Memorial day to Escalante

I had the best camping trip in Escalante this last weekend. It was rainy (Seth learned in church that the locals had fasted for rain) but great anyway.
This is a hike to Lower Calf Creek Falls

Sarah and I on the giant lizard in front of the visitors center in Escalante

We went to the Petrified Forest

We had a great campfire sing-along that even the neighbors came over to join in. The Toot Sweets accompanied and She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain has never been so crazy.

Sarah and I "won the lottery" as the park ranger put it when his cash register quit working the second we got there so he let us into Bryce Canyon for free!

On our way home we decided to stop somewhere to cook the rest of our food and the only place we could find was a church. It conveniently stopped raining just for our dinner. No one questioned us. Maybe they get a lot of vagabonds in Marysvale Utah.

new house!

This is the picture from KSL of the new house we are moving into next week (I'll take better pictures without snow in the future). It is ridiculously cute. We are all excited.

We do have a room or two available for subletters this summer. Does anyone know anyone that needs a place to live from June to August? Just let me know.

Mix-tape 2009 was, I think, a big success...

A big BIG thanks to everyone who came to my party, brought mix cds or even just remembered my birthday. I had a super fun party.


First, check out this amazing cake Char, Bruce, and Nancy had made for my party. Perfect. Amazing. My dream come true! I made a shirt for the occasion with the logo on front and the number 27 on the back (I turned 27 incidentally. My brother asked what the 27 meant. Sheesh...).I seriously loved that cake. Another big thanks to my roommates for helping me get ready for the party. I had a few party games for early party guests. One I stole from Megan's blog and called the Mixed Animal Game. I also had Mix-Tape Bingo where I made bingo cards so as we listened to the mix cds people brought if a song was "from a cd you brought" or "had a girl lead singer" etc., you put a sticker on the space and you get a prize for getting a bingo. The prizes were either one of the fine cassette tapes I rounded up at the DI or make your own mix. Either only one person got a bingo or people didn't know there were prizes because I still have a lot of cassette tapes and no one made a mix.


One of the bingo spaces was to dance to a song. Jessica dominated that one.


The biggest thanks goes to the band Saint Sebastian's School for Wicked Girls for coming from Provo to play at my party. I loved it so much. I loved watching Micah sing his guts out because the microphone didn't work. I loved that they played their cover of Frosty the Snowman via my request. I love that the cops didn't show up to quiet down the party until the band was already packed and ready to leave so the officer just told Sarah we needed to turn down the music on the laptop because the party was too loud (the laptop was not loud).

I'm not sure that I love that whenever I'm listening to live music I will almost always do what the lead singer says. If they say clap I clap. If they want me to sing, I sing. If they want me to dance in front of everyone at my party even though after seeing footage of myself dancing at Halloween I vowed never to dance in public like that again, I danced. Thanks to Drew, Sarah, and Sereta for joining in with me. Sorry to everyone who had to watch...


I loved my party. I can't stop saying thank you to everyone that came. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. I'm still pretty happy about it. And I have a ton of great new mixes for my car. Mission Accomplished.

7 days until my birthday

"the only crime is if you don't do it."

Everyone is hereby invited to my birthday party.

May 20, 2009 7 p.m. at my house in Salt Lake.

Please bring a mix-cd to share. There will also be mix-cd bingo, games, and popcorn. If you do not live in Utah and want to participate, it would make my whole life if you emailed a mix to play at the party.

Questions were raised about the legality of mix cds, so I asked the source of all my information, NPR, who responded: "It is fine to make mix CDs, just don't sell them and don't make mass quantities. But for a birthday party, have fun!"

So there you have it. Come and have fun. Please do.

Some more pictures from Rexburg

Seriously, I know no one can get enough of these kitten pictures... This is my cousin Lindsey. She put the stripy baby to sleep:
My parents got me a bike rack for my car for my birthday! Thanks mom and dad! My bike liked it a lot more than when I shoved it in my trunk on my way home. I couldn't stop looking at my bike in the rear view and thinking about how awesome it was.

I really think the drive between Salt Lake and Rexburg is beautiful, but only between like Ogden and Pocatello.

Don't waste your pucker on some all day sucker...

My friend Sarah and I started a band because I wanted to make band posters and stuff like that. I made some t-shirts for her birthday yesterday which you can see here on my other blog (sorry to those who subscribe to both, I'm not sure how to handle two blogs yet. Maybe everyone can just check both all the time, ok?). Our band is called The Toot Sweets. And we're really good...

why my mom is the best mom

1. She made me a cheeseburger for breakfast this morning just because I wanted it, even though she was fasting and I said I would make it myself (and who wants a cheeseburger for breakfast?!).

2. She made me frosting for the cupcakes I am making on Tuesday just because I asked for help (she is really good at making frosting and I'm a bit insecure about it).

3. It was Mother's Day! I should have been making hamburgers and frosting and doing dishes for her! Instead I got her one pair of socks. But she does really like them.

Happy Mother's Day Mom! I love you.

(Just FYI: I'm not posting this picture because I think I did a great job drawing us. It looks like I'm in the fourth grade trying to draw anime muppet versions of us. I am posting it because I'm back in Salt Lake now and this is as close to putting it on the fridge as I can get.)

Why today is awesome

1. Family dinner at Applebee's. Actual conversation:
When the waitress brought my Grandpa his dinner he said, "Broccoli?! Take this back!"
The lady sitting in a booth behind our table yelled, "Eat your vegetables, Ken!"
My Grandpa responded: "Listen here, you old heffer..." to which we never heard what she was supposed to listen to because we were laughing too hard. It seems he knew her. And he did not eat his broccoli. My mom ate it for him.

2. The garbage can rolling upright across the street of it's own free will (so it seemed, it is really windy here today). It almost hit the car in front of us. It really was funny if you saw it.

3. Awwww...

I'm wishing...

I periodically find blogs/portfolios of people that I wish were mine. Here is the latest:
http://riflemade.squarespace.com/