Memorial Day

Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day has always seemed like a rather bogus holiday to me. I viewed it as a much-needed day off of school, and felt that it otherwise had no point. However, I am happy to say that today's experience rather drastically changed my view.

Skyler's mother is from St. George, and her family has lived in and around St. George for generations. This means that several of her ancestors are buried in the St. George cemetery. Never having lived remotely close to my living relatives, let alone my dead ones, I didn't really see why this warranted an annual Memorial Day trip to the cemetery. Like I said, I never knew there was actually a purpose to Memorial Day. But to normal people, there apparently is.

So this morning we headed to the cemetery to meet Skyler's grandpa and his uncle's family. I had absolutely no idea what to expect; the only two times I've been in any cemetery (besides Arlington National Cemetery, which doesn't really count) have been for the funerals of my grandpa and grandma. I'll admit I was a bit nervous as we arrived at the cemetery, met his relatives, and began to find the graves of his other relatives. While casually strolling around, Skyler's mom mentioned to his grandpa that I'd never celebrated Memorial Day before, so this was a new experience for me. From that moment on, I'm pretty sure his grandfather made it his goal to make sure I had a Memorial Day experience I wasn't likely to forget.

He toured me all over that graveyard, stopping at graves to tell me exactly how the person was related to Skyler, and also related to the person whose grave we stopped at two graves before, and also to the cousin of the next person whose grave we were going to find. I'm pretty sure his grandpa got a little confused there in the middle, and mixed up a bit of the genealogy, because I stopped following the family tree for a while, but by the end, I'd gotten a very thorough history of Skyler's family history from the first of the line to settle in St. George to the most recently deceased. I'm convinced I know more of his family history than my own now. And though his brothers teased me about my forty-five minute history tour, I really enjoyed it. I've never lived near or even known much about my extended family, so it was neat to get a perspective from someone who loves genealogy. It also made me realize that there is a point to Memorial Day, and I'm grateful I finally learned what it is. Because taking the time to remember where we came from is always a worthwhile experience.

Rolls

Sunday, May 30, 2010

I have this thing about homemade rolls. I think I eat as many rolls as I do the rest of dinner combined when they happen to be on the menu. Don't ask me why they appeal to me so much, but it's practically an obsession; I could be completely stuffed and still manage to down at least three rolls, butter included. This means that a good rolls recipe is a staple in my cookbook.

Lucky for me, Skyler's dad was a baker at one point in his life, and he's practically a pro at anything food. So today he gave us a few tips on how to make his absolutely-fabulously-wonderful homemade rolls. The recipe itself wasn't a very big help, because it mostly consisted of a spoonful of this and a palmful of that (his dad is that much of a pro - he hardly had to measure anything!), but the tips were quite helpful. Like how to know if the dough is ready. And the more times you punch it down, the lighter the rolls turn out. Skyler and I might not have been the best helpers (we fell asleep during the rising process, and forgot to wake up to punch the dough), but the rolls were still delicious. And, per usual, I ate more than I should have. Oh well. I can still be thankful for their existence!

My Brother Carlton

Saturday, May 29, 2010

I have mixed emotions about today. On the one hand, it was tons of fun, and I had a great time. On the other, today was the last day I'll see my brother Carlton for about a year. He's going into the Navy, and he leaves for boot camp before I get home from college. So I'm grateful I at least got to see him for a few hours today.

For some strange reason, he decided to vacation in Phoenix, Arizona, for Memorial Day weekend. Why Phoenix, I will never know. It's not your typical tourist destination, though Carlton has never really been a typical person, so I guess it fits. Since I'm in St. George this weekend, we devised a plan to meet about halfway at Lake Havasu. I talked Skyler into making the approximately nine-hour round trip, and we agreed on a time and place to meet Carlton and his girlfriend.

Skyler and I had a few unfortunate occurrences during the trip there, including an encounter with a police officer and a minor detour involving a wrong turn. But we eventually made it, met Carlton and Sarah, and had a fantastic afternoon. First was lunch at a quaint diner with a furry sense of humor, then a drive to the actual London Bridge (which for some reason was transported from England to Nowhere-ville, Arizona) in my brother's red convertible mustang rental car, and finally an hour or so at a local beach. Afternoon well spent.

Besides the fact that we drove around in a convertible and I managed to work on a nice tan at the beach, the trip was a great way to say goodbye to Carlton. He's always been one of those older brothers that you see in the movies, the kind that makes you think 'man I want a brother like that.' He taught me the best way to slow dance, took me out on dates to get ice cream, and listened when I cried over hurt feelings. I always got so excited when he would come home from college or Louisiana or any of the other places he's been. Even when my part in the annual parent-wake-up-call on Christmas was as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and I spent the morning pulling Carlton (aka Santa) around on our old green sled, I was ecstatic to be doing something, anything, with my brothers. So it'll be hard to have him gone for real, especially to the Navy, but I know he'll be a fantastic military man. I'll just be grateful for all the memories I have with him, and hope that there will be more memories made in the future.

Wedding Receptions

Friday, May 28, 2010

While thinking about what to blog about for today, I realized that I was once again really grateful for St. George. It's warm, it's sunny, it's an escape from Provo (and where I'll be this weekend). Positives all around! The only problem was that St. George has already been the star of an earlier post, and that's against the official blog rules. Meaning I was left to come up with another topic for today's post. Which in all honesty wasn't that hard, because being in St. George always makes me insanely happy with plenty of things to be thankful for.

So. I finally decided on a topic that will probably earn me a fair amount of ridicule from my roommate and her fiance. But such is life. Tonight I am thankful for wedding receptions. How did I get from St. George to this? Well let me tell you.

Today's schedule was pretty relaxed. I went to class like normal; Skyler and TJ ended up at my apartment; I filled out a housing waiver so that I could BYU-legally live in my current place. We hung out for a few hours, picked up Sarah, and headed south. What I remember of the drive wasn't bad (I was asleep for a good three hours - in my defense I only got four hours of sleep last night), and we finally ended up in St. George. Where we promptly got ready to go to a wedding reception. (See the connection right there?)

I had been to all of three wedding receptions (that I can remember) before coming to college. That number has more than doubled since moving to Utah, and most of the receptions were for people I barely knew. See, when the person you visit in St. George is very popular, and has lots of engaged friends who have receptions on Friday and Saturday nights, you end up going along with him while he pays his respects. Sometimes you even end up going to two in one night. It's a very good thing that I like wedding receptions.

They're just so elegant. The bride is always beautiful, and she and the groom look so insanely happy, you just can't help but smile. The decorations are always pretty, and very creative. And the food is definitely stunning (though I generally don't eat to much; for some reason I feel weird about eating food at a reception that I personally wasn't invited to, though I can't imagine why). The food is definitely stunning to look at would be more accurate of my wedding reception experience. Everything is absolutely wonderful, and I love going. Not to mention they provide a reason to get dressed up, and I always love an excuse to do that.

Drive-In Movies

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Over the past few years, I have developed the rather odd habit of listening to movies instead of listening to music. Meaning that I end up "watching" a fair number of movies, most of which I have seen several times before, because it's hard to listen to a movie if you haven't already seen it. And while I listen to all these movies, I do things, like homework or clean my room. It's gotten to the point that, unless I'm in a theater, I feel like I have to be doing something no matter what the movie. That could be why I like theaters so much; it's about the only way I can watch a movie in peace anymore.

Tonight I went to a rather unusual theater: a drive-in movie. The last time I went to a drive-in, I was somewhere around twelve years old, and my friend and I barely managed to stay awake during the first of the three movies that were being shown. So I wasn't quite sure what to expect from tonight's excursion. Well, it turned out to be fantastic.

We only got a tiny bit lost on the way to the theater, but still managed to make it in time. It didn't take us long to decide on the movies to see: Iron Man 2 and Date Night. For seven dollars each, we made it into the "theater" (aka a special parking lot) and set up shop. Well, since Skyler had never been to a drive-in, and I hadn't been for years, we weren't quite prepared to spend four hours in the open air in the back of a pick-up truck. Luckily for us, we were with TJ and Amy, and Amy frequents the drive-in theater. She was prepared and then some, so they lent us a few blankets, and we made ourselves comfortable.

Well, it turned out to be the best seven dollars I've spent in a long time (or really that Skyler spent), even though I fell asleep during Iron Man 2 (I'd already seen it, so I think it's understandable). Date Night was hilarious; the truck bed was actually relatively comfortable, and the blue raspberry slushy Skyler got during intermission was very good. Night well spent in my book, even though Spanish class tomorrow will be killer. Oh well! Thank goodness for drive-in movies.

Tans

Once again, I'm behind. Which means that once again, I will attempt to catch up on this one-a-day goal of mine. Wish me luck. Also, sorry about the background change. Something happened to my old background, and since I know less than nothing about computer programming, I wasn't able to fix it. Hence, the new background. I hope you like it.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

I am sunburned. Not badly, not the worst I've ever been, but I am. See, yesterday was a beautiful, cloudlessly sunny day. The first day of it's kind that we've seen in quite a long time here in Provo. Which makes absolutely no sense, since two days ago it was snowing, cementing my belief that I will never understand the weather. Oh well. Since it has been so abysmally overcast for the past, oh, month, I haven't had the opportunity to do away with my horribly pale complexion that only a Provo winter can cause. Until today.

From the moment I realized that the sun would likely be shining all day (you never know when the weather will change on you in this town), I made plans to spend at least part of it out-of-doors. I've always loved the feeling of sun on my skin, and I desperately needed some after a month stuck indoors. Well, Sam informed me that she had the same plans as I did, that she would be going to our favorite little park a little ways up Provo Canyon, and that I was invited to come. So of course I did. We were only out there for about an hour and a half, but I was sleeping for at least a good hour of that time, and for the other half hour I made no attempt to do anything but lay there. Well, as I'm sure you may know, sitting stationary in the blinding sunlight at around one in the afternoon is not the best course of action for your skin. But I did it anyways. And today I'm paying the consequences.

I love being tan; the white complexion I acquire during the winter bothers me to no end, mostly because it makes me feel like I sick ghost. I hate being sunburned; the heat that radiates off my skin when it's fried to a crisp makes me want to do nothing but sit in a tub full of ice cubes. Unfortunately for me, the two go hand-in-hand. In order for me to get tan, I have to get sunburned first, because then my sunburn turns into a tan. So today, while I sit here miserably, with burning skin that hurts to be touched, my only consolation is that, in a few days, it will turn from this fiery red into a wonderful brownish hue. And I'm grateful for that knowledge, because it's the only thing that makes this misery semi-worthwhile.

Spanish Food

I have a tendency to complain about Spanish class. But today was possibly the best Spanish class I've ever had. Because we had a fiesta!

This fiesta wasn't an ordinary one. Normally, Spanish class fiestas consist of lots of cookies, a few brownies, and the occasional plate of muffins. Nice and healthy spread, I know. Well today, instead of the usual fare, we actually had (relatively) authentic Spanish food. See, the point of the fiesta was to get graded. We had to find some form of Spanish food, do a little research, and type it up, along with the recipe. That was one half of the grade. The other half was to actually make the food and bring it in to share. Hence our fabulous party.

I've decided that I like Spanish food. And I wish I knew how to make it for reals. Someday I'm sure I'll learn. Right now I have to settle for being grateful that it exists.

Umbrellas

Today would have been a relatively regular Monday. Except it wasn't. Because it snowed. For those of you skeptics out there who think I made that up - believe it. Mother Nature dumped a good two to three inches worth of ice on us this morning. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper.

But, the morning didn't turn out nearly as bad as it could have, mostly because I realized there was precipitation before I walked out the door this time and took precautionary measures. Namely, using an umbrella.

I got my umbrella at the beginning of my freshman year, when my mom and I went shopping for dorm room essentials. I tried to tell her I didn't need one, that it would just be a waste, but she insisted, and I finally relented. I am very grateful now that my mom forced it upon me. I haven't used it much since I got it (maybe five times, if that), but the times it has been put to use have been welcome indeed. While it doesn't keep me miraculously dry, it does keep the worst off my head, and since I don't particularly enjoy getting wet, that's good enough for me.

Home Videos

While at my uncle's house tonight, after the usual popcorn and chocolate shakes, my aunt decided to bust out the home movie of their wedding reception. Simply because I happen to be in it. I was two when my aunt and uncle were married, and my family and I timed our annual weeks-long road trip across country so that we would be in Iowa in time to go to their reception. The video of the whole thing is hysterical.

First, we showed up. Keep in mind this reception happened in 1992, so the styles were drastically different. My mother was rocking a peach dress with coke-bottle glasses and a perm, while my dad actually had hair and was using a camera that belongs in a museum. Carlton had a cute striped shirt and matching tie on, complete with a very severe part in his hair, and Derek apparently preferred the bow-tie look, though he followed in Carlton's footsteps as far as hairstyle goes. And then there was me. I was asleep in my mother's arms for the entire first half.

Well, then I woke up. And the first thing the camera catches me doing? Picking my nose. Luckily my mother noticed what was going on and quickly swatted my hand away before I could eat the result of my efforts on camera. Boy was I a classy child. The rest of the night I seem to be clinging to some pair of arms or another. I must have been grumpy, because I refused to be set down, except for about five minutes when we took a grandchildren picture with my grandma. And even then, my mom had to coax me to give up my death grip on her neck. I don't know what was wrong that night, but whatever it was made me quite the anti-social child.

But that's okay, because the video was still hysterical. Derek bopped around in his bow-tie the whole night, getting into everything, including the wedding presents. There was one adorable moment when the camera shows us holding hands during the five minutes of picture-taking I agreed to let go for. What a cute older brother! And Carlton with his sharp little outfit popping up in unexpected places. We were so darn adorable as little kids! I just love home videos, and I wish we had more of them back home. I'm grateful that those memories were preserved. Because really, why wouldn't I want a tape of me picking my nose?

The Opportunity to Write

Remember that internship I got a while back? Well, I've finally started doing things for it! This week, I wrote an article for an online website. One of my tasks is to write about an article a week on a topic of my choosing, as long as it somehow relates to books. The article I wrote for this week was really quite fun, and I've decided to post it for your reading pleasure. Here it is:

Looking for a Good Book? – 5 Hunting Tips for the Stumped Reader

Don’t you hate that moment when you finally finish the last chapter of a book so good you just couldn’t put it down – and realize you don’t know where you’ll find another page-turner? It’s depressing, the knowledge that you are book-less until the next great read crosses your path. But do not despair; all is not lost. Here are five tips to aid you in your quest for a good book.

1. Explore the author – Most authors don’t write a single masterpiece and call it quits. Take Barbara Park, author of the Junie B. Jones books, for example. She has currently written twenty-seven books, and is probably still going! And she isn’t alone. Chances are that if you find one book by an author, you’ll probably find at least one more written by the same person. So if you liked the first book, explore. You never know what other good books he or she may have published.

2. Ask the librarian – Librarians are the hidden treasures of the literary world. Many of them studied literature for years in college, and some even specifically focused their studies on how to be a librarian. They know so much about books it would blow your mind. And they are generally more than willing to help if you just ask. So ask! They can point you in any direction you choose, from new releases to classics, murder-mysteries to romance novels – you give them an idea, and they can help you find it.

3. Look up book lists – TIME Magazine-ALL-TIME 100 Novels; Newsweek’s Meta-List of Top 100 Books; The Modern Library: 100 Best Novels; these only scratch the surface of the plethora of book lists out there. How do you find these lists? The way you find almost anything else these days: search for them on the internet. You’ll find more good reads than you could hope to get through in three lifetimes.

4. Join a book club – Thought book clubs were only for your grandma and her friends at the country club? Think again. Look for a book club at your school, your local library, your community center – or get your friends together and make your own! Participating in a book club not only exposes you to good books, it also adds an event to your social calendar. With the potential for good books and good friends, and maybe good refreshments if you’re lucky, book clubs are a great option for any reader.

5. Browse the shelves – If all else fails, just get out there and start looking. Head to any place with bookshelves, be it the library, the bookstore, or your neighbor’s personal collection, and search. Pick a letter and head down that row, or choose a genre to browse through; anything to get you searching. If you find a book that looks interesting, check it out. There’s a good chance you’ll find several not-so-good books, but with a little patience, you’re bound to find even more really good ones.

There you have it: five tips for the next time you have a book drought. Hopefully at least one will lead you to yet another great read.

Today I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to write. Since I'm only taking one class this term, and that one class is Spanish, I've had no opportunities to write anything in English, and I'm actually a little sad about it. So it's great to be able to write fun articles about libraries and recommended summer reads. Even though no one may read them but the few who read this blog, at least I'll enjoy writing them.

Edited Movies

When I turned the TV on today, to see if there were any crimes shows on that I could watch while doing Spanish homework, I discovered that instead there was an edited movie playing on the usual channel. The movie happened to be Tristan and Isolde, which I've seen before, and is really a very sad story. So I watched the end of it, and promptly fell asleep, waking up about an hour later to discover that the channel was now playing an edited version of Casanova, which I had not seen and has Heath Ledger in it. I was all over that.

After that movie ended, I decided to turn off the TV and run a few errands. But channels are tricky, and they sucker you into things before you even realize what's happening. Next thing I knew, the edited version of Atonement was on. I'd always wanted to see that movie, but since it was rated R, I never had. It was quite a conundrum. Go out and be productive, or stay and watch another movie. Well, I confess that I'm a movie junkie, and Atonement won. Consequently, my errands didn't get completely finished tonight, which means I have no milk for cereal tomorrow morning, but such is life. I think I made a good choice.

Which leads me to the grateful item of the night: edited movies. I personally don't understand why it's necessary to make R-rated movies in the first place, and it bothers me when movies that look really good are rated R, especially if it's for something totally avoidable (honestly, it's generally not necessary to say the f-word every other sentence). But that's the way it goes, and as long as it is this way, I'll continue to watch edited movies. And I'd personally like to shake the hand of whoever came up with the genius idea that brought them about.

As a side note, I'm now completely caught up with my blog! Thank you to Skyler for forcing me to do so.

Early Mornings

Thursday, May 20, 2010

I absolutely hate when I forget very essential information. It's even worse when I tell myself not to forget whatever the information is - and I forget it anyway. This unfortunate situation happened to me today.

While doing my Spanish homework yesterday, I realized that I was in charge of the BOCA for this morning's class. The BOCA is the name for the class opening schedule. It involves a hymn, a prayer, and a presentation on a Spanish topic of your choice. Yesterday, I thought to myself, 'hey, don't forget to make a presentation for class tomorrow; it's worth five extra credit points, and you need all the points you can get.' After which I promptly forgot that this was now on my to-do list.

Until this morning, at around six forty-five when I was in the shower. What an awful feeling, remembering that in little more than an hour, I would be giving a presentation that I didn't even know the topic yet. Good thing I get up so early; it gave me the necessary time to throw together a pretty terrible power point on the Day of the Dead (a Mexican holiday), and I got my points. So, as much as I hate it, I'm grateful that I get up so early in the morning. Not only does it give me a little wiggle room in the mornings, but it has actually made my days more productive as a whole. Which is nice. It's a good thing I have help getting up so early though; otherwise, I'd probably miss class every day.

The Graveyard Book

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

I love reading, a fact I've unfortunately forgotten in recent years. Something about reading nothing but "classics" in my classes has jaded me somewhat towards the whole practice of reading. Which I find to be a tragedy; there are so many good books out there, it would be a shame to taint them with bad memories of a few not-so-good books.

Recently, however, I've picked up the habit again. Really, it's because I don't have much else to do with my time. I go to class from eight to ten, do a few hours of homework, maybe take a nap, catch up on any other business, and then have several hours of time to use as I please. This week has been a bit busier than normal, what with a midterm and extended grocery shopping trip thrown in the mix, but I've still had a fair number of free hours. To fill these hours, I started reading.

The book of choice was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and I finished it tonight. It was fantastic. The book is about a little boy named Nobody Owens (Bod for short) who is raised by ghosts in a graveyard, and his life and lessons learned as he grows up. It reminded my of the idea that "it takes a whole village to raise a child," but altered to be "it takes a whole graveyard to raise a child" instead. The whole storyline was just so original, and slightly creepy in a non-disturbing way. And it imparted some very good wisdom along with the tale. The only problem is that I'm done with it. And have nothing else to read. I think a trip to the library might be in order. And a thank you to Gaiman's storytelling for reminding me of the pleasures of reading.

As Silas (Bod's guardian) tells him, "All the people here have had their lives, Bod, even if they were short ones. Now it's your turn. You need to live." What good advice.

A Rainstorm

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The weather hasn't been so nice in Provo recently. To be fair, it hasn't been snowing, which I am very happy about. If it were, I'd probably drop out of school, pack my bags, and permanently vacate this town for sunnier places. But it isn't, and I'm still here. What the weather has been doing recently can be most accurately described as 'spitting.' It lets loose little bursts of misty drops every so often, but never quite makes it to a full-fledged rainstorm. This tends to psyche me out more than I'd like; do I bring an umbrella? Wear a jacket with a hood? Or not worry about it at all?

Today, I'm sad to say that I made the wrong decision. It wasn't raining when I woke up, though I did vaguely remember getting a little wet during the night before I closed the window above my bed. Well, actually my memory was that someone was throwing water at my face, and I was yelling at them to stop, but upon a little further reflection, I don't think that was the case. Anyways, since it wasn't raining, and the day seemed to hold the promise of sunshine, I thought I would be safe without any form of rain protection at all, and walked out the door with nothing but a t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops to protect from the elements. I should have known Provo better.

Sam read me a quote the other day that was something along the lines of "If you don't like today's weather, wait fifteen minutes and it'll be different." I think that describes Provo perfectly. Because when I walked out of class today, it was pouring. Not sprinkling, not spitting, not even lightly drizzling. Pouring. And what choice did I have, but to walk home in it. So I did. And walked through my front door ten minutes later looking like I'd just gone swimming. So much for getting ready for the day, because I just had to do it all over again.

But as I reflected on it later, I realized I didn't really mind getting drenched. I actually like the rain. There's something about it that fascinates me, and it sounds really cool on the roof. Plus, playing in the rain is one of my favorite outdoor activities, right up there with swinging (as long as I can change my clothes soon after, because I hate wet clothes). I know it's a little weird, but today I'm grateful for my unexpected drenching. It reminded me how much I love the spontaneity of nature. Unless it involves snow, that is.

Spanish Class Ending

Monday, May 17, 2010

Sadly, it's been one of those days where I just can't really remember what I did with my day. I find that to be rather pathetic. Probably because I spent practically all day studying Spanish, and that tends to fry my brain in a way I've never encountered before.

I don't know what it is about Spanish, but for some reason it's just one of those things that I cannot grasp. I began my bilingual studies in seventh grade, and have continued them till now, expect for my freshman year of college when I decided to take a break. So you would think, after seven years of it, that I would be pretty darn fluent. Well, you thought wrong. I'm awful.

Which makes my Spanish class this semester that much more difficult. I'm already bad enough, but when you add "eight in the morning," "every day," and "two hours long" to the mix, it makes it exponentially worse. So what am I grateful here? Well, I guess it's the knowledge that Spanish is almost over. I can't even express how happy it makes me to write those words. Not that I don't like the Spanish language. I would love to be fluent. It's that I don't like the Spanish class. I'm very thankful that I'm almost done.

Heroes

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Today was a very good day - minus the fact that I went back to Provo. So really it wasn't the best day at all. But such is life.

It was actually a little bit of a stressful day, to be honest. Due to a slight miscommunication, I was ride-less when I woke up. This presented a problem; since I have a Spanish test tomorrow, I sortof needed to make it back to Provo tonight. Plus I already missed class on Friday, and I didn't think it was the best idea to miss class on Monday too. But I didn't have a ride. So, what to do.

Turns out some friends of a friend of Maren's were driving back this afternoon. So Maren give me her friend's number, who then gave my number to her friends, who then texted me and offered a ride. And voila! I was saved. (Though they did demand cookies in exchange.) As I got in the car, one of my fellow passengers informed the driver that he was practically a hero for helping me in a pinch. Tonight I'm thankful for heroes. Without one I might still be in St. George. Which I would love, but isn't really conducive to doing well in school.

The Pleasant-ness of Swinging

Saturday, May 15, 2010

I absolutely adore swinging. I've loved it since as long as I can remember. And when I swing now, it's not that I'm relieving my childhood or flashing back to all the good times I used to have; I legitimately still enjoy swinging. There's just something special about the rush of air in my face, or the little jump of the swing when I get too high, or the rust smell on my hands afterward. I love it.

In case you hadn't already guessed, today I got to swing. In a very pleasant park on a very pleasant afternoon with a very pleasant person. (Nevermind that the park was meant for five- to twelve-year-olds. The swinging was still pleasant.) I've decided that swinging is my warm soapy water of the outdoors, and I cannot wait for summertime to really arrive, so that I can have more pleasant afternoons with pleasant people. Thank you to today's swing break, for making me realize that I'm definitely installing a swingset in my backyard when I finally have that real house I've always wanted.

The Fact That I'm A Girl

Friday, May 14, 2010

I don't know what it is about boys and camping, but for some inexplicable reason they seem to go hand-in-hand quite frequently. Myself, I've never been a fan of camping. I can handle cabin camping, like at Blue Knob. I think I could stand RV camping, but I've never actually tried it. I even can be semi-okay with sleeping under the stars, though in all fairness, the only time I've done that was on Trek, and I'd have fallen asleep just about anywhere at that point. But tent camping is something that I cannot do.

My reasoning for this is understandable: I've had too many bad experiences with tent camping. The extreme Maryland humidity making the inside of the tent rain; the tent pitched on a slanted slope with no stakes; the endless round of bugs parading through the tent flap, whether or not it's closed. Tent camping is something I just cannot handle, and something I refuse to subject my children to in the future.

Now, why this slanderous post? Because Skyler went on the Fathers and Sons campout with his brothers and dad tonight, leaving me to ponder my extreme good fortune - I am a girl. And tent camping is not on my required list of activities. Oh hallelujah.

Roadtrips

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I love roadtrips. However, that statement deserves a bit of explanation. I don't particularly enjoy the actual part on the road. But the time in between those long hours of monotony make up for any horrors suffered. So the roadtrips themselves are worth it. Which is why I love them so much.

I believe this weekend marks the seventh time I will be making the trek to St. George since January. Really since February, because I didn't go down until half-way through, during the long weekend. Each way, the car trip takes anywhere from three to four hours (for some reason, the trip down takes closer to four, and the trip back closer to three; it's extremely depressing, and I wish it were flipped). Plus there have a been a few trips that were more on the long side, due to inclement weather and an unfortunately ornery tire. So we'll say each way takes four hours. That's eight hours of driving per trip (give or take). Multiply that by seven trips, and that's fifty-six hours spent in a car. Not to mention the twelve-hour round trip to Disneyland. And I willing submitted to all that; in fact, I jumped at the chance to subject myself to it. I must be crazy.

But I promise you that I am not. Because the time spent in St. George is more than worth it. Which is why I'm looking forward to yet another trip this weekend, this time courtesy of the St. George Shuttle. Hopefully it doesn't turn out as sketchy as it sounds, and I make it to my destination in one piece. And in case you were wondering, the moral of this mathematical post is to say that despite the pain and suffering of the drives themselves, I'm thankful for roadtrips. I don't know what I would do without them.

A Working Oven

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

In a similar vein as yesterday's post, today's topic is another little rant on the abysmal state of the apartments in Provo. We discovered a few days after moving into our current place that the oven doesn't work. The whole contraption is the most ghetto gas death trap I've ever seen. Only three of the four burners work, and we think the actual oven ignites, but it's sketchy at best. Mostly it takes years to heat up the slightest bit and fills the entire apartment with the smell of gas - but there is a flame down there!

Needless to say, we don't use the oven. Personally I'd like to live through Spring term, and I honestly think prolonged use of that thing would cut that goal short in a hurry. This leaves me in an awful predicament, because I like to bake. And I've been wanting to make banana bread for probably about a week now. I thought I had a good chance of making it because the maintenance man did make an appearance last Thursday, but he said he would be back to finish the job on Friday and has yet to surface again, so I've just about given up hope that our oven will ever make it back to full strength.

This is where Maren comes in. She's just so wonderful; she willing let me invade her apartment to make a few loaves (though she did get her own loaf out of the deal, so maybe there were ulterior motives). The end result was a rather tasty batch of banana bread. And the whole experience left me grateful, once again, for something I don't have: a working oven.