies with my class as I hadn't really done that yet, but I had a student who was kinda pushing the boundaries with dress and grooming standards, so I highlighted all of them.  Right as I'm finishing up the policy on no student cell phones, my phone starts vibrating in my pocket.  I usually have my phone off and in my purse during the school day but I had just turned it on at lunch as I was checking voice mails about the apartments and instead of turning it off again, I silenced it and kept it in my pocket...no big deal, except when I pushed the silence button to make it stop vibrating, I accidentally pushed the speaker phone button instead and it started talking to me.  We all laughed as they told me no cell phones in school.

We had super hero dress up day at school on Thursday.  I wanted to go as the Hulk but then I realized that night was temple night and the next day was school picture day so I probably shouldn't paint myself green.  Maybe for Halloween.

Church is great.  We had a majority of the ward move out and new people move in so I have a lot of names to learn.  I also had to completely redo the visiting teaching routes which involved all of the sisters' names on slips of paper I kept moving around my table.  It's pretty much perfect but then more sisters moved in this week so I'll have to play with it some more soon.

The CES fireside tonight with Elder Holland was great!  I highly recommend you watch or read it if you didn't have the opportunity to watch it tonight.

Best Student Email Ever

I just checked my work email just in case a student or co-worker needed help with anything and I saw this from one of my students:

It pretty much made my week.

New School Year

It's been two weeks since my last post so I figured I should at least check in.

School started again, I have to like wake up on time in the mornings again...it wasn't too bad at the beginning but it's gotten harder with each new day.  The first week of school is exhausting!  I usually don't take naps, but I pretty much fell asleep on my couch when I got home this last Wednesday.  I have a good class so far this year.  They all seem pretty happy and very active.  There are a few chatty ones, but that always happens, they just happen to be boys this year.  In fact, most of my students are boys: 17 boys to 11 girls...a little backwards compared to previous years, but not too bad.

I have a new co-worker this year.  He should be fun to work with.  I think we're still trying to get in the routine of everything so we're still figuring things out.

My home life hasn't been too bad either.  I haven't done all that much since school started, but I've been tired.  Nothing super exciting to report.

One Photo...

My principal just asked the staff to send him a photo of something fun we have done this summer.  My response: Just ONE?!?!  How do I wrap up my entire summer in one photo or pick just one to represent the awesomeness that it was?  I told him that I had narrowed it down to only twenty pictures to choose from, but wasn't sure if I could just pick one as my summer was so awesome that the only thing to make it better would be an engagement.  I told Sara that we needed to take a picture of me wearing/holding a hard hat, head lamp, snorkel mask, hiking boots, sunglasses, swimsuit, guitar, an ice cream cone, and a sewing needle while riding on  a roller coaster through a cave...that will work, right? I also made a collage, but I still need to pick just one in case he's doing something specific with it.

Dang it! I'm a Freakin' Mansion!

I've come to many realizations about myself and my life lately.  I've found that some of these realizations truly are new to me while others have been known for awhile just not fully formed or "vocalized" to myself.  One of my recent realizations is one that I've had at least an inkling towards, but maybe didn't quite want to admit it.  There have been several things in my life that I said I never wanted to do but ended up doing them (live in Utah, go to BYU, get a masters degree, etc.), my recent life has brought about another "not gonna happen" moment going down the drain.  I finally admitted to myself that I never wanted to be any sort of leader or do great/amazing/awe inspiring things.  I've told some people this and they think I'm crazy.  I've done some great things, but it's the great/amazing/awe inspiring things that lead to grand recognition that I never wanted to do, I just don't like the lime light.  I've finally come to grips that I do, have done, and will do some great/amazing/awe inspiring things in my life and I guess it's ok.

These thoughts made me think about a story that has been told in many YW and Sunday School lessons.  It's taken from C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity about how we should see our lives as a living house that God is rebuilding.  We see all of the necessary things like a roof and plumbing taking place and things are all fine and dandy until he comes in with a sledge hammer and starts knocking down walls.  While this is all happening, you're freaking out that you thought your life was just fine as this cute, little cottage with a quaint garden path and he's going at you like nothing else.  In the end, you realize that what you had in mind was not as grand as what He had in mind.  You thought you'd be happy as a little cottage, but He had greater plans for you as He knew you would make a great mansion.  So here I am, finally seeing that I'm not going to be a cottage (as cute as I am as a cottage and perfectly content with the whole cottage idea), instead I'm thinking, "Crap! I'm a freakin' mansion!  Do I have to? Oh, alright, fine!  But can I at least have a water slide or pick the color to paint the bathrooms?"

Free Time

My free time starting to reduce drastically as school approacheth, in fact I just got back from doing my school shopping.  All of the notebooks, pencils, markers, etc. have been purchased.  So, knowing that I only have two weeks left, what am I doing with my remaining days?

* I'm finally getting to all of those summer cleaning projects I've been neglecting as I traversed the nation.

* I talk to my family a bit more as we're all on summer break right now.

* I'm trying to get back on a regular sleep schedule which is a bit easier this year than in prior years because my body is still on the Eastern Time Zone.

* Some reading is happening, not as much as last year, but last year's summer wasn't as action packed.

* I'd say I'm hanging our with all of my friends, but they all seem to be at work or out of town this week...maybe next week.

* Baking...I made muffins yesterday.

* Sewing.  I stumbled across a program through Downy (the fabric softener) called Touch of Comfort and they partnered up with Quilts for Kids.  They are gathering up quilts to send to children that are hospitalized.  The quilts have certain specifications (including all machine stitching) but you can also request a kit to be sent to you where all the fabric is provided and cut for you, you just need to provide the batting, the time, and shipping back.  They also ask, if you can, to include another quilt or two from your own fabric to increase the number of quilts they can get to kids.  I requested a kit to check things out and I made the following quilt:

I think it's pretty cute and I had a fun time making it.  I then made the following quilt with my own fabric:

I really like how this one turned out, I'm almost somewhat tempted to keep it, but I can always make another one if and when needed.

Ohio Pictures

The last post had all of the info, here are some pictures from the trip:

The John Johnson Farm in Hiram, OH.  Joseph and Emma Smith stayed with the Johnsons for a while.  It was here that the 76th section of the Doctrine and Covenants was received and also where Joseph was dragged from his bed, tarred, and feathered.

Kirtland, OH.  We didn't have much time here as we were trying to make it to a play being put on by the local stake so we made sure to stop by the Newell K. Whitney store and the temple.

Cleveland, OH and the Rock and Roll Museum and Hall of Fame.

My car hit 10,000 miles while we were in Ohio.

Cedar Point Amusement park in Sandusky, OH.  We spent two days here enjoying as much as we could.

Nauvoo, IL.  We came mostly for the pageant which was amazing, but we also got to wander the town a bit and also the temple grounds.

St. Louis, MO.  We stopped just long enough to visit the arch as I wanted to go there because of the chapter from Rick Riordan's book The Lightning Thief.  I was amazed at just how little room there was in the tram/elevator to the top, the chapter makes more sense now that I've been there.

After St Louis, we started driving and driving and driving.  We did stop for dinner in the Kansas City, MO area so Sara could spend some time with her brother.

It was a really good trip, I'm glad we were able to go.  We sure do try and pack in the adventures on our trips though.  I'm ready for a vacation from my vacation.  School starts for me in just over two weeks so I better get everything done now that I'm back in town.

Ohio and Back

I've been home for a few days now and am ready to give an overview of our trip east.  This trip took me through ten different states, spending 67 hours in the car, and traveling 4,070 miles.

Things I learned or was reminded of on this trip:
-Nebraska is boring
-Iowa is really pretty compared to Nebraska
-Toll roads are annoying
-Ohio is humid
-Ohio backroads are beautiful
-Skittles are beautiful and tasty things
-Kansas is boring but it's better if driving through it in the dark
-I can only handle three and a half days without my alone time
-The most boring part of a bag of Chex Mix is the pretzels
-I could never live in the east with my family in California just for the time difference
-It is best to have a friend you can randomly text while sitting in the car waiting for the driving to be over
-Not all hotel beds were created equal

The only state license plate we did not see on the trip: Hawaii

Points of interest visited:
-John Johnson Farm in Hiram, OH
-Kirtland, OH
-Cleveland, OH
-Rock and Roll Museum and Hall of Fame
-Cedar Point (amusement park in Sandusky, OH)
-Nauvoo, IL
-St. Louis, MO
-St. Louis Gateway Arch

Other things to mention:
-Spent two days at Cedar Point--rode all of the roller coasters and a few other rides, saw a couple of shows, and ate good food.
-We rode the tallest and fastest rollercoaster at Cedar Point: Top Thrill Dragster--waited in line almost two hours for a 17 second ride, went straight up 420 feet at 120 mph with only a seat belt and lap bar holding you in!



-Got into Nauvoo just as it was closing down so we didn't get to see much but still walked around town and the temple grounds
-Saw two different pagaents/performances: Kirtland and Nauvoo
-The YSA branch in Cleveland is very nice but small in a very small building in a sketchy area downtown
-My car hit 10,000 miles on the trip...we were in Ohio.  It also hit 11,000 and 12,000 miles.

2012 Travels

I have done quite a bit of traveling not just this summer, but since the beginning of the year.  I've been keeping track of the places I've been and the miles I've travelled by car and it's quite impressive.  I've kept you up to date on each trip, but here is a combined record of my 2012 travels so far (really just since the end of February).

States and Countries I've been in/through (in order of entrance):
Utah
California
China
Colorado
New Mexico
Texas
Florida
Mexico
Belize
Honduras
Grand Cayman
Nevada
Wyoming
Nebraska
Iowa
Illinois
Indiana
Ohio
Missouri
Kansas

Days spent out of town: 45 (that's 21% of the year so far)

Number of hours travelled by car: 120+

Number of miles travelled by car: 7,065

Number of hours travelled by plane: 40+

This trips included a trip to China, driving Aleisha home, a cruise, a family reunion, visiting some friends from college, and a road trip to Ohio and back.

I'm ready to stay home for a while.

Ohio Milestones

Today my car hit 10,000 miles while driving down the 480 in Ohio. We made sure to take a picture but I will have to post it later. In other news, I am enjoying Ohio. The drive has been much better now that we are out of Nebraska. While driving around the Hiram and Kirtland areas yesterday, I had many moments where I wished I had a thesaurus so I could use something other than "quaint" or "picturesque". If I hadn't been driving, I would have taken a lot of pictures of all of the country roads we were driving on. Rolling hills, trees, flowers lining the roads. There was one particular road on the way to the Johnson farm that was exceptionally beautiful as it had a white farm house, green fields, trees hanging over the road and a windmill! I'm pretty sure I squealed when I turned the corner and saw the view.

Good News!

I have two pieces of good news for you today:

1. My blog has reached over 3,000 page views!  I'd like to thank my readers for their support...or their stalkerish tendencies, whatever applies to you I suppose.

2. Every summer I create a to-do list of things that I would like to accomplish before school starts again.    I keep this list on my mirror and erase each item as it is completed.  I have completed several things so far but with today's accomplishments of booking hotels for a trip and buying a spare tire, "boyfriend"is now on the top of the list!  Ok, so maybe I just listed these things as they came to mind, not necessarily according to importance, although having a spare tire is pretty important.

Return from Florida

After being gone on our adventures for so long, Colette and I were really looking forward to heading back to the real world and our own beds.  Nothing too exciting happened, but the day's happenings could be called adventurous.

We checked out of our hotel just before 11:00 but then had a few hours before we needed to be at the airport.  We decided to go check out a town called Celebration as it was originally owned by Disney and made so that no cars were allowed.  We got there and found that it was no longer owned by Disney and was very much like a regular town except with narrow one-way roads.  We saw a few gators in the local ponds and thought the town to be cute.  We found a few indoor flea markets and shops and mostly just browsed.  We eventually made it to the airport and then split ways with Sara as she was flying home on a different airline but would be landing in SLC about the same time as our flight.  I had never been in the Orlando airport and found it quite interesting that there is a hotel in the middle of the airport!  I guess that could be convenient but it was weird!  All of the rooms looked out over a courtyard that was the lines for the security check point.

Colette and I had a layover in Denver.  We had to wait to land due to weather, not too big of a deal as we had time before our next flight and if we couldn't land, that meant no one could take off so we wouldn't miss our flight.  The problem was that the weather didn't go away.  When it came time for our flight to be taking off and we were still sitting in the terminal, the airline people got on the intercom to explain that federal regulations were that there had to be  ten minutes between lightning strikes before any planes could take off, the problem was that we saw lightning outside the window every twenty to thirty seconds as this was being explained.  We knew Sara was on her plane so we couldn't call and explain this to her so we sent a text she would see when she landed.  We were about thirty to forty-five minutes late when we finally boarded which was awesome to finally do, but then we had to wait in line on the tarmac for at least thirty minutes before our turn to take off.

We were about an hour late by the time we finally arrived in SLC and then we had to wait forever for our luggage.  We found Sara, who waited for us (she's an amazing roommate!) and then we were off for home.  It was so nice to be home.  Steven, Randi, and Rowan stayed in our apartment a few days while we were gone as they were moving to California and needed a place for a few days.  It was nice to know they were around to keep an eye on things even if it did confuse my friends and neighbors.  Needless to say, we all went to bed and slept in the next day.

"Cruise" Days 9-11

Day 9 was the last day we were on the ship as it was the day we got back to Tampa.  It was sad to leave a life of no responsibilities and meeting new people, but it was nice to be able to have contact with the outside world as we had our cell phones off all week and didn't have any internet.  It was also nice to be able to buy things and not have them cost at least three times what you'd pay at Target or Wal-Mart.

Our roommate, Sara, had been in Orlando the last few days on business so she drove to Tampa to pick us up.  When we got on the boat, we didn't know what time to tell her to pick us up so we ended up waiting by the aquarium next door for awhile.  It was all well and good as we were able to catch up on voicemails, texts, and facebook, I even attended a church meeting via text while sitting there.  We were heading to Orlando to play for a few days but we couldn't get into our hotel right away so we decided to change into our skirts at a rest stop on the way there and found the local YSA ward so we could attend sacrament meeting.  We still had some time afterwards so we stopped by the Orlando temple and walked around a bit.  After finally checking into the hotel, we all just collapsed, watched TV, read books, and played cards.

Day 10 was our first day playing at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  We got two-day park hopper passes so we could bounce back and forth based on Sara's ride wait time app.  We started out in Harry Potter world so we could make sure we got to do that.  Apparently everyone else had a similar idea.  It was the only time we waited an hour for a ride.  We passed the time by playing games.  After walking through Hogwarts and enjoying that ride, Colette and I rode the Dragon Challenge.  The rest of the day we enjoyed the following rides: Spiderman, Sneetches, Caroseussal, the Mummy, Cat in the Hat, Men in Black, and The Simpsons.  We ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks, I had frozen butterbeer for the first time, it was very delicious.  Colette and Sara were very surprised when I ordered the roasted chicken...it had the most meat (it was half of a chicken) especially for the price and I really needed/wanted protein...it was ok.

That night we went to a dinner show.  Sara and I had both already been to Medieval Times so we decided to try something new called Arabian Nights (sounds cool huh), plus I had a half-off coupon.  It was a good thing we didn't pay full price.  It was a show all based around horses around the world, it turned into a very insensitive cultural show.  We all rolled our eyes when they started playing Enya while a unicorn pranced around with a lady dressed in white dancing all over the place.  The food wasn't very good either.

Day 11 we were back in the parks!  We hit the Incredible Hulk first as we basically walked straight onto the ride and usually there is a very long wait.  It was amazing!  We then headed for the water rides, but there was no wait for Spiderman either so we rode that one again.  We then got really wet on the barges (we rode it twice in a row as there was no one waiting to get on), the log flume (the best log ride I've ever been on, plus it took us to Canada, I didn't know it bordered Florida), and Jurassic Park.  While waiting in line for Jurassic Park, we started talking to a man and his daughter, they were from Great Britain and were amazed that Harry Potter has as much hype here as it does for them back home, they were also a little concerned that they would be getting as wet as we already were on the ride as we were soaked completely through.

We walked through Harry Potter again but decided it was too crowded to stick around.  We then tried to ride the Mummy again but the line was too long for our liking.  We "rode" Disaster which was really more of a audience participation "show" where they had people film short clips and used special effects in a film we all watched at the end, it was entertaining.  We rode Men in Black again and then tried to ride ET but the ride broke down so we went to wait for the animal show to start.  While we were watching the show, it started raining like crazy!  Thunder, lightning, pouring rain, the whole bit!  After the show, no one wanted to leave because of the rain, but we were still wet from before so we went splashing through the puddles to get to some indoor rides as all of the outdoor rides were closed because of the lightning.  We rode The Mummy twice (our favorite ride, plus all of the fire in the ride felt nice since we were so wet).  Afterwards, we left the park to go get something to eat and planned to come back later for a anniversary show.  We ate at a place called Steak n' Shake, it was very good and the waitress was very surprised when she came back to check on us and we were already done eating...we were very hungry and Julie really likes burgers.  We went back to the hotel to hang out before the show, but then it rained some more so we decided to not go back.

Cruise Day 8

This was our last full cruise day.  We spent the entire day at sea.  We thought that since we were going to be on the ship all day that the cruise line would have more activities planned, but they didn't which was kinda boring, but also relaxing.  

We made sure that no alarms would wake us up and that we were going to sleep in and we did until some random banging outside woke us up.  We finally emerged from our rooms to go eat breakfast at the buffet, we also decided to pick up a few items that we could eat while we were in Orlando the next day.  There was a towel folding demonstration that we checked in on, but decided not to stay.  The rest of the day was spent reading interspersed with naps.  We left the room mostly to eat.  At lunch, the ship provided a chocolate buffet...it really wasn't all that grand pretty much just a chocolate fountain and chocolate based desserts at the dessert bar.  At dinner, I had the mango soup for an appetizer.  I really loved their fruit soups, very delicious!

We tried several nights to go see the sunset over the ocean and most nights it was either too windy to go outside, too cloudy to see the sunset, or we were stuck in the middle of dinner.  As this was our last night, we were bound and determined to see it so we planned to go outside right after dinner.  The problem we ran into was that I left my camera in the room so we ran back to capture it as well.

We caught the end of the gender battle on the ship...the girls won.  Immediately following that, we stayed to watch/play/participate in The Liars Club.  They had three people working on the ship tell us stories to define words (like the game Balderdash) and we had to guess who was being truthful.  IT was entertaining.  We packed up our suitcases that night and then went to show time but I don't remember what the show was.

I Completely Understand

I just got home from church and checked the blogs I normally read and I came across a gem that my cousin wrote here about a particular group of friends she has and I completely understand and can relate (we must be related or something).  I'm glad that I'm not the only one and I'm also grateful for these people in my life.  I'm not one who openly attaches myself to many people, but when I do I'm really open but that takes a lot mainly me needing to feel safe and accepted.

Only recently have I realized how much these people mean to me and I usually don't quite understand it or realize what they are to me until they are gone.  So, thank you to my buddies too.

Summer Sundays

I don't like Sundays in the summertime...ok, that's not true, I just don't like them as much...not true either.  I love Sundays!  I guess the best way to put it is that I don't get to enjoy Sundays as much in the summer as I do the rest of the year.  Sundays are definitely my day of rest in the week (after all of my meetings that is, but not really...I'm really not making much sense tonight am I, trust me, I make sense to myself).  When school is in and I have all sorts of responsibilities and worldly things to worry about, Sunday is my day to put it all behind me, to forget it all and just focus on what really matters.  Sunday is a day that I have to myself to ponder, reflect, and bask in the world being put away for a day.  When I'm not in school, every day seems to blend together.  The last two weeks, Sunday has snuck up on me and I have to turn the alarm clock back on and remember to go to church...I don't like that.  I don't want to have to remember to go to church, I want to look forward to going to church.  My roommates hear me say, "Saturday is a special day," quite often as it's the "day we get ready for Sunday", but really I'm thinking to myself, "Sunday is a special day" as it's the day we get ready for everything else.

Family Reunion 2012

Another break from the cruise adventures...

I know I briefly mentioned my trip to California, but nowI have pictures!

Every summer, my mom's side of the family gets together.  This year we went to Lake Tahoe.  We always camp and it's pretty laid back until it's your turn to cook a meal.  On the last full day we're there, we always take family group shots to go with the letters we write to the family filling each other in on the happenings in our lives since the last reunion.  A few years ago, I started writing my own letters as my parents usually didn't say much about me in theirs since I was basically leading my own life.  With my own letter, comes my own photo.  Maybe next year I will take my picture with someone else (at least that's what the family says every year).

So here is a small peek at my immediate family and some of the other happenings of the weekend.  Don't worry, these aren't all the final shots, we just have fun while we're at it:

My parents

Michael
(He is available, so ladies, if you'd like I can give him your contact info)

Diane's family

Me!

Steven's family

Grandpa and Maybelle

A group of us went and found the viking house.  It was quite the hike to get to, but it was interesting to see:

Hanging out around the camp:

 I don't remember what secret I was telling her, it must have been a good one though!

This is one cute kid!  My cousin would have to agree.