Birthday Festivities

Well, I think I can safely say that this birthday was epic. :)

Melissa promised me birthday surprises on Friday. She made me promise to be off work at 5:15. At 5:15 on the dot, I came upstairs (oh, the joys of working from home!) with my purse, ready to go. Melissa was waiting patiently on the couch. A moment later, the doorbell rang, and we opened it to discover.... the Puppies for Rent delivery girl, with our very special guest, Jamie!

Puppies for Rent is this great company in town that takes unwanted puppies and helps them find homes. You can rent to adopt, or just rent for a little while (we had Jamie for an hour and a half). So far, Puppies for Rent has had a 100% success rate of finding homes for their puppies.

We took Jamie to the park to play. She was a little explorer, always wanting to run around and sniff everything.

After the delivery girl came by to pick her up, we grabbed our purses and headed out the door. Melissa turned the sound off on her Google maps and kept it tilted away from me when she consulted it, so I had no idea of where we were going until....

we arrived here!

Scheels is a giant sporting goods store that is almost like a mini-theme park, complete with animatronic presidents,

Why hello, Abraham Lincoln!

 photo opts with adorable animals,

 and even a Ferris Wheel!

Melissa remembered I'd had "ride a Ferris wheel" on my summer bucket list, but I didn't get to do it. So she looked up the nearest one, and voila! :) The funny thing is, I was so excited to go on it, but the first time we went around I freaked out. My fear of heights kicked in. Slowly, though, I got over it, and I ended up having a blast. I would like to go back and ride it again. :)

We ended up having dinner at Scheels. I tried my very first bison meat.

It was pretty good, but I'm probably not starting a bison farm anytime soon.

Now for obligatory pics where I pretend to be sporty:

I have it on good authority that I am holding this gun wrong.

Also, here is me with George Washington.

After Scheels, the night was not over. We headed over to Trafalga's Family Fun Center, where we had a rousing round of glo golf (I actually do pretty okay at mini-golf :) and laser tag. Laser tag was a blast--running around in the dark, with dramatic music playing. Unfortunately I need to work on my stealthiness, my aim, and holding the gun with both hands (I didn't have my left hand in the right position... for most of the game my gun was beeping loudly and proclaiming that I needed to hold it with both hands. I couldn't seem to find the sensor). I came in second to last... but it was still epic!!!

Then to finish things off, on Saturday, we went to see "The Giver" at the Dollar Theatre. It is waaay different than the book, but it has a beautiful message about agency and opposition in all things. I really loved it. :) If you haven't seen it, definitely Redbox it.

And then today, Elder Ballard came to speak at our multi-stake conference!!

All in all, it was an excellent birthday. A million thanks to Melissa for making it one of the best.

Summer in Review

Time to look back at my Summer Bucket List! It looks like I got about 2/3 of my goals accomplished... not bad, not bad.

Honestly, I think this was my best summer ever. :) Definite highlights were the trip to San Diego and the trip to Lake Powell & Bryce Canyon. Also I loved spending the last month at home, chilling with my family. This summer I really took advantage of the flexibility of my job (working from home) and didn't hesitate to travel around for "working vacations" (although don't worry, the two trips I mentioned above were definitely legit vacations :).

So... now that summer's over... here's to making this the best fall ever!! Maybe I should try making a fall bucket list? Hmm... That could be fun. I'll think on that.

The Problem with Playing Favorites With Your Clothes

So, I admit it. I play favorites with my clothes.

ESPECIALLY shirts. If I find a shirt that I particularly like, it becomes my go to any time I want to look nice. Unfortunately, I almost always want to wear something nice when I'm doing something that will inevitably be immortalized as a picture on Facebook.

And so, to the casual observer perusing my Facebook pictures, it may appear that I only own one shirt:

Family Pics August 2014

Kristie's photoshoot July 2014

Bryce Canyon June 2014

San Diego June 2014

Dinosaur National Monument (Well, almost) June 2014

This problem was exacerbated a little bit this summer since I lived out of a suitcase for two months.

What can I say? I know what I like. :)

Les Miserables

Melissa and I went to see Les Miserables at the SCERA Outdoor theatre. It was excellent--the performers were all very talented. I think in some ways I liked it even better than the movie.

There are so many deep themes to enjoy in the musical--so much of it is the law of justice versus the law of mercy. If there are any other Les Mis fans out there up for deep analytical discussions... let me know!

Cue epic musical number:

Life as a Summer Nomad

One of the best parts about my job is the flexibility it gives me. I do all my work online, so technically I can work from anywhere. For some reason I don't take much advantage of that except in the summer time. Last summer, I spent about half my time in Provo and half in the Springs.

This summer has been even more spazzy. From the middle of June till now, I spent a week in California, a week in southern Utah, a week at my Grandma's in Alpine, and a week back at home in Colorado. It's been crazy and exciting and fun. All of these places tap into the rush I got as a kid when summer vacation hit. "I'm on vacation? It must be summer! Time to party!" "I'm visiting Grandma's? It must be summer!" "I'm back in Colorado? It must be summer!"

I've discovered that I love to travel. Someday I want to make it out to more places that I've never seen.

But at the same time... all this travel has left me feeling a little confused about where I really belong. I've claimed Provo as my home. I've been there 8 years now. But, I didn't miss it as much as I thought I would this summer. Mainly because a lot of the people I care about don't live there anymore (although some of them still do, thank goodness!) I think I am more ready to give up life in the 9th ward than I thought, even though I've been there for four years.

I could see myself coming back to Colorado. I've loved being back here, catching up with Hayley and Lori, hanging out with my family every night... but, things are about to change here. Jason's putting his mission papers in, Kristie's headed to school in the fall... My parents will finally be empty nesters. My mom isn't exactly looking forward to that, but I'd feel weird coming back when it's just the two of them... even if I did get my own place.

And speaking of Kristie coming to BYU... Since Shauna came out to BYU, I've always been the older sibling on deck at the Y, the one people come to for rides to buy groceries or visit the orthodontist. I've always been really close to my family, and leaving them to go out to Provo was SO HARD. I was terribly homesick at first. I've tried hard to alleviate my siblings' homesickness (although I think they all handled the transition better than I did, anyways).

Anyway... part of why I stay in Provo is for them. But Shauna graduates in December, and Kristie hopes to leave on a mission during Winter Semester 2015.

I'm content to stay in Provo another year. But I'm not sure what the plan will be after that, and I'm scrambling to figure it out. I had a discussion with Kristie recently that gave me pause. She was wondering where she'll end up in the world... where she'll find work, where her husband will want to live... all that stuff we tend to ponder in college.

And it hit me that I am past that stage. I'm out of school, I've found my job.  It's time for me to plant my roots, and I better do it carefully, because there's a decent chance that I'll end up staying wherever I go for the rest of my life.

Is Provo really where I want to stay? I love it, but it's a transition place for so many people. So many of my friends have already left, and who knows how long the rest will stay?

Where will my family end up? I like the idea of staying close to them. But it remains to be seen if any of them will make it back to Colorado... and honestly, Colorado doesn't feel quite as much like home as it used to.

So what then? Give Arizona a try after all? In high school I always used to joke about moving there to avoid the snow. Or... finally go to California?

I know it's not a decision I have to make right now... but I think it's something I need to be thinking about over this next year.

Camp NaNoWriMo

It. Is. Time.

Ever since I was three years old, I've told people I was a writer and I was going to write a book someday. It's time to finally make that dream happen. I am too much of a perfectionist. I get caught up in rewriting the beginning over and over again instead of moving forward. No more! I just need to plow ahead to the finish line.

It doesn't need to be perfect. It doesn't even need to be publishable, especially not in a first draft format.

But it needs to be written. For me, if no one else.

Tomorrow, Camp NaNoWriMo begins again. I've set a goal to write 10,000 words over the month of July. Tonight, in preparation, I read through the latest incarnation of my novel and made a few infinitesimal needed corrections.

Right now, my document word count is 6,057 words. Let's boost that up to 16,000! Go, team!

http://www.lookhuman.com/design/24155-hooray-sports

The Wonder of God's Creations

Today my family left Lake Powell and headed to Bryce Canyon, making sure to stop by Zion's Canyon.

And we made sure to drive through Granddaddy's birthplace Kanab to get there!

Actually, there was a lot of family history going on. Dad's attended the Pratt Family Reunions in Zion since he was a kid. He told us stories from when he was a teenager. Also, apparently our Great-Granddaddy and Granny Pratt once got caught in a flash flood while they were camping there! They survived by climbing trees and it was a week before they were rescued. Wish I knew more about that story.

Also...Granny and Granddaddy AND Mom and Dad honeymooned in Bryce Canyon. I took a picture of Mom and Dad at the cabin where they honeymooned 30 years ago!

Lake Powell, Zion's Canyon, and Bryce Canyon are all their own kind of unearthly gorgeous. It's amazing. I loved them all, but I was especially impressed by Bryce. I think it's made my top 10 list of the most beautiful places in the world.

Lake Powell

Horseshoe Bend (near Lake Powell)

Zion's Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Seeing these places (and California last week), I was struck by the great beauty of this place God has made for us. And the diversity too. There are so many different ways the Earth can be beautiful. He is infinitely creative. And He made it all for us.

Then tonight after dark, we went back to the canyon rim to watch the stars. There were SO many! They are having an astronomy festival here this weekend, and they call it "the last great sanctuary of natural darkness". We even caught a glimpse of the Milky Way.

Nothing like the immensity of space to remind you of how infinite God's creations are! So many stars... so many worlds... so many children! It's easy to feel small. But as Pres. Uchtdorf says,

"And while we may look at the vast expanse of the universe and say, “What is man in comparison to the glory of creation?” God Himself said we are the reason He created the universe! His work and glory—the purpose for this magnificent universe—is to save and exalt mankind.8 In other words, the vast expanse of eternity, the glories and mysteries of infinite space and time are all built for the benefit of ordinary mortals like you and me. Our Heavenly Father created the universe that we might reach our potential as His sons and daughters.

This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God. While against the backdrop of infinite creation we may appear to be nothing, we have a spark of eternal fire burning within our breast. We have the incomprehensible promise of exaltation—worlds without end—within our grasp. And it is God’s great desire to help us reach it."

I know that's true. God loves each one of us more than we can ever comprehend. He sent His Son to suffer for our sins and die for us so we could return home. We are never lost in the shuffle to Him--He knows and loves us just as deeply as He would if each one of us were His only child.

And all of this beauty... It's for us. He wants us to enjoy it.

Girls' Trip

Meet Lori and Hayley.

The three of us have been BFFs since middle school. This summer, we decided we FINALLY needed to go on a girls' trip. I don't know why it's taken us this long. We headed out to San Diego, one of my very favorite cities in the entire world.

Everyone assumed we were college girls on vacation, which was kind of fun. :) We had a hard time convincing the rental car guy we were old enough to get a car. (Thank goodness for IDs, huh?)

Oh, and speaking of cars... I DROVE IN CALIFORNIA AND NOBODY DIED. I've been terrified of California traffic since I got stuck in rush hour traffic near Corona on a business trip (my coworker was driving). It seemed like bumper to bumper traffic with everyone still miraculously going the speed limit.

Traffic in San Diego was much calmer... Not too different from Colorado or Utah, actually... although perhaps with more courteous drivers. :) Getting over my fear of driving in California is a huge deal. Maybe that takes me one step closer to actually moving there (although I do worry a bit about the cost of living).

We ventured to as many sites as we could fit into 5 days.

Such as the San Diego Safari Park:

We went as soon as it opened and beat the crowds. We really lucked out with the animals. They were almost always out at the front of their enclosures when we came by.

Of course we had to stop and ride the zoo carousel. The ride operator gave us a hard time. "Are there children with you?" No. No, it's just us.

I rode the deer, of course, since Lori's nickname for me is Bambi. After snapping pictures of my friends, I spent the rest of my ride trying to take selfies and laughing hysterically at the poor results. I kept up a running commentary so my friends knew what I was doing... and of course the ride operator overheard me and gave me a hard time. What can I say? Sometimes I'm a dork.

Best shot!

On our way out of the zoo at the end of the day, we ran into a cheetah on a leash! (which really makes me want to keep one as a pet. Although his eyes creeped me out a little.)

Hayley got a great shot of the zookeeper warning us to stay back as they walked past.

We spent a lot of our trip hanging out at various beaches.

La Jolla Beach! Complete with sea lions (don't worry, this one was asleep)

Silver Strand Beach! (Great for shell collecting)

Mission Beach! Where we went boogie boarding.

Ocean Beach! (Does that name crack anyone else up?) Features its very own pier. AND we got to see the tail end of a surfing competition.

On our last day (well, my last day... the girls got to stay for one more), we started off by traveling to Balboa Park.

It's gigantic and features lots of museums and gardens. We paid a visit to the lovely Botanical Gardens there.

After that, it was off to Little Italy for lunch.

Then to Point Loma to check out the historic lighthouse there, and to take a look at the Cabrillo tide pools. While that area was beautiful, unfortunately we arrived at high tide and so no tide pools were visible.

We finished the day by visiting Sunset Cliffs in the hopes of seeing a gorgeous sunset. Unfortunately it was cloudy, but we did come across a sailor's beach wedding right there on the cliff! We slipped up closer to listen in (although I wasn't quite brave enough to snap a picture of their special moment... That seemed too creepy.)

And of course, what better way to finish off a California trip than dinner at In N' Out?

All in all, it was a spectacular trip, and it left me feeling a little more in love with California. Maybe I  will end up there someday.

The Finished Product

Voila! :)

Expressing My Artistic Side

So Shauna and I have been continuing our dabbling into painting. We each did another paint by number!

Voila! Can't figure out how to fix this picture on my phone.... I'll do it later.

Tonight we took it up a notch and went to Color Me Mine. We found a good deal on Groupon. Here's the before pictures... On Monday, I'll post the finished products. :)

Shauna made a flower soap dish :)

I painted a dog mug to look just like Max. :)