outside

last weekend me and the logan fam went camping! it was SO fun. Being away for so long makes me appreciate people and placed a lot more. I've ALWAYS really loved my brother and his family and I have been so grateful that they are here in cache valley with me- but now I REALLY really REALLY like them... (other family- don't be mad. I really really really like you too and i miss you just as much).
So, camping was really fun.


this is snowy showing us humans how to lick your nose with your tongue (a task which few homonids are capable of).


here are some trees and some light. photo cred goes to amber, sister-in-law extraordinare.



er'y body in the boat.



I just thought this little family picture of everyone in the middle of the woods hovered around the camera looking at the digitally captured scenery... was kind of cute.


me and my crocheted football helmet-esque beanie and my not so crocheted nephew.


The original dragonfly hair clips... yup. those are real.



Slacklining in the forest. the nephews did really good for their first time. I was really impressed.



this is me "pretending" to fall off this log... you know, if there is one thing i have learned from young children- it is that the line between pretend and real is imaginary. pretend is real. which translates into- I was really falling off this log.

summer is over

Sorry about the blogging hiatus... I'm back in Logan now and everything is WONDERFUL here. I really loved my time in boston. I learned a lot. but I think I've filled my big city quota for a while. I really love the familiarity of everything here. and the dry heat. here is a little summary of my last little while in boston...


Ashley and Cassidy came to visit me! They are just the Best. It was so fun to have them.



We went to this cute place called the breakfast club. this was a really delicious meal, prepared by the nice man in the background. he was very nice.


we also went to New Hampshire and Maine! (sorry I couldn't get this flipped around for some reason)




this is a train i rode a lot.



this is me kicking harvard.


and this is my first attempt at defacing public property! pretty good ya? If you are ever in Brighton on the corner of Western Ave and Mackin Street, you may want to check it out.



this is the very last day of my internship! My supervisor took us all out for lunch (upper crust pizza= WAY better than school lunch pizza).



and this last one pretty much sums it up...

exadurate

something that is true about me is that i have never been able to spell the word exadurate (this is one of many words i have never been able to spell). so i was trying to figure it out by typing it into word and then using the spelling suggestions tool, ya know? but I was so far off that even word didn't know what i was trying to get at. so i resorted to google and the "did you mean ____" feature. i was disappointed when it accepted my "e x a d u r a t e" without providing an alternate. so i clicked on the first link which took me here - to the urban dictionary- which defined "exadurate" as the way that handicapped people spell the word "e x a g g e r a t e." perfect. all i needed to know. thanks urban dictionary... you are a gentleman and a scholar.
p.s. i'd just like to thank all of you who have accepted me as a semi intelligent person despite my fantasticly poor spelling skills (this excludes you, sterling). I'll have you know that I have been actively working on my spelling ability and hope to be considered a great little speller some day.

what are some words that you always misspell? Odds are that I missspell them too and I'd like to put them in my book of spelling words.

and then what happened was...

welp here is a little boston update... sorry i haven't been very good at documenting things. this is my last week or so on the east coast. i'll head back to utah next saturday and then start school on monday!
alright. things have been pretty fun lately. I've been getting to do lots of very boston things. The andersons (bless their hearts) came to visit! we had so much fun in boston- doing the freedom trail and going to museums. katy and i even ate at a very fancy restaurant on the 52nd floor of the "prudential" center. needless to say we felt very out of place, but it was fun. our waiter had a lot of freckles. they even kidnapped me for an adventurous weekend on the cape. it was "quaint" - very quaint. anyway, i especially enjoyed being really excited about ice cream, super nice (not humid) weather, talking with grandpa dee, and seeing my 2nd family. i wish they could have put my 1st family in their suitcasses. sorry i don't have any pictures from this delightful weekend- i forgot my camera :( but i'm sure katy will post them.

here are a few random pictures...







buildings in the "north end" aka "little italy."



the boston temple.



the boston harbor.




me, crazy-eyed from eating blackberry/almond joy ice cream on the beach while watching fireworks. do you think i could simultaneously do all those things while on a rollercoaster and holding hands with a cute boy? i'm a multitasker.




this is four pounds of strawberries from costco. i made a goal to eat them all before any of them went bad. after four days i only had 5 uneatable strawberries. in these same four days i also ate 3 pounds of pineapple, but that was easy.



this is just after my friend betty was baptized on satruday. she is a delight, and so is my cute little ward. they are a bunch of very kind little indians.

speaking of puns.

this is an idea that came to me a few days ago, when i was trying to figure out why the H people always sigh/groan when someone delivers a pun... I happen to think that a pun is the most delightful conversational treat. i love um. that is why it saddens me that with out a doubt, my future teenage kids will hate me and not want me to talk to their friends. but i love puns more than my future kids, so whatEV. here is my theory. Lots of things are true and good. And as you well know, satan is always out to turn us away from everything true and good. i feel, and i hope you will agree, that this negative attitude towards puns - that runs so deeply through the veins of our society - is the direct result of satan attempting to turn our minds towards things less true and less good and less funny.

bostoning

Boston is soooooo boston.



i think this is fenway park.
notice how my shirt makes me look a little pregnant? (don't worry, i'm not) anyway- we were trying to get some food in quincy market and i asked this man if he was in line. he fumbled around for a few seconds deciding if he and his son were in line- and then he looked me up and down and said, "you know what- why don't you go ahead." wink* haha...i think i'll wear this shirt more often. OR less often. depending on my need to appear pregnant.




These are my nice fiends rachel (the girl) and derik (the boy). Rachel was nice enough to be friends with me and derik was nice enough to let me finish is ice cream. both nice. if you have the opportunity to view the film 500 days of summer... you should take that opportunity.




this is our feet; featuring the freedom trail. (pun intended).


if it weren't for all their reflective safety gear you wouldn't even know they were there- but this is the boston skate partrol... i think they just skate around. you know. patroling.

GOOOOOOO to Boston!

going to palmyra

So my old BYU roommate lindsey is from boston and she invited me to go with her YSA group up to palmyra new york to see the hill cumorah pageant and lots of church history sites. It was such a fun time...



this is down town boston. booya.



i took a train from boston out to franklin to make it more convenient for lindsey to pick me up. it was the first time i had ever been on a real railroad.



this is the first time i saw this sign. i thought it was cool to have boston and new york and my favorite number all on one sign.



this is the second time i saw this sign- because apparently it was the exit we were suppose to take- but we drove like 45 minutes past it. haha it was pretty ironic that i had taken a picture of it the first time. I would have said something but i just didn't know!



saturday was really rainy- but we actually got pretty lucky. whenever we wanted to be outside it seemed to clear up. and if we were inside or driving it poured. but it was still a good time.



p.s. niagra falls is crazy.



these are some trees that live in the sacred grove- probably the best part of the trip. it's a lot bigger than i though. it's like a little forest you can just meander around in. it was lovely.



this is a wood working shop just across from the smith family's home. it smelled like our garage because of all the wood shavings. Dad- you would have really liked this part.




this is one of the places in the smith home that Joseph Smith hid the gold plates during all the pursecution when he was trying to translate. it was really cool to be in the same room that Joseph Smith actually translated part of the book of mormon in.



the palmyra temple.




we went to the grandin buidling where the book of mormon was originally published. It was especially cool to learn about oldschool bookbinding skills. again- it was just amazing to actually stand on the original floors that joseph smith and so many other church figures walked on. Being here made the gospel less of a story and more of a reality. which is good- because it is a reality. a very real reality.




i ate this entire calzone. not one of my proudest moments. i felt sick for days.

we also went to see the hill cumorah pageant- there were a lot of mormons having a good time. the weather had cleared up and we were all excited and enjoying the show- but about 1/2 way through it started pouring -lit'rally. so they canceled the rest of the show (as it is performed out of doors) and we went back to our camsite. On the up side- i saw some really amazing lightning. Thanks palmyra.