The Christmas Season

This year for Christmas, Paula (my mother-in-law) flew in from Colorado on Christmas Eve and we drove up to Idaho to spend the holidays with Ashton's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other extended family. Although I had been up there once (we stayed at his grandparent's house for a night on our way up to Yellowstone last year), I had never spent a holiday up there. There was never a dull moment and I was in for a ride.

We started the festivities out with present opening Christmas Eve night at Doug and Shelley's house (Aunt and Uncle, but not in that order). There I met a few cousins and we all enjoyed a lot of talking and general craziness. Ashton was finally established an adult as he was 9th in line to open presents (it went oldest to youngest, each opening a present per round). I, on the other hand, was established as part of the kids still.

The next morning, we woke up to snow and wind. That afternoon, everyone was supposed to go back to Doug and Shelley's to open up stockings, which Santa had filled with goodies during the night while we slept. Ashton and I, however, were both sick with the flu and so Grandma Jan, Grandpa Bish, Aunt Nan (Grandma Jan's sister), and Paula went without us. So, we enjoyed a quiet house and curled up on the couch to take a 3 hour nap, which we took an hour at a time as we would wake each other up when we had to get up to use the bathroom. We finished out the evening with soup, crackers, old episodes of the Muppet Show, and opening up our stockings when they were brought back for us. It doesn't sound like much, but we had a good time anyways.

The next day went better, as both Ashton and I had recovered pretty well from our sickness. The girls, Aunt Nan, Grandma Jan, Paula, Shelley, and I, all went out for lunch and shopping up in Idaho Falls, while the boys stayed home and did whatever it is that boys do (I guess they had adventures of their own and Ashton worried about how I was doing with the posse). We had some adventures even before we got out of the parking lot in Shelley's truck. Aunt Nan got teased quite a bit throughout the day, but put up with it pretty well. She was happy though when people found a new target.

We first stopped at Aunt Sharon's (Grandpa Bish's sister) where we marveled at her beautifully decorated house. After that, we had lunch and then headed to the Mall. We had some good times in there with a lot of teasing and hunting for good deals.

After we got back, we played some cards. They all taught me how to play "Hand and Foot," which turned out to be really entertaining and the girls, of course, won. There was a lot of laughter and jokes. I probably showed a little too much of my "true colors" as I joined in the teasing and I guess did too well for my first time playing for Grandpa Bish's liking. (His parting words were, "The word is, 'revenge'." Followed promptly by Paula's, "Remember, don't listen to anything he says.")

The following day, we headed back to Utah. We had a few delays, because of some only partially cleared roads, traffic because of the roads, and a dirty windshield that wouldn't come clean because the windshield wiper fluid wouldn't come out until after we made it into the Salt Lake airport. We had to stop a few times to throw some snow on the windshield. We made it, however, and without too many problems.

All in all, a good vacation.

Snow

It snowed yesterday and I couldn't help, but take some pictures. I didn't take pictures before it stopped snowing, but there was plenty of snow on the bushes so they became my focal point. So here they are!

Christmas Celebration

So, here's the moment some of you have been waiting for. A picture post! It's been long overdue, but that couldn't be helped. Last night we went up to my father-in-law's house for a Christmas celebration with his family. We had a great time and of course, got some great pictures.

We watched Sadie while Nate, Anjanette, and Ashton's dad took Katelyn sledding.
Sadie was pretty fascinated by Ashton.

Katelyn wearing the Santa hat.

Then started a game of passing around the hat.

Ok, last Santa hat picture. He retracted his condition of this not going online. hehe

Teach Grandpa to lie on the floor...

All together

Small, Quiet Moments

As always, life has its ups and downs. Sometimes more ups than downs and sometimes more downs than ups. One of the hardest things for me recently is to learn to appreciate the small and quiet moments, and to recognize them for their importance in life and in healing.

People often can point out one or two big moments that have changed their lives. I think that it's easy to recognize the big moments as important instances, even big moments of crisis have their role. In these moments, I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned how I deal with my problems and how I don't deal with my problems.

And having grown up in a life full of crisis and stress, I feel at home there. Although my whole life I've been waiting to be done with school, and the stress that comes with school, the fact is, I hardly know what to do with myself now that I don't have that. I realized the other day, that I tend to create some problems where there aren't any, feeling that life has to be intense in order to progress. To reassure some of you, I don't create extreme problems out of thin air, making things up, and picking fights, or anything of the sort. I guess a more appropriate or accurate way of saying it is that when things are quiet and calm, I have a tendency to think that something is wrong, or sometimes it's that I feel something will go wrong.

I'm coming to the realization, however, that these moments of calmness are just as important, if not more important to life. I've always believed that the small actions in life, such as smiling at a stranger, say a lot more than the big actions. I've just never extended that to seemingly small, quiet moments. I feel, however, that it's these small moments that create the future moments. Taking the time in a calm moment, when everything seems right, to ponder and reflect brings me peace and happiness. It, somehow, makes everything seem worth the stress and heartache, and can even make a happy time even happier.

I think that's what those moments are all about, building up a storage of good moments to sustain us through whatever we face. It just takes some time getting used to stopping and enjoying the calmness.

Adjustments

Well, this week starts the beginning of a few crazy weeks. Since Ashton has a new job, he gets to start a new work schedule. Although he found out Wednesday, he couldn't find the right moment to tell me until he started talking about it at the dinner table at Thanksgiving with his family. Why this was the right moment or why he needed a "right moment," I don't know. I don't overreact at all....umm moving on.

So his new schedule, while fairly normal Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays (normal being starting at 7 and getting home at 5:30), Mondays and Wednesdays look monstrous, both for him and for me, as he won't be home until 8:30, and yes that is PM. Going from 7-8 is going to be hard for him, although the break in the day from work to do school may prove to be helpful. It kinda goes without saying that it's going to make some very long and lonely days for me.

It's going to take some adjustments to make this new schedule work, but thankfully it won't last forever. As soon as this semester is done, he'll have a more normal schedule, or at least one that doesn't include working until 8. We even figured out his tentative schedule for next semester and that one looks much more do-able. Although a normal schedule is still a couple weeks and months away, it definitely gives me something to look forward to and that makes all the difference.

"Hi-ho, Hi-ho"...But without the incredibly vain witch...

...or magic apples or bickering short people. Or really anything that made Snow White such a classic Disney rendition.

After several weeks of suffering the effects of the strained economy (at least, that seems to be the scapegoat these days when people lose their jobs), I am back among the working class. Tomorrow is my first day at T-Splines, which deals in 3D graphic technology. There is evidently a lot of math involved, and I've got a lot of learning curve ahead of me, but I'm excited.

In the exuberant words of Bessie (pictured at the right), "Moo."

I've been tagged

(None of these listed are in any particular order)
My 8 Favorite TV Shows
1. Charmed
2. Friends
3. Dancing with the Stars
4. So You Think You can Dance
5. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
6.
7.
8.

My 8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Bajio
2. Gandolfo's
3. Panera Bread
4. Arby's
5. Olive Garden
6. Cafe Rio
7. Carl's Jr.
8.

8 Things that Happened Yesterday
1. Worked on Ashton's Christmas present
2. Listened to music
3. Did laundry
4. Wrote blog entry
5. Read
6. Eat
7. Clean
8. Breathe

8 Things I Look Forward To
1. Next Wednesday
2. When Ashton comes home
3. April - when Ashton graduates (Woo!)
4. Having my own house with a yard and garden
5. Giving Ashton his Christmas presents
6. Warm weather (it's not even that cold yet)
7. Having a real piano
8. Finish scrapbooking my wedding (Yeah, I'm far behind)

8 Things I Love About Fall
1. Pumpkin Pies
2. Turkey Day
3. Fall colors, especially in Maine
4. Crunchy leaves on the sidewalk
5. Eggnog
6. Comfy sweaters
7. Playing in leaves
8. Corn maze

8 Things On My Wish List
1. My own house
2. Get my dog
3. Have a family
4. Be a photographer
5. Have a garden
6. Spend a whole day out of the house
7. Get flowers from my husband
8. Having a baby grand or grand piano

8 People I Tag
(Kind of fun, but only if you want)
1. Lindsay
2. Tara
3. Stacy
4. Amaryah
5. Heather
6. Charity
7. Anyone else who reads this that wants to
8.

Music

I had forgotten how therapeutic music is for me. I used to play the piano all the time to express my feelings. It was so much easier for me to express myself in that way than to try to find the words to do it. It was a very useful tool growing up. Even when I went to college, I tried to take as many opportunities to play as I could. There's just something so satisfying to play sad music when you're feeling down, or banging out an angry tune when the mood calls for it. Of course, I also played when I was happy, but no matter what the mood, I'd always leave the piano feeling better.

I had forgotten all that though. Sure, I still appreciate good piano music and a beautiful looking piano. We have an electric piano, which is not quite the same as a regular piano, but it does the job for now. I just haven't used it in a while. There aren't many opportunities for me to play for other people out here like I've been used to. Even still, whenever I go home, there's some opportunity for me to play the piano or organ. I've simply gotten out of the habit of practicing.

That's changed in the past few days. I've been through a lot of ups and downs the past few days and I needed an outlet. It felt amazing to let that out. The piano is even still intact. There's just no way to describe how great it feels to play through whatever mood you're in, rather than listening to music. Listening to music is great and therapeutic as well. I listen to music all day. One of the first things I do in the morning is turn on some music. It's just much more intense and satisfying when I'm actually playing the music with my own hands or even when I'm singing.

On more update-ish news, Ashton has gotten a couple of job offers. We're still wading through the options and trying to figure out what's the best route to take. It's exciting, though, that he has options.

I Love Food

So, I've been told that I need to update our blog. For the most part, it's just been same old, same old. Job hunting, classes for Ashton, where do we spend the holidays, etc. We've had some good times this week though.

For one thing, I made pumpkin whoopie pies. They are amazing, hence why I made them. Well, I also made them because while I was in Maine, I was trying to make Ashton jealous by saying that I was going to have me a pumpkin whoopie pie. To my surprise and shock, he had no idea what I was talking about. Yeah, I was disappointed and had no idea how he couldn't know what a whoopie pie was, until I realized that it was a New England thing, particularly a Maine thing.

Well, I had to remedy that. Could not have my husband not knowing what a whoopie pie was. I mean goodness! It's like a little kid not knowing who Santa Claus is. It's just sad and wrong.

Thankfully, Heather has a friend who knows how to make them and we spent a night learning how to make these wonderful creations. So, I made them for Ashton the other day and now he knows just how good they are. He finally realizes what he's been missing out on his whole life. I'll have to make him some traditional chocolate whoopie pies though.

(For those of you who don't know what a whoopie pie is, I would describe it, but words cannot describe the glory that is whoopie pie. You can look it up on Wikipedia, but as warning, it tastes much better than it sounds.)

While I'm on the topic of food, I'm in love with cream cheese. Ok, maybe not "in love," but man do I love the stuff. I've put it on most of my food (french toast, sandwiches, corn bread...frosting...) and I just can't go wrong. Everything that I've tried it with just gets tastes better and better. I mean I can make a good sandwich, but man...add some cream cheese and it tastes amazing. It's my new addiction and I love it.

Give me back summer!

So, it turns out that today is going to be another one of those days. Dark, gloomy, and rainy. Usually I don't mind some rain, but I prefer it to be warm summer rain rather than cold rain that might turn to snow. Ugh, so not looking forward to snow. The first snow fall is pretty, but I'm just not ready to be staring at white for 6 months. Give me another year or two...I might be ready then.

Well, here's an update on what we've been up to. Ashton is still trying to find a job since this will be the fourth week his company hasn't had anything for him to do and so he hasn't been paid for four weeks. Yeah, never good. We're still hopeful that he'll hear back from some companies soon.

I'm also waiting to hear back from a lady about a nanny position. I should know this week whether I got the job or not, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping!

We're also starting our "plan for the future" process. Or more specific, we're playing the "where should we live?" game. With April right around the corner, which means no more school for Ashton (hooray!) and that our lease will be up. To help in this process, we have a map of the U.S. and we've started crossing out states where we don't want to live. It's the best way to start when it's the only thing you seem to agree on, but it's also so fun to cross out states. It's almost as if they don't exist anymore. (Goodbye Wyoming!)

Hopefully after all the crossing out is done, we can find a few states that we can agree on, rather than only have one of us pushing for a certain state. Yeah, I'm sure no one has any idea which states we're each pushing for. Of course, the most important part of figuring out where we should live is figuring out where the Lord wants us. All the more reason to start now.

My favorite part though of figuring out where we should live is looking at houses. It's so fun to look at houses online and I've spent hours doing that for various states. I'm trying not to give away which states we're considering. Not exactly sure why. It's more fun for me to make everybody guess. Muwhaha yeah umm I don't know, anyways. There have been a few houses, that I've absolutely loved, and probably only one or two that has had everything that I want and that Ashton actually likes as well. Did we just agree? Forget the process...let's just move there!

Happy Halloween

Has the World Fallen Yet?

Well, the election season is over. Can't say that I'm happy about the outcome. Ashton and I were hoping for a different outcome, although we knew that it was not likely. I spent a lot of time in front of the TV, keeping track of which states went to who, yelling at the different people talking on the TV, and soon needed comfort food. So, I baked a pumpkin pie. Took too long to bake so I haven't gotten a chance to eat it yet. Looks good though!

We have a lot of worries and skepticism about our newly elected President. Socialism, to any degree, being one of the top concerns. We don't want to have to pay for other people's life styles. Ashton works hard for his money and I feel that if we want to donate some to charities, whether through the Church or otherwise, that's up to us. It's hard to save and plan for the future when someone is taking all your "extra" money (I'd like to know who decides what is extra) to pay for someone else who is either too lazy to improve their lifestyle or someone who's just hit hard times. If we really wanted to help people out, we'd create more jobs. (For other troubling policies http://www.ornery.org/essays/warwatch/2008-11-02-1.html )

Of course, we're always skeptical when someone is the "media baby." I don't feel that Obama was fairly tried by the media, and certainly not to the extent that McCain was tested. Although, that hardly matters now for the political race, as we look ahead, we're not sure that Obama will ever be able to do anything wrong, or at least that the media would admit. That to me is troubling, but we'll see how it turns out. Right now I'm just trying to be satisfied with Propisition 8 passing in California and hoping that San Francisco's appeal doesn't work. (Don't know how they can appeal with the general public voting on it.)

On other news, we woke up this morning to snow and a bit of a snow storm. Thankfully, it's stopped snowing and we only got an inch or two, but it's sad that winter has come already. I'm just not ready to only see white for several months. I haven't even taken care of my pots of flowers. Although they haven't died yet. They're strong little suckers.

Home Again

Some of you probably think that I've fallen off the face of the earth. Well, I was just in Maine for a few weeks and kept busy by a couple of munchkins. I had a great time with Heather and the kids and plenty of good memories and pictures to remember the trip by. It was definitely a beautiful time of year to make the trip. There's nothing like Maine in the fall. I've been home for 3 days now and I already miss the chaos. Guess that just means I have to create my own kind of chaos.

Haven't quite figured out what kind of chaos to create besides straightening out the chaos that is our home. Now, Ashton did do a good job of making sure that the house didn't look like it was hit by a tornado. He even cleaned the fridge, with cleaners and by eating just about everything in there. Of course I didn't find that out until the next morning when he said, "So, I guess I didn't prepare very well for your homecoming. There's nothing in the way of breakfast food." Upon further inspection, I discovered there wasn't much in the way of any type of food. We had enough stuff to make do for yesterday, but I've really gotta stock up on food. Other than that, our house doesn't need too much of an overhaul.

In terms of long term plans, I'm considering various options, including looking into doing something with photography, or maybe I'll just be a nanny and/or clean houses. We'll see how that goes.

Well, I thought to end the post, I'd include some pictures from my trip. As Heather can testify, these are only a tip of the iceberg of how many pictures we really took.

Somehow the straws ended up being dumped on the floor.
Mattie had fun playing with them while Liliana helped me take the pictures.


Not quite sure why half of the leaves are missing while the other half are still changing colors, but it made for a good laugh and picture.


Mattie decided this day to share her food with me. Mmm nothing like baby food.


We had a fun day at the orchard picking a lot of apples and looking at the pumpkins. Such a classic look for Liliana.


There was a beautiful sunset one night that made the leaves on the trees look so pretty.



And of course no day was complete without some dressing up.
Liliana would help Mattie dress up, which surprisingly didn't bother Mattie, and then would proceed to create her own attire.

Picture time!

Yesterday I spent some time driving around and taking pictures, but not at the same time. I drove up into the mountains a little ways to an area that had a little park and a bunch of hiking trails. I spent about an hour or so just snapping pictures, which was a lot of fun. It's amazing how many different angles you can take a picture at and every angle makes the subject look different. Anyways, when I got home, I put them all on my computer (all 118 pictures) and now I can't figure out what to do with them. There are too many of them to print out and some of them were mere experiments anyways. So, I figured for now, I'd just post some of my favorite ones to share with all of you!

I was high up enough that this was the view from my car.
I wasn't even up on the high part of the area.

This is the pavilion at the park. It doesn't look like it gets a lot of use.
This was a bridge at the park. For some reason it was an interesting subject for me and this is just one of many that I took of the bridge.

This is what was underneath the bridge.
I'm not sure if there's usually a creek here or what, but obviously it's dried up right now.
I found this paint tray just sitting there almost in the woodsy part of the area.

Looking up at the mountains.

On one of the trails.

The view from a bit higher up.
(You can also see where I took the first picture from since you can see my car.)

It's always fun to play with the focus.

Definitely an experiment.

New and Improved

The other day, my in-laws brought over the rest of our bedroom set. We already had the bottom of bed, but not the headboard or the other stuff. It's really nice to feel like we have an actual bedroom instead of a room that just happens to hold our bed. So, here are some pictures of our new and improved bedroom, but first, the before pictures. I think you'll agree that it's a big improvement.

Yeah, just a little stand for the TV. Not much to look at I know. We did add some pictures later though. So, it didn't look so plain for too long.

Here is what the rest of our bedroom looked like before.

This is our new dresser. The mirror that goes with it is the thing beside it (it folds out).

This is our new headboard and side tables. The whole thing is actually five pieces. The side tables have two pieces, a bottom square piece and a corner piece that goes on top.

I'm so HAPPY! (and not because of all the cookies I've eaten in the past two days)

So, today, after a long 4 years of waiting, I've finally received my diploma! For those of you who are confused, let me explain. I graduated since Aug. 14th, but I finally got my diploma today in the mail. I've been a little anxious every day for the past 4 weeks waiting to get it. And now that it's here, I've only got one thing to say. It's so pretty! I think I stared at it for about 10 minutes.

So, now my task is to frame it before someone ruins it. Yeah, I'm talking more about me ruining it than Ashton. We all know who the klutz is...no need to point fingers. If I had known that I'd be needing a frame, I would have picked one up while I was out running errands. Teach me to check the mail on my way back home instead of on my way out.

Anyways, I just wanted to share the good news! Oh, and we're rearranging a few things in the house so look forward to pictures on that soon.

Inheritance

I inherited a camera a few years ago. Well, the one catch to this inheritance is that in order to use it, I had to fix it. Quite the inheritance I know.

It's an older camera, a film SLR. Yeah, pretty old technology, but still a good camera. I used it while in high school when I took a Black and White Photography class and it worked fine during that time. It wasn't until I was using it some months later that it decided to break. The shutter wouldn't work and every time that I used the advance lever, it would not only advance, but it'd release the shutter. A kind of 2 for 1 deal. Definitely not how it's supposed to work. That was when I inherited it.

I sure didn't know what was wrong with the camera or how to fix it. I had every intention of taking it to get fixed, and even tried to get other people to take it in after I'd left for college. Didn't happen and it ended up just sitting around for a few years until I went back last month. I had been thinking about it for a while and decided while I was in Maine that I should bring it back with me to get fixed since it wasn't happening while it was sitting on a shelf. So, it made a nice trip back to Utah. We must have looked pretty silly carrying two cameras around the airport with us. Probably looked like we couldn't share the same camera. His and Her cameras. How cute.

So, I sat down yesterday trying to think of stuff to do and thought of the camera. "Hmmm can I fix that on my own?" I consulted what Ashton calls "the guru," AKA Google. I actually found quite a bit of information and it seems like I'm not the only person who has had trouble with the shutter although I saw nothing about the advance lever doing double duty. I read forum type websites where people would ask a question about how to fix their camera and it was amusing to see that the first step that everyone suggest was, "check the battery" or "buy a new battery." I do have to wonder how many times that someone thought that something was wrong with the camera and all it needed was a battery. Are these people speaking from personal experience?

Well, the battery was fine, amazingly so since it's been in there for who knows how many years. Had to wait for Ashton to get done work though before opening up the camera. I tried to open it myself, but couldn't because the screws were so tight. I have a bad habit of stripping screws so I figured that I should wait so I'd have someone else to blame in case that happened. How bad would it look to walk into the camera repair shop and have them look at it and say, "It looks like the screws are stripped."

"Umm yeah. I tried to fix it myself. Couldn't get past the first step." I can just hear the repair person's next thought, "Stupid girl can't even use a screwdriver."

Yeah, it sounds much better to blame your husband. "Yeah. My husband tried to fix it himself. I wanted to bring it in, but you know how guys are."

"Ah, yes. That explains everything."

In the end, it took Ashton using tiny screwdrivers and pliers to get it undone and no screws were stripped.

It was fun to see what was in there and in the end it appears that the plastic cover for the circuit board had caused the problem. How do we know that? Well, we moved it, put the battery back in and it worked. We put the cover back on how it was and it didn't work. Simpliest operation every preformed. Didn't have to mess around with any wires and it didn't cost any money to fix.

Just Keep Swimming

School is starting up again, just not for me. Sadly, it still plays a huge role in my life with Ashton still in school. It's a lot less stress to have only one of us going to school, but it's still stressful especially since Ashton will be also trying to work full time. We've dealt with that before, but not with Ashton having to take so many classes. Usually, he'll only take 1 maybe 2 classes, but this time he has to take 3 for a grand total of 9 credits. That's a lot for him to take on top of working 40 hours a week. He'll be at work or at school from 7 AM to 7 PM every day, well except for Friday when it'll probably be from 7-5. He only has classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but he'll have to work 12 hour days Tuesdays and Thursdays just to get his hours in.

Even though the same thing will probably happen next semester, too, I know that it could be a whole lot worse. He could be completely gone for the whole semester or he could have a longer schedule, although I'm sure when he has projects and tests, he'll be gone for longer. At least he's working for home still, so I'll kind of get to see him. Well, have him in the house anyways. (I try hard not to bug him while he's working, but I'm not the best at it. It's too tempting to go in and see how he's doing, ask him questions, etc. )

Even though I know it could be a whole lot worse, it's still going to be hard. Although I seem to need my alone time, my time to think, I also need time to be able to talk to people and do stuff with other people. Usually that other person is Ashton, or it has been. That's not going to work so well with him being preoccupied from 7-7 and then after that probably having homework to do or needing to have his alone time.

Shouldn't be too hard to figure out something to do. I mean, there's always the house cleaning/organizing that never seems to be finished, scrapbooking to catch up on, wedding presents to make that I haven't gotten around to, and on and on. It's mostly just getting up the motivation to do some of those things and then finding something more fun to do. Like anything else, it's just something that we have to get through.

Home Sweet Home

After a nice week and a half trip up to Maine, we're back home again. It's kinda nice to be home, even if that home is in Utah. We hadn't been able to make it back to Maine in what seems forever (it's really only been a few months over a year).

It was probably the longest Ashton's gone without working for a long time and he was a bit hesitant/nervous about it at first. After we left Utah though, he seemed to feel better about it. It probably helped that I drove the whole way there since we took my car instead of his stick-sift car. So, he got to read the whole way while I abused his poor ears with my singing. I even got him to admit that I was right about needing the vacation. He has a hard time admitting when I'm right sometimes and needs a little cooxing, even though I'm usually right.

I had a hard time leaving, thinking of probably every excuse possible to stay. Probably could have paid Jacob to slash the tires or something, but every vacation has its end I guess and Ashton had to go back to work. If plane tickets weren't so darn expensive, I might have considered staying longer while Ashton went back.

At any rate, we had some good adventures, definitely way too many to all be shared here although I wouldn't have to think of a new topic for a post for a long time. Our adventures included, but not limited to a trip around Maine with Grammy and Grampa, a trip to see Nana, kayaking on a lake, swimming with Jared and Siiri, and spending a couple of nights with Jacob and Heather (just beware of the fuzzy orange juice). It was a couple month's worth of fun packed into a little over a week.

One of my favorite parts though was getting to take pictures. I (I guess I should say we because Ashton took some of the pictures) definitely took too many pictures to all fit on here, but here are some of my favorites.

We spent our first night in Maine with Jacob and Heather. The next morning Ashton woke up to being conspired against. In the end, Liliana and I teamed up to get Ashton until Liliana was comfortable enough to get him by herself. She was not so shy the next time we stayed at their house.

This is one of the pictures that Ashton took, and such a good one of James. My favorite things about this picture is that it's just such a boy picture. There's nothing more boyish than playing in the mud.

James and Sam decided that they wanted to kill all the grasshoppers on the garage wall. Emma saw what they were doing and decided to save the poor grasshoppers. It then became a game of how many grasshoppers they could save and put in the jar.

Sam hanging upside down from the play set. Pretty impressive.

We had a fun time trying to get Eliza to smile for the camera. Finally, we got a few smiles out of her and Ashton snapped away.
Wilson Lake. We had a fun time kayaking and swimming on the lake. Nothing more peaceful than a couple of days on the lake.

I Can See!

Ok, so I've always been able to see, just not always very clearly. After being on my last pair of contacts for probably a little over a month, I finally went to the doctor's this morning. What finally did it was realizing last week that I was going to be flying across country for a week and a half with no backup contacts. I always have to fly with at least one extra pair of contacts, just to be safe.

So, I called around and got an appointment set up and went in this morning. It's been a couple of years since I've had my eyes checked and it was much needed. After playing the, "Is one better or is two better? Three or four? Five and six?..." game for a long time, it was decided that I needed a new prescription. No big surprise there. The amount of change was kinda startling, but hey as long as I'm seeing 20/20 again, I'm fine.

It feels like I'm seeing into the future or something. I mean gosh, the lines are sharp and I can read from distances without squinting. The sign of Smith's grocery store never looked so good. Even the stuff that's close looks good. Clear and sharp. It's freaking me out. I'm not sure I want to see everything so clearly, like the mess that is my apartment right now. Not to mention, that's going to change my ability to navigate and see road signs. I have no excuse for missing signs anymore besides the truthful, "Sorry dear. I just wasn't paying attention." Gone is my favorite, "Well, you have the better eyesight! Why didn't you see it?"

Although it's great to be able to see again, I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of responsibility.

Books, books, books

Most of my posts lately have been about books and this one isn't going to be much different. Reading has been taking up most of my time, which has been nice because it's been a while since I've been able to read something other than school books. I have a lot to catch up on.

Although I've gotten the other Twilight books, I haven't started them yet because I picked up a different book while I was waiting for them to come. Now, normally I have no problem reading more than one book at a time. I find that I can keep them straight and remember what was going on in both of them. This time, however, I felt bad for considering to put down this book to start the third book in the Twilight series. Maybe it's because I had already put it down once when I started the second book and it would just be insulting to the book to put it down again. For whatever reason, I'm determined to finish the book before starting another book.

The book is called Empire and it's by Orson Scott Card, who is a fantastic writer. The book is an interesting mix of fiction, what seems to be Scott Card's personal opinion, and social/political commentary. I'm not usually one for political books, but this one is good. The whole idea seems to be to ask the question, if the United States were to have a civil war, where would the lines be drawn?

It's an interesting idea as well as a scary one. The answer is obvious as well as true. Scott Card brings up the point that people in America think that we can't have a civil war here like other nations because we don't have the ethnic divisions that other nations have. It's true that we don't have that kind of division, but we shouldn't. Our country isn't tied together by ethnicity because the U.S. wasn't created by ethnic groups. The U.S. was created by the ideas of the people who came here. That's what ties our nation together, ideas. So, it stands to reason that what can divide our nation is the separation of ideas, basically your Democrat and Republican standards.

It seems like a crazy idea, but when you think about how divided the Democrats and Republicans are at this point, it starts to come together. By today's standards, to be a Democrat or Republican means that you accept all of the ideas that come with it. There are few politicians who could be considered moderate, accepting some standards of one group or the other, while mixing with other beliefs.

This makes voting hard. How do you vote for someone that you don't agree with because you aren't that extreme? Like anything, it probably takes voting for the person that you agree with on the important issues for you, while compromising on the other issues. It's hard to compromise though especially when there are many important issues.

Of course, Scott Card is not saying that civil war is inevitable. What he does though, is point out how it could happen and it would be a war unlike any other that we've fought. The main issue is getting people from either sides to agree. Most people, it seems, feel that they are so in the right, that everyone that disagrees is ignorant and plain wrong. They feel no need to try to see the other side's point of view, which is a big mistake if you're trying to get anything done. In my mind, the farther people gravitate to either side, believing that they are right and the other side, or anyone who doesn't agree with them, is wrong, the bigger the split between them becomes. All it would take is for one person to believe that they have been wronged beyond repair, and to take serious action. It's a sobering thought.

2 Down...2 More to Go...

Last week I spent a morning researching the Twilight series, trying to figure out where they were the cheapest. So, I bought them all on Amazon.com because of the price and because we had a gift card. (Thanks Paula!)

The hardest part has been waiting for them to arrive. Every day, I anxiously track the package only to discover they're still in Denver, CO, which is where they have been for the past 4 days. Why it's taken so long for them to get the package from the sellers to the facility is beyond me. It's not even comforting to think that they've just had a lot of packages to scan and it just took them that long to get to mine. It is the Post Office.

Thankfully, my friend Tara just bought the books and brought me up the second last Thursday when she came over. It was hard to go on our double date to see The Dark Knight, knowing that the book was sitting there just waiting for me to pick it up. I managed though and made up for it on Friday by reading for several hours. I did have to get some things done. Otherwise, I probably would have finished it.

I didn't really get a chance to pick it up again all weekend with relatives over and many things to do. We had a great weekend, but I should have hid the book. I felt like it was calling to me and it sure was hard to ignore. Every time I looked at it, I had to wonder what was going on within it's covers. It was a little maddening and I have to wonder about my sanity, if I have any left to wonder about.

It was all worth it. The loss of however much sanity I still possess, the wait, everything was worth it. I picked it up again last night (around 8:30 I think) and read until I finished it at about 11:30 pm. It was entertaining for Ashton mostly because when I get into something, I can't keep it to myself and I can't sit still. I was bouncing when I was happy with what was going on, gasping and yelling when it wasn't going how I wanted it to, I even shook the book when I wasn't happy with it. (Don't worry Tara, it's still in one piece.) I eventually had to move to the floor because I was changing positions every couple of minutes. Someday, I may master the technique of sitting still. If there's anything worst than a little kid who can't sit still, it'd be me.

So, I'm back to waiting. I'm hoping that our books will get here in a few days. We'll see how that goes. Until then, I really have to find something else to do.

Limitations

I think we all realize that there's only so many things that we can get done in a day or in an hour. I realized today, however, that I limit myself. These limitations are crippling sometimes as I convince myself that I'm confined to my box of knowledge, gifts, and talents without the ability to stretch beyond it.

I've been looking at my barriers all wrong. Barriers should be motivation to climb, to reach beyond myself. They're not confinements; they're challenges. For instance, all through my college experience, I've told myself that I'm not good at speaking out loud in class. Instead of seeing this barrier as an opportunity to improve my speaking skills, I refrained from talking in class. I convinced myself that it was better to let other people make their observations, even if I didn't agree.

After having several wake-up calls this week, I'm appalled at how many times a day that I tell myself that "I can't do this" for whatever reason. I'm appalled at how lazy I've become and how many mornings I tell myself that I have no reason to get up that day. Of course, the realization hurts. Defenses start coming up and it's tempting to justify my actions and thoughts, but then I have to be honest with myself and I realize that there's just no excuse that could save me from the truth.

The motivation that comes from being honest with yourself is empowering. It saves me from having to justify my thoughts, feelings, and actions. It takes up energy to keep a lie going, even when that lie is to myself. It feels good to let that go.

Don't get me wrong, it takes energy to be honest and be able to admit when people are right, but the nice thing about being able to do that is that I can do something about it much faster. I don't have to wait until I can't ignore it anymore, I can do something about the problem right when it happens.

But I think my favorite part about being honest with myself is that it's much easier to be happy when you're not beating yourself down.

Books

I always knew that I got into things that I'm doing, particularly watching movies and reading books. I knew that if I watched a scary movie, I'd be inevitably clinging to the person next to me, freaking myself out more than the movie was. I still don't watch scary or intense movies because of this fact even though I know have Ashton around to cling to. I remember the first time watching such a movie with him and surprising him at how tight my grip was.

I knew that I got into books as well, displaying my emotions out loud whether or not there's someone else in the room. I even go so far as to mumble my opinions of the plot and/or characters at any given moment. I'll shut the book at intense parts, not wanting to go further until I've calmed down, but then I have to know what happens so I whip open the book again and read on, tense with anticipation. It's all so stupid, but I can't seem to help myself.

Well, for Ashton's birthday, I bought him a couple of books, one being the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer in audio form. I had foolishly thought that it'd last him a while if he only listened to it while in the car on the way to and from class. Yeah, I didn't count on getting into it myself and making us listen to it almost every night and while we were in the car. By the end of Saturday night, we had gotten to the 6th CD out of 11. We skipped Sunday and anxiously, we started listening to it again yesterday. Well, we finished it last night at 2 in the morning.

Both of us listened to it in the car, me on the my way to Nate and Anjanette's, and Ashton on his way to his class. We were both pretty anxious to listen to more and we started in again while we ate dinner. We probably would have stopped after the 8th CD, but by then it had gotten particularly intense. I found myself half sitting in Ashton's lap as that CD ended, grabbing his shirt. After partway through the CD, Ashton wouldn't let me hold his hand anymore. My death grip had hurt his hand so he offered me his arm only for me to discover that I had left some serious imprints on his arm from me gripping it so tightly with both hands. We're talkin' some good dents where you could rub your fingers over it and tell the difference between his arm and where I had grabbed it. I guess I just don't know my own strength.

Anyways, I knew I could be able to sleep if we stopped there so we listened to the next CD, too. I tried to control myself and not hurt Ashton by accident with my super human strength. (Snicker all you want, the next time I watch or listen to something scary, I'll grab your arm.) We continued until 2 AM because I had to keep listening until the story had resolved itself and by then we were almost done so we just finished it up.

So now, I don't know what to do with myself. We bought the books and those won't come in until next week. So, I guess until then, I'll just twiddle my thumbs or try to start a different book.

...And the Rains Came Down...

During the past week, parts of Salt Lake City have been completely washed out due to heavy rainfall (and probably poor city planning and overcrowding, but those are topics for a different day). No matter how much we hoped, however, we never got more than a few drops in our neighborhood. The wind would blow, and the air would cool as if we should expect a storm, but it would invariably fail to drop anything. Wednesday night, we even got some lightning--I was trying unsuccessfully to fall asleep, but as soon as the giddiness from seeing a few flashes through the cracks in our window blinds wore off, I was out cold.

I've loved rain, and thunderstorms in particular, for as long as I can remember. I used to lie in bed as a child, just listening to the pattering of the rain against the roof. If there was any light to be had outside, I would watch as the lines of water running down the window continually twisted and changed the profiles of the houses across the street.

During the summer in Boulder County, we could expect a storm nearly every afternoon. My brothers and I would ride our bikes to obscure corners of our town (boys with bikes are always on some mission or another), and race home as soon as we felt the first drops of rain. Every time, we would pull into our driveway looking half-drowned.

When I got older, I would drive to the top of one hill or another as the clouds rolled over the Flatirons, and just wait. From that vantage point, I could see every bolt of lightning. On Independence Day, a bunch of us gathered on the roof of the movie theatre where I worked to watch the fireworks. We were able to see several displays throughout Boulder Valley, and I decided that the roof would be a good place to watch the thunderstorms as well. Not long after, I started calling lightning, "God's fireworks."

I think my subconscious remembers these times, even if I don't think of them. If there is any real amount of cloud-cover and I hear any kind of "boom", my ears instantly perk up, hoping to hear the next crash of thunder. All too often, the sound I hear isn't related to lightning, but is a neighbor falling down the stairs or something. So I was a little startled when, while sitting around and visiting with my brother and his family, I heard what was unmistakeably a crash of thunder. A little while later, we all heard another one, about the same time that the rain started.

My niece was afraid of the sounds, and wouldn't go near the patio door. My brother and I tried to convince her that lightning was really a beautiful thing, and nothing to be afraid of. She may not have believed us, but I'm sure she wanted to--she tried to tell us that it was the stuffed penguin she was holding that was afraid of the thunder. Maybe some day she'll appreciate it as much as my brother and I do.

When the thunder stopped (it didn't last long, just like my niece had prophesied), she started a game of hide-and-seek, evidently completely forgetting her previous fear. I wish I had a picture of Zarah folded into the space under our desk. She informs me that I'll not be getting such a picture.

Happy Birthday Ashton!

Today is Ashton's 28th birthday. The nice thing about Ashton's birthday is that in Utah, he gets the day off from work and school! It just happens to be Pioneer day, which is not celebrated anywhere else I'm betting except for in Utah. It's fun though because there are parades and fireworks.

The fun thing about having a birthday is that I got to try my hand at cake baking again! It was quite the adventure last year and I was hoping that this year it would go better....or rather look better. I think I was fairly successful and it tasted good at any rate.

Since we're going up to Park City for a barbecue tonight, we decided last night that it'd be good to do an early celebration with cake and candle blowing. He did get to open one of his presents, too. My favorite part though was lighting the candles. The only matches we could find were in our 72 hour kit and there wasn't a thing to strike the matches on. So, I tried to light the matches using our electric stove. It actually worked! I just heated up the burner a little bit and put the match against it and poof! Instant flame. Totally didn't think that it'd work. I love fire.

Anyways, here some pictures!

Not too bad for my second attempt at cake decorating.

The best part was making Ashton blow out the candles. He looks like he's concentrating...

There he goes!

Almost there...

And done! Good thing there wasn't more candles.

100 Random Things About Me

Although I haven't written a 100 posts yet, Lindsay has suggested that I write a list of 100 things. So here it goes.

1. I was born and raised in Maine. Somehow I came away without a very noticeable accent. Some people think that it's weird that I don't have an accent. I just shrug.

2. I asked Ashton out on our first two dates and had to steal him away from an apartment full of girls. Yeah, they hated me for a while and him, too. They got over it though.

3. I play the oboe, piano, and the organ. I haven't played the oboe in years, but I had played it for 8 years. I think I still remember how to play it...

4. I have learned how to play the violin and guitar as well as attempting to make sounds on several instruments. I haven't really kept up with any of them, but I've tried them.

5. I have played soccer for as long as I can remember. I played in high school and intramurals at BYU. My favorite positions are midfield and forward.

6. I tore my ACL my freshman year of high school playing soccer and had to have surgery. I have pictures for anyone who is interested.

7. In Middle School I locked my knee by sitting down after the Pledge of Allegiance. I had to be rolled down the hallway in the teacher's chair as they hadn't gotten their wheelchair yet (it was coming the next day). It also happened to be the same day that Mom and Dad went to Mexico so Jacob had to come pick me up.

8. I love shoes, but hate wearing them. If I have to wear shoes, I'd much rather wear sandals than sneakers. Barefoot is the best though.

9. I love gardening. Weeding, planting flowers, shrubs, trees, the whole works. I used to spend several hours a day, almost every day, taking care of my grandparent's gardens.

10. I took a black and white photography class in High School where I learned about how cameras work, got to take pictures, develop the film, and make prints. If I had to re-do my college experience, I'd probably change my major to photography and do Spanish as a minor instead.

11. In High School, history used to be my favorite subject (other than my photography class).

12. I own a leatherman and I know how to use it.

13. I didn't own makeup...besides mascara...until last year. I only began wearing mascara my senior year of high school.

14. I own rock climbing shoes but have never been rock climbing.

15. I've been ice climbing once and besides being wicked cold, I had a good time.

16. I check people's blogs multiple times a day to see if they've written anything. So, if everyone could start writing multiple times a day, I'd really appreciate that.

17. My second toe is longer than my first on both feet.

18. I'd rather have pie than cake for my birthday, especially if it's pumpkin pie.

19. I love sports, except for baseball and football (although football has grown a little on me) and just being outdoors.

20. I'd rather play sports with guys than girls especially if I'm playing competitively.

21. I hate playing guys vs. girls. I think it's petty to continually try to prove guys or girls are better than the other. There's no reason to prove anything. We all know who's better.

22. When I'm trying to concentrate doing something, I stick out my tongue. I used to do it a lot playing the piano and now I do it for anything that takes a lot of effort and concentration. It sounds crazy, but it helps.

23. I think that people are funny to watch especially in social settings. I used to watch people in the WILK on the BYU campus all the time. It's amazing to me to see what people will do when they don't think that they're being watched.

24. I used to kill my own bugs until Ashton came along. Now, I can only kill my own bugs if I'm by myself. Yeah, I know. I'm pretty ashamed of myself, too.

25. My favorite color is blue. Although, if I had to pick a next favorite, it'd be green.

26. I used to wear a hunter's orange sweatshirt in high school and my freshman year of college. I still have that sweatshirt and wear it sometimes around the house.

27. I can almost never just watch a movie or TV show. I have to be doing something else while I watch even if it's something like playing a computer game. It makes me feel better and like I'm not wasting my time.

28. Whenever I get eggs out of the carton, I have to take them evenly from both sides so that the eggs left are in the middle. This is so they are balanced and less likely to fall when I'm carrying them. Ashton finds this funny and will sometimes purposely make them uneven so I have to fix it...and I have to fix it.

29. I don't like calling people. I used to hate it and refuse to pick up the phone and call people. I'm better about it now, but I'm always afraid that I'm going to interupt something that they're doing. I make Ashton do the majority of the calling.

30. Since we've moved into our recent apartment, I've felt more like a cook. I'll actually make stuff now instead of doing things out of a box. My most recent, favorite experiment has been with smoothies. I used to do them with ice cream, but I have since switched to yogurt to make them healthier. I'm working on perfecting my strawberry banana blend.

31. With both of us big readers, we have so many books that we need a new bookshelf. We don't even have my books, which take up one of those big plastic tubs, out here.

32. I check out the outside of other people's houses when I drive by out here. I like looking at a house and comment on whether I like the style or not and what I'd do differently to make it better. I'm just figuring out what I like so whenever we get a house...someday...I'll know what I like. Ok...so I've been watching a little too much HGTV recently.

33. I have good and bad days for heights. Some days, I can deal pretty well with heights. Other days, I can't even watch someone stand on a ladder. If I feel secure, I'm fine. It's probably the lack of security that does me in.

34. Ladders scare me. Generally speaking, I can get up on them. It's just when I'm up there doing something on them where I have to lean (like painting) or if I've used it to get onto a roof and then have to try to turn around and get down. I'm always afraid that I'm going to fall to my death.

35. I actually enjoy painting houses or rooms, but I dislike painting the ceiling. It's such a pain in the neck...literally.

36. I hate having my picture taken. They rarely come out good, which is why I like being the one with the camera.

37. Whenever I play the piano, I have to put music back where it was in the folders. What is weird about this is that the music isn't in any particular order. I just have to put it back where I found it. I blame this on the many years that I sneaked food and in order not to have any notice, I'd have to put the container or package back where I found it so no one would suspect.

38. I can't stand to have it too quiet. More often than not, the TV serves as a noise maker.

39. I only really like shopping for clothes when it's online. I don't like walking around and looking through tons of stores. If it's one or two stores and I know what I'm looking for, I don't mind it. It's just not something I do for fun. Don't have the money for it or the stamina.

40. I like to sing, "I'm just a little black rain cloud" from Winnie the Pooh. I do it occasionally. (Ashton wants it to be known that I do it all the time...I don't know what he's talking about...)

41. I like playing with power tools and I know more about sanders and sand paper than Ashton. I spent a lot of time last summer putting together most of our furniture.

42. My favorite animal is the penguin and I will forever be getting presents with that theme in mind. Good thing I like penguins a lot. Hooray for theme gifts!

43. I like putting picture frames together...or rather taking an empty picture frame and putting the matte, pictures, and any other decorative items together inside the frame.

44. I have an obsession with ice cream...strawberry ice cream to be more specific, but I'll eat almost any other kind. It's probably partly the reason why I gained so much weight. Twice a day helpings of ice cream probably isn't the best of ideas. Mmmmm ice cream...I think I'll go have some.

45. I eat ketchup on my french toast. I'll also eat french toast with syrup (instead of ketchup), but I prefer ketchup.

46. I still like coloring in coloring books.

47. I'm listening to Simon and Garfunkel right now.

48. I like to think. I spend most of my days just thinking about life and how I feel about it. Sometimes it gets me into trouble because I'll over think something, more often than not, something that Ashton did.

49. My Adaptation Theory class has changed the way that I watch movies now. I can no longer simply watch a movie, particularly when it's an adaptation from a book. Now, I have to analyze it and how it's taking things from the book and reshaping it to fit into the film.

50. I talk during movies. Yes, I am one of those. However, I'm less-inclined to talk if I'm in a movie theater and/or if it's a movie that I haven't seen before. If I've seen it quite a few times, yeah, I'll talk during the whole thing sometimes giving my analysis of it.

51. I've spent so many years trying to hype up my writing with academic words and phrases, that I have a hard time toning down my less than academic writing.

52. I actually like writing again! I loved writing when I was younger and would write all the time in my journal and everything. I thought that I was pretty good at it. Then in high school and the beginning of my college career, I had some teachers who hated my writing and didn't like anything that I wrote. (I did have one English teacher in high school that I really liked). After taking an advanced writing class last fall, I found out that I could actually write well and that most of my previous teachers were just making me write according to their unfounded pet peeves. I've since gained the theory that most English teachers just don't know how to teach people to write without teaching their style of writing, which is why I've only had 2 (maybe 3) writing/English teachers that I like and respect.

53. It's still funny to me to see people out here planting their grass with squares of sod and grass that comes in big stacks. It looks like they're laying carpet.

54. I like country music and listen to it while Ashton is not home.

55. I think that fireworks should be considered a sport like football is a sport. I mean, it has a pep rally (the parade on the 4th of July), social gatherings (barbecues, pre-fireworks gathering), a little bit of watching of action (sparklers, occasional firework going off in other places), half-time show (the fireworks), more talking (after the fireworks), and traffic rush. I mean, that sounds like a football game to me.

56. I like to crochet and knit. I'm better at crocheting than knitting just because I do it more.

57. I can never suck on hard candy. I always have to chew it just about as soon as it enters my mouth.

58. I like to pick things up with my toes. Actually, I like to do a lot of things with my toes. I grab things that are out of reach, turn off lights, I've even typed with my toes. Mind you, it was the hunt and peck method with just one toe, but I still did it and even spelled the words right.

59. I've never been pulled over by a cop for anything. I'm just that lucky.

60. I like rain mostly because I love jumping in puddles.

61. I prefer the summer to winter. I hate being cold and would just rather be hot.

62. I don't have a favorite book. I like a variety of books. I guess my favorite books are the ones that I could just read over and over.

63. I tend to keep a lot of stuff that I don't need. I keep stuff that I like, things that hold memories, but mostly just things that I think that I'm going to need or might need later. It's this last category that gets me in trouble the most. I've had so many experiences where I've gotten rid of things that I had kept for a while, and then needed it a short time later.

64. I have a sad addiction to Arby's. Something about the roast beef and melted cheese just gets me every time. It's ok...it's under control...maybe.

65. I apparently have found a new talent in making posters for Ward activities. I'm still not convinced.

66. I think that reality TV shows, particularly the ones where it's a bunch of people living together for a period of time, are stupid. If I wanted to see things like that, I'd go out and socialize with people.

67. I am deathly afraid of snakes. I can't watch them on TV or anything. I can't even listen to people talk about them sometimes. It just freaks me out.

68. I'm not a big fan of cities, well big cities anyways. I don't mind going into the city when I have to buy stuff, but I don't like living in the city. I'm much more of a country girl.

69. I chipped my two front teeth my freshman year of college (freshman years apparently aren't very good to me between the torn ACL and chipping my teeth). How I did it probably will be very amusing to all of you so here it goes. It was in October and still fairly warm out so a bunch of us decided that we wanted to play ultimate frisbee. We tried playing in the field behind our dorms, but it was too dark. So being the bright college students we were, we decided to play in a nearby parking lot. Well, I get very into games, especially when I'm playing with a bunch of guys. So, I was going for a pass that was high and instead of where watching where I was going, my eyes were on the frisbee. I think you can tell where this is headed. Yup. I ran smack into a car. Not even the side of the car, the windshield. I was wicked embarrassed. I spat out the parts of my teeth and covered my face with my hands, refusing to let anyone see. To make matters even better, the guy that owned the car happened to come while I was still lying on the ground. Yeah, it was great.

70. I lived in Spain for about 2 months while on a Study Abroad with BYU Spring Semester 2006. It was one of the best times I've ever had. We took classes during the week and traveled on the weekends. We got to go to Barcelona (we got there the night that Barca won the Champions League...it was crazy!), Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, as well as lots of other places. During this same trip, me and a few others girls went to Morocco for a day.

71. I've also spent a couple of weeks in Costa Rica in High School on an exchange program. Although I loved the culture and the climate, most of the people that went on the trip with me ruined the experience and I couldn't wait to go home.

72. Sticky notes save my life. I seriously wouldn't have gotten through college without sticky notes all over my desk. They have been pretty much replaced by a white board. Either way, I'm so much more likely to remember things if I actually write it down.

73. I also wouldn't have survived college without my planner. It housed my class schedule, all of my homework, Church activities, dates (yeah that didn't take up too much room), birthdays, and everything else. Now I use a calendar because I don't have so much stuff to put in there. Those squares aren't that big.

74. I own a lacrosse stick. It's even a girl's stick.

75. I don't like drinking apple juice by itself. I don't mind it if it's paired with other fruit. I think it just reminds me of being sick.

76.The same thing happens to me with chicken noodle soup. After years of mainly just eating it when I'm sick, it's hard to think of it without memories of throwing up.

77. I don't own any pink clothes. I used to have a few pink shirts, some of which were forced upon me, but I've since outgrown them and haven't bought any more. I'm definitely not a pink girl so I'm not too heartbroken about getting rid of those shirts.

78. I hate being late. I end up leaving earlier than I have to because I'm afraid I'll be late. That makes me almost always early for everything by at least 5 minutes. The only time I'm semi-alright with being a little late is when I'm going to some activity (like Enrichment) where I don't know anyone. Even then, it's really hard for me to do.

79. I've always wished I could figure skate. It just has always fascinated me. They just look so graceful out there on the ice. I'm not graceful...at all especially on skates. Ashton shows me up every time.

80. There are many things that I don't like about Utah, but on the top of my list is that I have to put on lotion after a shower and every time I wash my hands. That's one thing I miss about humidity.

81. I hate tangled cords. I always have to untangle them and tie them back. Dangling loose cords don't bother me as much, but I still have to fix them.

82. I actually don't mind cleaning when I can keep up with it. It's when I get behind that it gets troublesome and I put it off because I don't want to do it. I know that doesn't make a whole lot of sense because it'll only get worse the longer I put it off, but that's how it works. Maybe I just hope that Ashton will do it for me.

83. Popcorn is my newly rediscovered snack. The greatest thing about it is that I don't have to share it with Ashton because after working for several years in a movie theater, he doesn't like popcorn anymore.

84. I love water balloon fights or any kind of water fight. There's nothing better on a hot summer day than running around soaking wet.

85. I hate bathroom scales and have resisted buying one until I needed it for a class. I tend to get a little obsessive about my weight when I have one readily accessible.

86. I feel bad for my kids, particularly the boys. Looking at my family and then Ashton's, yeah there's not much hope that my boys will have a lot of hair. I hope that they can live with that.

87. Duct tape is my best friend. When I was in Middle School, I made a lunch bag made out of duct tape. I used it for years.

88. I prefer to let my hair dry on its own rather than blow drying it. The only times I'll blow dry it is when I'm actually going to do something with it (that's usually on Sunday or if we're going some place where I feel like I should look nicer) and during the winter. It gets a little too cold to let it air dry. Why should I spend hours on it every day when its just going to get messed up anyways?

89. I'm my harshest critic. I beat myself up for hours after doing something that I think is stupid. I have to work hard to think positively and let things go.

90. I have recently had an obsession with Lisa Loeb. Her music is usually the first thing I play on my ipod. Not only is her music fun, catchy, and just very good, I can actually sing to it!

91. I always sing in the car, especially if I'm by myself. I don't care if I can't hit the notes, I will sing it anyways. Maybe that's why I should use the A/C rather than rolling down the windows...

92. I actually like decorating our apartment. It's nice to be able to decorate things how I want them...Ashton gets a little input. It's fun to make a place cute and homey.

93. I drink whole milk. I hate skim milk, which is what Ashton drinks now. I really teased him a lot when he first started buying it. I'd tell him that it was just water with a drop of milk and when I'd ask him what he wanted to drink at dinner, I'd correct him saying that his milk was really water. If I had to drink anything less than whole, 2% would probably be all I could do.

94. I'm starting to get into crafts. For years, I didn't think that I was creative enough and I probably wasn't growing up. I couldn't visualize how it'd look finished and I definitely did not know how to color coordinate things. Well, I've gotten better about visualizing some things, but I think that I've just gotten more experimental. I think I just know now how to fix stuff so if I don't like how it turned out, I can make it look better. That and I now know what colors look good with what.

95. Speaking of color coordinating, my lack of matching colors was primarily clothing. I always had to ask Amaryah or Jacob if this shirt went with that skirt or pair of pants. You know you're really bad when you have to depend on your brother to match your clothes. Sometimes I would come downstairs and Mom would look at me and either tell me that I wasn't matching or just say "Huh."

96. I'm thinking of starting a new hobby for Ashton so I'll know what to buy him for Christmas and his birthday. He is so unhelpful when it comes to gifts. My friend Tara suggested that I buy him friendship bracelets...or maybe I'll buy him a pink shirt and tell him he has to wear it at the next family gathering.

97. I've always wanted a pet monkey...like a little chimp. I just think that'd be the cutest pet ever.

98. I don't like winter sports unless I'm watching them on TV. The thought of purposefully freezing myself outside while skiing or snowshoeing sounds crazy. I don't mind building forts or throwing snowballs as long as I'm playing with kids. Somehow that makes it better.

99. I can't wait for kids so I can buy an apron I saw that says, "Who are these kids and why are they calling me Mom?" I could buy it now, but it'd be funnier if I actually have kids.

100. I always jiggle my foot. I do it when I'm nervous, happy, bored, singing, on the computer, in bed, just all the time. I have happy feet.