Thanksgiving Blessings

From Seattle, WA, 10:00am

Mika arrived safely last Sunday and we had such a great time together while he was here! Mostly, we got engaged! I am now the future wife of the most wonderful of humans and the owner of the most beautiful ring a girl could dream of. Short story: I am so blessed. 

He's so proud of his purchase.

On the Great Wheel!

Want the full story? It's the sweetest. 

I knew Mika would be proposing this trip but wasn't sure when. He flew in Sunday afternoon, we had family dinner that night and family lunch the next day. I figured it wouldn't happen before then so I was left with Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. I hoped he wouldn't wait until his last day here (Thursday) so calculated that he would propose Tuesday or Wednesday. Both days we had planned to go up to Seattle and I was really hoping it would happen Tuesday over Wednesday for purely selfish reasons. I just wanted to be engaged. Tuesday we went up to Seattle stopped in at REI, went to lunch at Paseo (it should be on everyone's bucket list- excellent Cuban food), and then headed to Pike Place. In my head I really wanted him to propose on the Seattle Great Wheel because it is my favorite place in Seattle but when it came down to it, I didn't care where he did it, like I mentioned before, I just really wanted to be engaged. So we walked around Pike Place for a few hours and then when we got back to the car he suggested we walk to the Great Wheel. "Sure" I said but really in my head it was a fiesta of hopes. I had to reign myself in because as far as I knew, he didn't have the ring on him and because it was already evening, I figured he would wait until the next day. Side note: As we were walking to lunch I put my hand in his jacket pocket because I wanted to hold his hand and he got really jittery and was like, "What are you doing??". I explained I only wanted him to hold my hand so he did... outside of his pocket. Looking back is like, "duhhhh. He didn't want me to feel the ring box!" So we made our way to the Great Wheel and had a lovely time on it. The city was beautiful, the water was beautiful. On our second of three rotations, he got on one knee and said, "Will you marry me?" I got more flustered than he ever was and kind of stumbled out an "Of course!", "Yes", "Oh my gosh, it's prettier than when I tried it on!", "This is mine??", "Yes", "It's so sparkly", "I love you." We finished our ride and made our way back to Pike Place to browse through a record shop and then make our way home. Best. Day. Ever.

My favorite part is the peek-a-boo diamond- such a fun little surprise!

Of course, then we got to call family and friends and tell them the good news (and by we I mean mostly me because Mika was more interested in watching jeopardy with my sister Hayley than calling our families- but that's why I love him- always the laid back one). Our parents were joyous, the sisters excited, and the brothers more inquisitive than anything else. Mine tried to assure me that he was supposed to have given permission. Nice try, Kelly. 

The next picture is my all-time favorite! The story behind it is priceless and so very Mika. While taking a few pictures right after he proposed Mika said, "How many of these are we gonna take?" My response was something like, "Well, how long are we going to be married? A picture for every ten years or so, right?" Mika without missing a beat said, "I don't know, like three years." This picture is our reactions to his statement. I love this man so much. 

So I guess it's time to admit that what's below has happened. Maybe I'm a sixth grade girl? Or, maybe I'm a 22 year old girl that's just really excited to marry the coolest guy I know. I'm thinking about adopting the third or fourth one as my signature. I mean, it is important right? This is going to be my legal signature for the rest of my life. Clearly I have my priorities straight...

Practicing what will be my name...

As much as I love my ring, as much as I love practicing my new name, and as much as I love Mika and look forward to having many more Seattle Great Wheel rides with him, I am most excited to be married to him for eternity. I look forward to the challenges and blessings that will come with marriage and raising children together. My great uncle's family has a personal Family Proclamation and I can't wait for Mika and I to have one with our own family. Families are forever and they should be what matters most. 

I have a beautiful ring on my finger and I'm already starting to begin the wedding planning process. Mostly though, next June I'll be moving to West Virginia to join my favorite human. Life is so good. 

P.S. Here's Whitney and I snuggling the day after Mika proposed. Could life get any better?

Autumn Update

From Seattle, WA, 9:00am

I've been procrastinating this blog post... for the past two weeks I've been trying to come up with a good idea to write about or a neat experience but since nothing significantly amazing has happened I've been having writer's block. So instead, I figured I would do several small updates instead of getting on a soap box for the entirety of the post. 

Update number one: 

Mika is literally in the air right now flying to Seattle. Part of the reason I am finally writing instead of putting it off further is so it gives me something to do to distract me from watching the time (though I've probably glanced at the clock on my computer about 2.3 million times since I started writing this.) Also, I blame any typos on my inability to think straight.

Update number two: A book report.

If you haven't read the book, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak you really should. It is a fantastic story of a girl in Nazi Germany living with foster parents who are hiding a German Jew in their basement. She begins to steal books even before she can read but her "papa" (her foster dad) fosters (see what I did there? :) I love puns) a need for more books after teaching her to read and write. The 550 page story is narrated by Death. I thought Death as a narrator would make the book creepy but it is actually a brilliantly pleasant aspect. Death makes jokes, feels sorrow, and is a very eloquent story teller. You'll fly through this book- I'm not sure if I've ever read a 550 page book in my life (I am ashamed to say that means I haven't read classics like the unabridged versions of Le Mis or The Count of Monte Cristo) but I finished this one in under a week. So get yourself a copy, read it, and love it. 

Update number three: Old friends

Early last week I went up to Seattle to spend time with friends and my older sister, Whitney. It was fantastic. I foolishly forget sometimes (even if only for a brief moment at a time) how great the people in my life are. They aren't just people. They are my people. I had lunch on an outdoor patio, visited with a wise Institute teacher, watched a soccer game in the freezing cold (but was rewarded with hot chocolate afterwards), ate Calzones with great people, had an amazing breakfast, and cheered on Mexico in the quarter finals. The common denominator to all of those activities is that I was with the people I love. One of my friends, Eugenia, and I got to talking one of the nights about how we are so grateful that we have such amazing friends. Eugenia, our friend, Sara, and I all met when we were freshmen at UW. We are so blessed that even though we have done things we shouldn't have or said something we shouldn't have we are still close friends. We have never done anything so bad that our friends questioned our character even through our college years trying to figure out who we are and what we want to become-trying to figure out our places in this big world. And I think that says a lot. 

Eugenia, Sara, and I

So yes, this is a shorter blog post than normal. Besides Mika on his way here, finishing a fantastic book (a PR page-wise for me), and getting to spend time cheering Mexican soccer players on with Whitney not a whole lot has been going on. It's been a nice, "normal" few weeks and that's what we all want, right? But "normal" in my life is amazing and I'm such a lucky girl because of it.

Happy Sunday!

P.S. Go watch Bill Gate's favorite TED Talks playlist. You won't be disappointed. (Thanks, Katie for the recommendation!)

The Apple Doesn't Fall Too Far From the Tree

From Seattle, WA, 2:00pm

My family is the most important thing to me. They are my top priority. There are a lot of us and we are loud and completely in each other's lives but I wouldn't have it any other way. Knowing everything about everyone makes for a fantastic support system despite how annoying it is sometimes. And this isn't to say that none of us know how to keep a secret- my sisters and brother keep information of mine that my parents will never know (sorry mom and dad!). At the same time my parents know things that my siblings don't (sorry guys!). One of the many things we all have in common though, no matter what information we have or don't have is that we always want the best for each other. There has never been a moment of bad relations between my siblings (as adults that is- I'm sure we did our fair share of bickering as kids), there has never been a moment when we didn't know that we could turn to anyone of our siblings for a listening ear, a word of support, or a piece of wisdom that was much needed. I have often wondered if our strong family unity is more common than not or if other families are as close as mine is. Despite stories of siblings who haven't talked to each other for twenty years or parents who disowned a child because of a slip-up, I remain optimistic that more families are like mine than not.

What makes my family unique however, is that they're mine. My siblings are mine and only mine.  I am one of only four lucky kids who were raised by my parents. We are part of a small culture that belongs to only us. And though we will share this culture through interactions with our friends, church members, and over time with our own children and posterity it remains uniquely ours. We created it. 

But the six of us didn't entirely create it on our own, did we? For starters, we have The Family: A Proclamation to the World that gives an outline of what our families are to strive to be. All of these principles that I was taught as a child were incorporated into our own family culture. Education, service, music, and unconditional love were all present in our home and as such became inseparably intertwined into what our family stands for. Sunday dinners with aunts, uncles, and cousins were regular occurrences all growing up and still happen. Requested rides to the airport in the wee hours of the morning isn't enough to induce rolling eyes and last minute babysitting phone calls are (usually) happily taken.

Besides the Proclamation to the World, we have a great family legacy. Last week I called my 87 year old (paternal) grandfather for a chat. With all of this new-found time I have, I'm trying to make strides in our family history. My grandfather had wonderful stories of dating my grandmother and what it was like being a newly married young man to a beautiful woman who was a few years his senior (and how cool he felt that she would date a sophomore in college while she was a senior). He told me some WWII stories and how pretty my grandmother was in her WAVES uniform. 

Grandpa Thompson and my sisters

The story I liked the best though was not a story at all. It was my 87 year old grandfather baring his testimony to me over the phone from across the state. He told me that he knows repentance is real and that families can be together forever if we are sealed in the Temple and keep our covenants. He told me that he knows that living the gospel of Jesus Christ makes us happy and creates a sense of satisfaction and love in our lives. He told me that he knows all of these things and that he hopes that I know them too and hopes that I will never depart from these principles. Reflecting on this the rest of the week I realized that I want this to be part of my own future family culture. I want my children to know that they come from a family that loves them and one that has strong roots in the gospel because in the end, though my testimony does not ride on that of my grandfathers or anyone's for that matter, it definitely contributes to mine. Mine is stronger because I know he has one and have seen his in action. Anyone who knows my grandfather loves him and has some story about him of him serving them or sending them a note in the mail or helping them with a calling. And this is where I hope the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. As much as I want my own family culture that is solely mine, either in the family I was raised in or my own future family it never will be because there are so many other influences, good influences. Not only do I want my children and posterity to think my husband and I are as great as I think my grandfather is or my parents are or my future husband's parents are, I want them to know about the people who came before them who have influenced the shape of our family. I want them to realize that it's our own culture yes, but it doesn't stop at only those who are alive but extends generations back into the pre-existence and will continue to extend forward. 

So as I had all of this on my mind last week I got to end my week with a family day on Saturday. Friday night I got to pick up my sister Whitney from the airport to stay the night and Saturday my dad came down to hang out with baby Lincoln. As is our family culture, we listened to music and reminisced about growing up. There was actually a moment when all of us were belting songs that were sang to us when we were little and looking up different renditions of them. (Like these: The Unicorn Song, 1814 Battle of New Orleans) We picked out what songs we wanted our phones to play as ringtones when we called each other and tried them out to see how they sounded. So there we were as per usual, singing old songs and sharing new ones recently discovered. It was almost an out of body experience that I hope I will never forget because in the end, this is my family and my family culture and I hope this apple doesn't (me) and future apples (my future children) won't fall too far from the tree. 

P.S. Here are some of our new favorite songs:

Ride On/Right On, Phosphorescent

Old Pine, Ben Howard

Stay With Me, NO

Skinny Love, Birdy

Dust to Dust, Civil Wars

Artificial Light, Typhoon

P.S.S Here are pictures from General Conference Weekend in Salt Lake City with my friends as well as more pictures from Charleston. You can see (some of) the completed projects I was working on- the candle holders and the mirror. 

Southern Living

From Charleston, WV, 4:00am

After a year and a half of not writing- let me catch you up. I've been debating whether or not to even try to catch up or to just start new but I think the last year and a half deserves some recognition so here it goes...

1. I'm dating the most fantastic of humans. His name is Mika and he's a surgical resident in Charleston, WV. We've been dating since September of 2012 when we met in Seattle while he was there on a rotation. I think he's great and I cannot comprehend how I could ever love him more than I do now. 

Our May, 2013 vacation to Charleston, SC

2. I graduated from college at UW in Seattle. Woof!

3. I no longer live with my sister Whitney and I often miss how much fun we had together (see post titled 'Gazpacho, a Box, and a Dead Fish Named Benjerman'). 

4. I am now an aunt- the little guy, Lincoln Owen is my new obsession. I get to live with my sister and brother-in-law and take care of Baby Abe until next summer after which I will be joining Mika in Charleston.

Done.

Now onto Southern Living. 

West Virginia Capitol building grounds.

I have visited Charleston, West Virginia several times now. My first was the last week of June after Mika and I went to London and Paris for a week. He had moved the day before he came to Seattle for my graduation and we left for Europe the day after my graduation. When we got here (literally only a few hours before he had to be at the hospital for his first day of work) everything he owned was in his new basement, his car, or his friend, Dustin's refrigerator. I had just a ball of a time moving boxes full of medical texts from his basement to the top floor in 90 degree heat with 1,000,000% humidity. (Turns out we had A/C the entire time but I didn't know it...) Despite this (miserable and) tiring start, I'm pretty sure I was smiling almost the entire time and the more I explored Charleston the more it grew on me. 

London, England 2013

I've lived in Washington state my entire life. I've known nothing else. I've traveled some but rarely to the east coast or south. I grew up in a small town but had parents who were sure to "culture" my siblings and I with Mariner's games, trips to the 'Nutcracker' at the PNB, and continual service to those around us. I have lived in and loved Seattle now for over four years and consider myself a true Seattleite. I call Seattle home. What I knew of West Virginia though is that a) it's beautiful b) it's one of the most unhealthy populations- also one of the oldest populations, and c) it's rural. I was hesitant to say the least. I was nervous and once I knew Mika and I were serious I prayed and prayed that I would learn to love this new place that I would eventually call my home.  I imagined that my Anthropology degree would come in handy to understand the people here. My Anthropology of Globalization focus was identity and immigration and I envisioned myself using my educational knowledge to relate to people with whom I thought I would have nothing in common. If that didn't work, I thought empathizing would be the next best thing.

I have come to learn that I don't need an Anthropology degree or empathy to relate to West Virginians though. Even my small town upbringing hasn't come in as handy as I thought it would. The time that I have spent here has changed my entire outlook on not only West Virginia and the people here, but on all people. It has reminded me of something that I had forgotten, that people need people. It really is as simple as that. Every persons life is as complicated as my own and every person is just trying to make it through life as best as they can with the hand they were dealt. And I have learned that West Virginians are really good at this. For being from truly rural towns, they are more willing to accept outsiders (like myself) than I expected. They know more about the world and life than I ever will. They believe in God and have no doubt that He is great. So, this is my new home (or it will be shortly- though by the amount of shopping I've done for the house Mika probably wonders if I've already moved in). And I am excited to learn from all that it has to offer. As I was in Home Goods yesterday (or was it the day before? I told you I've been doing quite a bit of shopping) the thought crossed my mind that it really is a smoother transition if we embrace the ride. The change is coming no matter what and it's much more enjoyable if we put a smile on our face and a pep in our step. 

I was especially ashamed at my doubt in and my fear of West Virginia when I remembered my favorite scripture, 2 Nephi 5:27, "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness". The Nephites did not just miraculously become happy. They made a point to be so. They chose happiness, they didn't happen upon it. Happiness, or joy is something that we live "after", we strive for. We are never done perfecting our ability to be happy. We have to deliberately seek after it. I know this to be true. The more we show the Lord that we are willing to be happy and striving to be content (yet not to the point of complacency), the more peace and joy we receive. He has given us literally every tool that we need to become perfectly happy and it is our responsibility to utilize those tools to do so. 

In my case, I think one of those tools is West Virginia. Despite the helicopters landing at the hospital (our backyard) at 12am or the trains passing at 2am, it is wonderful here. I cannot get in an elevator without a cheery "Good morning ma'am". I always feel like I can ask someone for directions. The ladies at the market clue me in on which stall has the best mums that day. The list goes on. It is impossible to be unhappy in a place like Charleston, WV. 

Let me share a quick experience from yesterday- one other than shopping at Home Goods. This story involves me at GoodWill (continue reading to see what projects I'm currently working on). I was at the most rural/sketchy/small GoodWill I have ever seen in my entire life. Literally. This goodwill was probably the size of our house- so no so big. But, while I was there hunting for glass containers there was a preacher there. He was talking loudly to himself but at the same time to the entire store. He would say something and then say "Can I get an Amen?" and then literally half of the people in the store (there were only about ten people total including the employees) would say "Amen"! Isn't that so neat? It was out of a movie! We don't talk to other people while shopping in Seattle. But this preacher was just chatting it up with everyone, and people knew him, and a lady asked him to pray for her cat to stop escaping and so he did, and it was just wonderful. I couldn't help but grin ear to ear and he noticed and started telling everyone what a beautiful big smile I had and then someone yelled "Amen" and I felt awesome. That's why it's impossible to be unhappy here. People need people and people here know that. And they do something about it. 

Not only are the people here wonderful, the sights beautiful (though the trees haven't completely changed quite yet), and the weather nice (sunny and 75, anyone?), but I get to do what I'm really good at. Take care of a household with OCD-like precision. 

I said it. I love being a (pre)wifey. I love being able to support Mika while he works 80+ hours a week anyway I can. I've got shopping for the house down to a science (while remaining within my budget- ish). I'm perfecting my cleaning routine (though sometimes it may not seem like it), I finally have that new washer and dryer figured out, and "it's two thirty" is becoming the sentence that gets me out of bed to make breakfast. And I (not so) secretly love it. I love having dinner ready when he gets home (I'm getting really good at recipes that you can simmer for a few hours because sometimes I don't know when that will be). I love getting to repaint cool old mirrors that I found while antiqueing or getting to buy hoards of varying glass vases, candle holders, and hurricanes for different DIY projects (like making mercury glass, or these cute little Autumn branch candle holders, or to fill with faux Autumn leaves for a nice centerpiece.) I love getting to pray for him as he goes off to M&M. I love making pumpkin ice cream and apple cider slushies with him in the evenings. Whether it's West Virginia itself or just a 'coincidental' conglomeration of good things that happen to be here doesn't matter. It's good here, and I like it. 

Spring Fever

Such an exciting past few weeks!

Let's start by saying, It's March!! Spring, Spring, Spring! I love Spring! Last year I remember at this time I was walking to class and saw a bee and freaked out because it meant Spring was so close it could sting me and the past few weeks have been just as exciting...

(Also the fact that I've been listening to country music ALL day has helped. I always forget how much I love it.)

Last weekend it was beautiful weather and my schedule included a baby shower (best excuse to buy baby clothes!) It was super fun and there was an amazing fruit and quinoa salad that I want to try to recreate sometime. Last weekend was also the first Husky home baseball games! It was a weekend series and it was so nice out I sat on those bleachers at Chaffey Field without a care in the world! (Side note: We won! Whose house? Dawg's House! Woof!) Last week was also the last week of classes. Which means finals are next week. Which is completely fine with me because it means Spring Break is the week after! Yayyy!

This weekend I was also able to keep the fun schedule of the previous week. First off (and not as 'fun') was my hunt for two things. Popsicle molds and culinary lavender. Literally eleven stores later I had no such luck. My endeavors took me to Target, K Mart, the Dollar Store, a spice shop, a specialty cake shop, among others. All I wanted to do was try a great new popsicle recipe I found and make lavender lemon cookies for a church function tomorrow (I hate baking so I figured I'd hate it whether I was baking box chocolate chip cookies or home made gourmet cookies, so mine as well go big or go home.) Quite disconcerted I called my sister Hayley on the way home (my sister Whitney who I live with is in L.A. visiting her bff so I couldn't call and complain to her.) To my disdain/elation she informed me that she had at her house both popsicle molds AND baking lavender. Saveddddd.

Feeling a little bit better about my endeavors to adventure out in the baking realm, and the reality it was once again, I got to go to something awesome last night in a fabulous mood. My dad is a graphic designer. And he's legit. He volunteered his expertise recently to something called the Little Red School House. For those of you who know Children's Village in Yakima (and if you don't you should) it is a similar organization. He designed these great labels for a featured wine that Little Red was selling as a fundraiser. Last night was the fundraiser event at the Little Red School House. It was really fun to get to be my dad's plus one now that I'm 21! There was a silent auction with things like a weeks stay in Puerto Rico and $500 wine. The food was delicious and they had my favorite blackberry Izze drinks for those who either didn't drink wine (my dad and I were the only ones there) or need a break in between their glasses of wine. It was so cool to see his designs in the public eye again and everyone was so happy with the way they turned out. I was beaming. He kept being introduced to all of these high-up people so it was fun to see him in that atmosphere. I think sometimes we forget that our parents are cool and hip and have lives outside of caring for us kids. All in all, a great night was had!

This morning I attended a Spring Brunch/favorite things party which is also contributing to my excitement in the change of seasons. My sister Hayley hosted and everyone brought delicious, fun, fabulous food. Grapes rolled in goat cheese and crushed almonds, basil mozarella tomato skewers, quiche, apple cinnamon muffins, pineapple cupcakes, punch, fruit salad, pasta salad, cheese, etc. We decorated her house very Springy and we both tried to channel our inner Spring fairies by wearing (theoretical) season appropriate clothing. I wore teal jeans and she wore pastel flats. All I can say is that it's a good thing we were inside because it was raining. The. Entire. Time. Along with good food, we had great company and a favorite things exchange. Each person chooses their favorite item under $7 and buys three of that item to bring. You put your name in a jar three times and then take turns going around the room after everyone's name is in the jar three times. Each person picks three names out of the jar and explains the favorite thing they brought and the three names they drew get their favorite item. I took my favorite dish soap everrrr (Meyer's basil scent) and Abuelita's hot chocolate. Someone brought sparkling cider and girl scout cookies, one person brought a magazine and dry shampoo, etc. Anything flies. A favorite kitchen gadget, a favorite snack, anything, you just have to explain why it's your favorite. And everyone leaves with a belly full of yummy food and three new favorite things to try!

After the Spring Brunch I went to my dad's to get some gardening stuff and then came home and made my lemon lavender cookies (I barely remembered to get the lavender from Hayley's this morning and turns out she didn't actually have popsicle molds so I'll just have to use dixie cups and craft sticks.) I vacuumed and folded laundry, cleaned the bathroom, and am supposed to be studying for finals now... oops.

All in all, I had a great weekend and it was completely Spring themed!! It was all about new starts, refreshing your mind, and getting things cleaned and in order. I tried new things, I got new things, and I met new people. I also started a map of an anthropological study I'm thinking about doing for my senior dissertation next year (or just for funsies) that can be tied into the theme of 'newness'. New ways of thinking and new ways of constructing imagined spaces.

Also a plus to my day, I painted my fingernails hot pink. I've been smiling the entire time I've been typing this. Just seeing the hot pink patches glide across my black key board makes me happy. And my plants are starting to bud!!

Happy Spring everyone! Don't forget to turn your clocks ahead an hour!

Gazpacho, a Box, and a Dead Fish Named Benjerman.

Six Months Later...

Yes, I'm a terrible person and yes it's been over six months since I last blogged. And this week was so eventful, I'm not even going to backtrack, so try to keep up.

So we all remember that I'm obsessed with anything Latin correct? So last August (also a story for it's own post) I went to Spain. Yeah. I went to Spain. And it blew my mind. What mostly blew my mind? The grandma of a Spanish family my friend used to nanny in Belgium. Yeah. Abuela Eva. She's literally thee greatest. Mostly because she taught us how to make gazpacho. I haven't made it since I've been back and I didn't have a recipe so I tried to recreate the soup from what memories I had. And it turned out Legit!! Cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, onion, garlic, green peppers, soggy bread, vinegar, and a tiny splash of olive oil. Who knew it could be so delicious!?!? We had it with fish and roasted zucchini. It was super good for remembering it from six months ago and off the top of my head if I do say so myself. Aside from accidentally dumping a bunch out of the blender onto my phone it turned out quite well and we still have a pitcher full in the fridge! Gazpacho for dayssss.


Next, there's a box. My sister just ordered two of these chairs for our craft room/loungy area (new since my last blog) which came in Wednesday. (How badly she wanted them and how 'long' the wait for them to be shipped to us is a different story.) So Wednesday they get here and now we have this box sitting around while we wait for our recycle to be picked up so we can then refill it with a single box. Life of the city dwellers I guess. So as we're wrapping up dinner the other night (See Gazpacho above) we start talking about how it's so big that we could fit in it. We then came to an agreement that we are actually going to keep it around for a few days to play with it.

If only people had been here to see it. Two twenty somethings (I'm 21 now!! Holla!!) acting like children with this wonderfully huge box. Also, we named it. Rodger. Rodger the box. So first we experimented with the box going on top of us and hiding underneath it. We explored different ideas on how we could invite someone over and then jump out from under it to scare them. Then we started gettin' crazy and decided to try getting in the box. We pulled up a chair and I jumped in. It comes up to my chest but I made the leap of faith. Socks on fox, Tayler in a box. I felt like I was in a Dr. Seuss book. Until it was time to get out that is. Whitney started tipping me which seemed like a good idea. So I leaned into it... and came crashing down. Now Whitney claims that I made the best 'Oh Crap' face she's ever seen and I believe it. I thought I was going to die when I realized that I was free-falling over because she had ceased helping me. I thought I was going to die (okay, I didn't think I was going to die, but I did think the fall was going to hurt mega.) But that good old Rodger broke my fall. His cardboard walls were just thick enough to absorb some of the shock and alas, I didn't get hurt. Box playing success! So, if in the next few days you have the nagging desire to play in a huge box like you're six again, our door is wide open... you may want to bring some elbow and knee pads though, just in case.

My dead fish named Benjerman. First I'll set the scene. A friend was throwing a surprise birthday party for another friend and in the spirit of surprise birthdays we thought it would be a fantastic idea to have fish races. We've done it before and it turned out quite well. You get two rain gutters, duct tape each end to seal it and fill them with water. Each person chooses a gold fish from the pitcher and puts it in their cup and names it. You then set up a bracket and race each other by putting your fish in the filled gutter and blowing on the water surface with a straw to try to encourage it to the finish line.

Out of all twenty fish that I could have chosen, I chose the one dead one...on purpose. Yes, he was dead when I chose him to be my own personal Seabiscuit (minus the Great Depression part... and the horse part... and the whole being alive thing.) I saw a star in the making. I figured if he was dead he wouldn't be able to swim in the opposite direction at least (a common problem in past fish racing experiences.) Let me just say Benjerman (named so because until I was a freshman in high school I thought Benjamin was spelled and pronounced with an 'r' so I name everything I can Benjerman to make fun of myself) was a fantastic novice. People made fun of me and laughed but at the count down, I put him in the water and started blowing. It took a ton of lung power (on my part) but we pulled through.

Benjerman won!! A dead fish actually beat an alive one. My first technique was to blow hard behind him to try to get a current going to carry him to the other side. That worked okay but it was no winning strategy. So about half way down the raceway a started to blow gently so he would stay on the surface and I would just urge him along with a light wind. Benjerman gracefully danced past the finish line and I had myself a winner. We kept this momentum up until he got knocked out in the round before the final bracket. That's right. We almost made it to the finals and only one of us was alive. And we did it with more poise than any other fish there.

Turns out thinking outside the box (fish bowl) pays off. Pictures to come later because someone else was taking them.

Texans, Missionary Mile-Markers, and Creamsicle Colored Houses.

Crazy happenings are happening. Things got to happening so fast that I forgot for a minute (okay for two weeks) that I even had a blog. First off my cousins/grandma/aunt/second cousin is/are in town! (And by in town I really mean they are currently in Packwood enjoying stars, pools, and waterfalls. boo to them.) Butttttttt, I got to see them last week when they got here! They're the best. We enjoyed two family dinners, and some adventurous times at Redondo beach in Federal Way. Of course my mom is awesome and has an entire calendar of things to do with them (including the blue angels and warp tour.) So that was one happening. The Texans are here! :)

Happening number two. Two of my favorite missionaries hit/are hitting mission mile-markers.


Exhibition #1: Elder Kekoa Housten Riggin hit his 'ten-months-left' mark' yesterday... I still can't believe it. See you at the end of the school year!!! (P.S. Koa is only so much darker than me because he's half Hawaiian.)





Exhibition #2: Elder Thomas Hesselgesser hits his one year mark tomorrow!! Here's a toast to my favorite friend growing up who I still picture as the kid with constant bloody noses and asthma attacks. (And T.J. is only so much darker than me because he went to school in Hawaii. These fools.)


This is who I grew up with. These boys were my besties when I was younger. Loves to them both! I'm the proudest Mother, Girlfriend, Sister, friend a guy could have. And I'm sup excited to see them BOTH in Less than a YEAR!! Woot woot!



Happening number two is not a very happy happening. I came home early from work feeling like one of our sickly pea plants that is dying a slow death from who knows what to find that my house is being painted the color of a melted creamsicle. Awesome. My house. is being painted. the color of a creamsicle. As in, I now live inside of a frozen treat. Just in time for National Creamsicle Day. Here's to hoping it looks better with a second coat on and being grateful that it isn't the same putrid color of orange as our neighbors at the end of the street. The plus? My Mexis are back serenading me. Yup, I just said that.



So many other happenings happened in the last two weeks that there are too many to relay. My sister got back from Thailand in one piece, I started a new book (it's called "Inca Gold" and is so far fascinating... and I'm on page 3), I am becoming attracted to the idea of tea (everyone at work drinks coffee so I am trying to get into herbal tea), I got to see and catch up with Betsy last night, as well as Jeanette, and I can now drink half a glass of milk without gagging. Happenings are happening.



P.S. I will post pictures of my 'deliciously' colored house later (bad pun intended). When it's done. Assuming I haven't moved to the more delectable house made out of candy owned by the witch in a children's story. (Or to a house painted a normal color. You know the ones that are gray or white or tan.)