Seattle!

Thanks to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (whose "I Have a Dream" speech I just watched with my roommates to appropriately celebrate), I just had a three day weekend! It was especially awesome because I spent it in Seattle! I'd never been there, or anywhere in the Northwest, so it was pretty great. I went up to visit Megan before she heads off to Lubbock forever. We had a blast. I'll try to sum it all up fairly quickly and only put the best pictures in. But, just warning you, it's going to be hard.

I got there on Friday morning. My flight left Salt Lake at 7am. We went right to the city from the airport and started at the classic Pike's Place Market. It was just as great as everyone has always said it is. I loved it. We even saw the guys throw some fish. We took a little jaunt to the gum wall which I thought was pretty awesome, walked around on the pier, went to Dick's Drive In for some burgers, went to the Seattle Library but only for twenty minutes because that's how long we had free parking (ten floors in twenty minutes was a pretty good time...) and then we went to Gasworks Park on Lake Union where you can supposedly see the "Sleepless in Seattle" house. But...even after watching the movie that night, we're not sure which one it is. Bummer. We also went to Freemont that day to visit the Freemont troll. Apparently some people in the town sculpted this troll under an overpass a few years ago. It's pretty great.

The Freemont troll.

At Pike's Place with a fish guy.

The gum wall! Loved it.

At the pier, aka, "Seattle waterfront".

I took about a million pictures of the library (which I absolutely loved) but none of them really do it justice so I'm not going to put any here. Just know that I love it, it is amazing, and everyone should go. Ok, so Saturday. We went back to Seattle and went to the Seattle Center. Not before going to the hugest and greatest REI I have ever experienced however. Oh man. That was amazing. We literally had to hike, complete with waterfall, from the parking garage to the store. So great. So the Seattle Center basically encompasses everything around the Space Needle. We went to the top of the Space Needle and the view turned out way better than we expected so that was nice. We took the monorail to the mall and then back to the Seattle Center, went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner and then went to the Bodies Exhibition. That was really neat. Apparently it was way smaller than the one in Salt Lake was but I really liked it. Neat stuff.

At REI. And loving it.

Me and the Space Needle.

Seattle from the Space Needle.

This picture kills me. They have these signs advertising a building that is half the EMP (Experience Music Project) and half SFM (Science Fiction Museum). So I am the nerd and Megan is the rocker. It's classic. And true.

Sunday we visited Snowqualmie Falls and went to church and on Monday we hung out on the Kirkland Waterfront in the beautiful, sunny, weather. Those Seattleists sure do get excited when the sun comes out. And for good reason. It was beautiful and probably 60 degrees.

Us and the falls.

Sunny Seattle! A miracle!

Even though it's a little painful to admit to the millions of people I know from Seattle that have been bragging about their city for the last four years, I absolutely loved it. I'd go back in a heartbeat. Coming back to Provo, winter and school...not so fun. But that's what makes the trips worth it, right? So thanks for a great time Seattle (and Megan!). I hope to see you both again real soon.

Caution: Ice cubes

So tonight, I pulled an ice cube out of the freezer and stuck it in my mouth and it got stuck to my lips. So, I promptly pulled it off. Unfortunately, part of my lip went with the ice cube and I started bleeding! Isn't that just preposterous? I mean, the thought hadn't even occurred to me that maybe my lips would rip off if I pulled the ice cube away too fast. Was I stupid to not think that or was this some kind of freak incident?

Study Break

The good news: I've taken four finals. The bad news: I have three more. Here it is, midnight in the library, I can't keep my eyes open so I decided...why not blog? I don't really have too much to say other than I cannot wait to be done with these tests. Saturday is going to be a busy day; I will be doing nothing but laying on my couch, sleeping and watching movies. All day. I can't wait. That is the happy thought that is sustaining me right now.

On a happier note, look at my roommates. Aren't we adorable? We took this

picture on "Christmas", which was Sunday in case you missed it. We had a great time.

I think my favorite part of the whole day was playing mom in the morning. I woke up, turned on the Christmas lights, turned on the music, woke all my roommates up saying, "Santa came!" and then made them all line up in height order before they could come out into the living room. :) It was incredible.

This is us after opening all of our presents on "Christmas" morning. I'm sporting my roommates present to me on my feet. Thanks guys. You know I love them.

This next picture just makes me laugh because we actually do this at my house on Christmas day...

And just a little picture to brighten up your day; Jen got me this grow your own Christmas tree kit for a dollar at Target. It was a little frustrating to watch it do nothing for a couple of weeks but now look at it! It'll be a full grown spruce before you know it.

I can't wait until it's three inches tall so I can move it into a bigger pot!

Yep, it's still swollen...

Before I get into the most recent news, I just have to include this picture.

This one's for you Mom. :) Shooting this gun was a blast.

In other news...my ankle is still swollen! Very swollen. And now--very purple.

In this first one, notice how the swelling extends all the way into my toes. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it the first night. Talk about huge. But, this is still pretty convincing.

And here is the purple I was talking about. And this is only from one angle. The bruising goes all the way up to my toes on the top of my foot and it is also on the other side of my ankle. It is a lot of bruising but really no more than you see in any ankle sprain. I've just never seen one on my own foot before so I'm a little stoked about it.

I guess I should also note that it may look worse but it's feeling tons better. After one day of a few skipped classes...I was back to almost a normal gait. Emphasis on almost... And just a general note--yes our carpet is pink. And it is providing the backdrop to all these pictures. It's a little much but we try to love it.

In more uplifting news, we got a Christmas tree! A real one!!

Here's a picture of us at the lot picking it up on Saturday night.

Sunday after the first presidency Christmas devotional, we put on some music, invited some friends over, and decorated the tree! It was so great. Thanks to Marie's parents for the ornaments and lights.

Just getting the ornaments ready for the tree.

Megan made these very delicious and beautiful brownies.

And here's our forest of Christmas trees! The big one is our real tree, the medium one is courtesy of Marie, and that little baby one I'm proud to say is mine--thanks Mom. :)

So Christmas--come and get us! We are ready!

Burgerless and Embarrassed

A few weeks ago, in an attempt to get to know each other outside of the game of racquetball, we had a little racquetball team talent night. Turns out--we're talented. For our talent, Megan and I performed a rousing rendition of the well-loved EFY song "These are the Days". We did it mostly to be funny and it worked out pretty well because the team ended up joining in as back up singers.

Our coach, Val, loved this so much that she decided we should share our talents and testimonies with the young women in her ward. Little did I know that all I would get out of it was stolen food and embarrassment. Let's start from the beginning...

At approximately 6:30pm I drove to campus to pick Megan up from the anatomy lab. We were both starving and decided that we would have enough time to swing by Subway before heading to the activity. We got to Subway only to be greeted by a ten person long line and one amazingly slow worker. One. So...we ran across the street to the Creamery where there was no line and they promised our food would be ready in 5-8 minutes. So we ordered and waited. Bacon guacamole burgers. Is there anything more delicious? As if the line at Subway didn't tip us off that this night was doomed to fail, the ice machine was out of ice. Out of ice! Unbelievable. So we got our food, ran back across the street and got to the church building at 6:57. Three minutes to spare. Val suggested we put our burgers in the fridge before the program. Megan and I were inspired I think to eat a few bites of our burgers before leaving them in the kitchen. They were divine.

We had practiced our song that morning at racquetball practice and decided that we should make copies for everyone before tonight. Surprise, surprise, we all totally forgot. So I ran up to Val, we tracked down someone with library keys and I made seven copies in about two minutes. Hold your applause.

Looking at the program, I discovered that not only was our little musical number first, I was also supposed to give some "comments" before we performed. Yeah, didn't know that. So I made up something on the spot about my young women's experience and then we started. Oh. My. Goodness. I could not play the piano tonight. Once, I totally skipped a line and started playing the next one down. Another time, my page turner turned the page about three measures too soon. After awhile, I suddenly realized that I couldn't hear Megan singing at all. Turns out she lost her voice today because she's been sick. She apparently had a few laughter breakdowns throughout the song and even dropped her music once. It was by far the worst musical number I have ever participated in.

The rest of the program was pretty stellar. Everyone had excellent talents and shared some really profound and inspirational thoughts. Megan and I only detracted a little bit with a few minor fits of laughter. Suffice it to say, we were great examples...

After the program, there were refreshments. Well, what could go wrong with dessert? I'm not sure what happened but somebody touched something and a shower of glass bowls fell onto the kitchen floor and shattered. Then Val comes over, holding an empty bowl, fuming, saying that someone (presumably the young men) had eaten every single one of her cookies that she'd made. We were already feeling bad for the boys who would experience the Wrath of Val until Megan and I opened the fridge and discovered our guacamole bacon burgers had been eaten. Completely demolished. That really set Val off. I was almost in tears thinking of the poor suckers who ate those burgers and they fate they didn't know awaited them.

At 6:57, we strutted into a church building, full of hope and anxiously awaiting delicious burgers. At 8:33 we left the church--burgerless and embarrassed. Now, when I initially started this post, that was the end of the story. But never fear, the disaster lives on. Tonight we had an intramural soccer game--the semis. We're kind of a big deal (in division III...). It's the second half, we're tied 1-1, I attack a girl with the ball and the next thing I know, our legs are tangled up together and I'm on the ground with this awful burning sensation in my ankle. That's right, my first athletic injury. My ankle is swelled up to...I'd say about the size of a racquetball :) right now and I'm trying to treat myself using all the techniques I've been learning in school for 2 years now. It's going quite well and I think I'll be up and at 'em in no time (Mom, if you're reading this before I tell you, I really am a-ok and I didn't call you tonight because it's midnight there and it's definitely not worth waking you up so you can worry all night (: ).

Sorry about the novel but how's that for a night? Better luck tomorrow...

Recent Happenings

We attempted to go up the canyon and look at the fall colors but...turns out we were a couple weeks late. But we did see some somewhat stellar shots (how about that alliteration) of the sunset/Provo. Good times.

Then of course there was Halloween. I decided this year that Halloween is really overrated. Especially for college students. Living in Provo. Even here Halloween equals huge dance parties. And...I just don't generally enjoy myself in those settings. So Brian and dressed up (he's a game show host and I am a rugby player which is yes, if you are observant the same thing I was last year but if you look closely I added a bloody nose this year which I think is a nice touch) and went down to Mapleton to hang out with our aunt and uncle that really go all out for their trick or treaters. Then, I just dropped by a couple of parties and ended up at Applebee's having some drinks (non alcoholic of course...) with some friends. Good times.

The next day I made my great-great-great grandmother's sugar cookies, a ton of frosting, and had a bunch of friends over for some good old cookie decorating. It was a great time. I felt like a kid again.

And you can thank Shayla for the artistic approach to this shot.

And that's about it. There's not a whole lot else going on. The Springville football team won yet another playoff game on Friday so that means we're going up to the U on Thursday to play in the semifinals. Good times.

Squash, Corn and Size 20 Tennis Shoes

So we have this little inside family joke. Nobody I've ever told it to outside of my family sees the hilarity in it. But humor me anyway. A few years ago while shopping at Macey's, my mom and siblings found a gigantic squash and decided to buy it for Jen. Just for kicks. And I mean--gigantic. Like, twenty or thirty pounds. It was hysterical. She was making things with squash for a looong time. The next year, we got her another giant squash. Don't worry, it was just as funny. Then...my mom found a gigantic plastic ear of corn, couldn't contain herself, and mailed it to Jen. So that's the history behind this blog post.

My mom works at Marshall's (which for you Utah people is a lot like TJ Maxx or Ross) and one day found a pair of size 20 tennis shoes. Twenty!! What a perfect addition to the large and useless things to give to Jen list. She bought them for five dollars, shipped them to Utah and told my brother and I to find some creative way to give them to Jen. We racked our brains and finally decided that we would just make them part of her Halloween costume and then drop it at her door. Are you ready for the final product?

Priceless. You probably have to know my sister to really appreciate this picture. But it was so fantastic. If you don't think it's funny, just focus on the shoes. They are amazingly huge. Apparently Shaq's are two sizes bigger than that. Fun fact for the day.

Another amazing news flash--I went to haunted house this weekend and enjoyed myself! I know, right? As a general rule, I despise haunted houses. But for some reason or another this weekend, whether it was the company, an increase in maturity level, the smart comments I attempted to make back at the scarers, or some other unknown factor, I actually had a good time. And I feel great about it.

And that is all. Have a great week!