Choppage...

I cut the hairs!!!!

Side view....

And from the front!
The front is longer, as you can tell, but the hair in the back is right at the nape of my neck.  I'm curious to see what happens when it's curly!!

16 Things About Me

1. I can't watch movies without subtitles. It's simply impossible.

2. I am incredibly messy.  Every aspect of my life is messy. Usually it doesn't bother me. Sometimes it does.

3. I'm really good at cleaning.  If I'm in a cleaning mood or have to clean something (read:Camp) I'm incredibly thorough. Just don't expect me to be clean if I don't want to be.  You will be disappointed.

4. I REALLY like to cuddle especially with babies, and for no real particular reason. I probably want to cuddle with you.  And probably all the time.  If I touch you, don't take it as creepy or romantic. I just want to be close to you.

5. I tend to dwell on the past. I over-think and read too much into nearly everything.  This may very well be my biggest fault.

6. I judge people that use to, too, and two incorrectly. If you are one of these people. go get an education, PLEASE.

7. As soon as I'm a real adult, with my own apartment and a job, I will own at least three cuddly animals.  Also, although this may be another separate, random thing about me, I despise kittens and puppies.  They smell and are dumb. Their cuteness simply cannot make up for it.  Although they are very soft.

8. I never want to live in Utah, although someday I probably will.

9. I am terrified of Koalas. And Aliens.  If you talk about Aliens around me, I will most likely start humming or leave the room. Seriously. Just don't go there. I cried all the way through the second half of the latest Indiana Jones movie.

10. I have worked very hard to develop several talents.  However,  I never use any of them, so they are slowly going away. Someday I want to get them back. These include, but are not limited to: Playing the Drums, Singing, Swimming, Writing HTML, Acting, Speaking Spanish, Cooking, Riding Horses, and Sailing.

11. I will travel the world someday.  Someday soon.

12. I feel constantly and incredibly connected with the earth around me.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those tree-huggers who screams in agony when they happen upon a cut-down tree (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I am distinctly connected with nature. Someday I will live in a tree house and have a hobbit-garden.

13. Camp had been both the place in my life with the greatest joy and the greatest sadness. I will probably return to that island and least once a year for the rest of my life.  Actually, I will probably end up living there.

14. My religion does not define my spirituality.  My spirituality defines my religion.

15. I have a goal to read at least one non-school book a month this year. It probably won't happen.

16. My family are the most important people to me on earth. I wish I lived closer to them.  I wouldn't be who I am or have the ideals, dreams, or drive that I do without them in my life.  I love them more than words.

Avoiding Homework? SURE AM!!!

Oh happy Day!!! I'm finally posting, thanks to a kick in the pants from my loverly sisters.

What and amazing season I've had.  I'm back in Rexburg this Winter, as I was accepted to the Year-round Program.  This means I'll be graduating sometime around April 2010!!! Thats just about a year away!! Things are going really well, I absolutely LOVE my classes, which include Biblical Hebrew, Intermediate Social Dance, Jazz Piano Improv, US History, History Writing and Research (which includes a fatty paper), Geography and World affairs, and Educational Psychology.  I'm determined to get a Good GPA this semester, and so far I'm sticking pretty well to that.  I had an awesome Holiday season at home and in Utah with the family, and I would just like to give a shout-out to all those who hosted me while in Utah.  I love you all so very much.

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving.  I went up to Orcas to visit Dorothy and her family at the beginning of the week.  What joy I found when I learned that Julia and Clark were coming too!! We had an amazing Turkey dinner (That's right, Folks, Uncle Clark's Turkey finally did in the Vegetarianism), good pies, and an all-around wonderful visit.  I have enjoyed so much the sharing of love and precious time with my family over these past few months.

Here's Phaedra with the Pumpkin Pie she made!!!

And here's Kaya with hers.  What beautiful girls they are.  I've just adored spending time with them and getting to know their wonderful spirits.
Dorothy, Gavin, and I spent some time out in the yard turning it for the Winter.  While in Idaho I missed the green of Washington so much, and I enjoyed being outside in the cold, moist dirt, being with mother nature and my wonderful family. I caught this moment with my Camera...Gavin was playing in the Red Wagon we were using to haul stuff around in.
After a wonderful Thanksgiving Day spent with Mom, Dad, and Ramona and her family (pictures to come soon, maybe) I went back to the land of the Frost to finish up finals and get ready for winter!! Final went great and when the week was over I went down to Utah to spend some much needed time with the siblings!! I loved getting to see everyone down there, and it was especially great to be able to see Margaret and her kids, and to meet Mahana's beautiful little girl!!! I also loved getting to spend time with Ruth's family, including watching the kids, cleaning the house, and essentially playing Mom for her while she got to go see her Dad and Ramona in Tucson. I know she enjoyed herself, and I did too!! I also saw Hil and the girls (who are so big and so sweet), Mark and Martin's families, and Kathy too. I also spent time with my roommate Emilie and her family, which was awesome!! I got to do the chores with her brothers, including feeding the pigs, chickens, goats, and emu, among other things.  I had a blast!! Love her family. After playing and having fun in Utah, I got to go back to Seattle!! It was great to go home to Mom and Dad's new house and decorate for Christmas.  It was fun, even with the unsuccessful gluten-free brownies and the awkward christmas bush in the Kitchen. :-)

I loved getting to spend quality time with Mom and Dad, getting to see a few friends, and feeling the peace of the Holiday season.  I also cuddled lots with my lovely Doggy :)

This picture below is the Christmas Tree I decorated, along with the Menorah lit on the mantle. The Christmas Tree had only on present under it, a Sweater for Dad wrapped fittingly in a Victoria's Secret Bag...hehehe.

Mom and I went back to Utah for the New Years and left Daddy with the Dog.  We had a great visit when we were down there and I got to go to Mia's Baptism.  It was so great, I'm so pleased with her and love her so dearly.  Its amazing to see how much all the kids have grown!! 

Now that I'm back in Rexburg I've got new roommates, who are such a blast, and my old roomies live just below me, so I get to see them all the time!!! It's great. I'm also back on the dating seen, more good news on THAT later. I'll leave you with me sitting here in the Library, listening to dumb conversations about what a bad president Obama will be.  Let the Haters hate, its time for change, and I'm so excited!!

Catch-up (not to be confused with the condiment)

Well, here's the long awaited blog post!!

For some reason blogger has been very unwilling to cooperate lately, so this blog took a LONG time to finally get posted.

After school let out the end of July I went back to Seattle and started work at Camp Sealth on Vashon Island, where I've worked/been a camper for the past 11 years.  Someday there will be an epic post containing camp memories, but for now I'm just running down the basics for you.

I worked this summer in the Kitchen as the Assistant Head cook for two weeks. My boss (who had also supervised me summer 2007 when I was the dining hall coordinator) informed me that she would be leaving and was training me to replace her!! That training required me to learn how to cook three meals a day, plus snacks, plus special diets (i.e. vegetarians, vegans, gluten intolerant, PKU, allergies, Kosher,etc) for 400 every day!!! I did have three prep cooks, but as far as the actually cooking on the stove and in the oven, it was all me.  Needless to say, supervising a kitchen at the age of Nineteen is HARD (by the way, when Dad was the Head cook in the Army he was only Nineteen...weird, huh?) As well as being responsible for having food on the table, I also had to make sure that everyone in the kitchen was doing their job properly, anywhere from myself to the dishwashers.  It was tough, especially since they were experimenting with a new system of food service that wasn't that efficient this summer, and most of the people in the kitchen were sixteen-eighteen. We worked with what we had, and in the end, no one got food poisoning, the kids had full tummies, and i got paid $13/hr for a 40+ work week. So I was satisfied. 

We also had great help from one of the former Food Service Managers, Yoda, and she was amazing.  I love her to pieces. 

Alex and I also got into a car accident, so I've been going to the chiropractor for the last several months and hopefully a settlement will happen here within the next few months.  Could it possibly pay for a volvo?  Who knows.

The above picture is me with my old KA (kitchen assistant) Pluto (Delaney).  I was her boss last summer, and I was so glad to see her back at camp again this year. 

I did do some stuff with the family while I was home and I will post pictures later, including pics from Aidan's birthday party!!  I was sad I didn't get to spend more time with Mom and Dad while I was in Seattle. I think next summer when I come home I won't work. I do have a scheme for next August, but you'll just have to wait to hear about that... ;-)

Before I went back to Idaho there were a few catastrophic events, including a trip to the hospital, but for the details you'll just have to call me or email.

The next few pictures are of me after I moved back to Rexburg. My new roommates (who are awesome, in case you were wondering) invited me to go to Yellowstone with them!! So here's a few pictures from that trip...

This is us at the little town before you go into the actual park, they had tons of gift shops and good food. That's me kissing the Bison.
If you can see across the river behind me here in this next picture, you will see an Elk laying down in the grass on the little island.  I named him Gilbert. He's actually A LOT bigger than this picture gives him credit, and I was shaking the whole time walking out to the bank of the river, afraid that he would come running across and gouge me with his monstrous antlers.
Here's me inhaling Old Faithful.  The...eruption? is that the right term?....was really small the time that we sat there for, but it sure was cool.
After our trip to Yellowstone we went to a Demolition Derby!!  I decided to dress like a hick, hence the hair...it was pretty sweet.  I'd never been to a demolition derby before, it was intense and TOTALLY AWESOME.

The next few picutres are from a trip that Lisa and I made to Boise.

Let me back up...

In case you weren't aware, that Jon guy I'd posted about a few times turned out to be a great enough guy to steady date (what an old fashioned saying!) We dated for about two months towards the ends of the summer, and it was great fun.

Jon got his mission call to serve in Lubbock, Texas and entered the MTC two weeks ago.  I am so pleased with the decisions he has made and I feel so blessed by the great example he had set for me. While we were dating we decided to try together to take President Hinckley's advice and "Try a little harder to be a little better". We set goals together that were things that we both wanted to accomplish and worked hard towards them. We both wanted to read our scriptures and say our prayers everyday, we both wanted to get in better shape, we wanted to monitor our media consumption, particularly R movies, and we wanted to get better grades.  We worked out together, studied the scriptures together, and helped each other to make the harder decisions when either of was feeling a little less-than-motivated to do good. It was great to have a cheerleader to help you out, and someone to break the rules with, too. What an awesome boyfriend to have, and an even greater friend. I'll post some pictures of us later, or you can see some on Facebook.

Hahaha....this first picture is of these AWESOME shoes i bought just before the trip.  They are vibram fivefingers, and they are amazing.  When I wear them I feel like I'm barefoot, but my feet don't hurt when I walk over hard rocks or anything like that.  They are SOOO comfortable and they make me feel like a little kid out in the backyard wherever I go.  I feel much more in touch with the earth.  Plus, they help your posture by keeping your toes spread out and supporting your arches.  Overall, they're amazing. This was taken in the car-ride on the way back from Boise.  We took the scenic route through Arco and Craters of the Moon.  It was very pretty.
This next one is poorly lit, but still cute.  This is Lisa and Jon while they were making pancakes for breakfast one morning. Jon is a great cook.
This next picture is of Lisa and I in Downtown Boise searching for Starbucks.  We hadn't been to civilization in a while, and we needed our dose of Seattle Coffeehouse.  Jon works at the Saturday Market in Downtown Boise where he sells bread for a bakery he works at.  It was so fun to have a day in the City.  Lisa and I, who are both quite partial to Seattle, actually really enjoyed ourselves in Boise.  We likes how small downtown was and how friendly the people were.  All in all, a great trip.
This is right before we spotted Starbucks!!

Well, there's lots more catching up to do, so I'll post again soon, hopefully Blogger will cooperate more easily next time.

Stay tuned or pictures of Mom's visit to Idaho, pictures of our Apartment theme nights, and maybe even some cows from the livestock center!!

Sure love ya'll.

The Wait may or may not be over!

I know you've all been waiting patiently....

a new post is coming soon!!!