Becca's Bavardage . . .

Spring Break!

2011-05-01T16:09:00.000-07:00

Fact: BYU does not give us a spring break.
Fact: I NEED a spring break, so Melissa and I took one anyway!

We went to Snow Canyon State Park which is just a few miles North of St. George. We were hoping for slightly warmer weather than we got, but it was still warmer than Provo would have been!

We camped at Quail Creek reservoir and really enjoyed it despite the nights being really cold! Keep that in mind (we're talking 32 degrees or less) when I tell you there was a guy in the camp next to us who slept on top of the picnic area . . . thing, and he was wearing long johns. Yes, JUST long johns.

We made delicious dutch oven pizza!

Making my mark at the sand dunes. :)

Some of the spectacular scenery we saw on our hikes!

The longest hike we went on was called Three Pond Trail. This is the third pond. The ponds themselves weren't really worth the long hike through mostly loose sand, but then again, I might have enjoyed it more if I wasn't coming down with a doozy of a cold . . .

The sand that had accumulated by the end of the Three Ponds Trail. I had no idea loose sand was so difficult to hike through!

This cave was one of our very favorite parts of the park. It was about twenty degrees colder at the mouth of the cave and it totally gave off this creepy vibe. Melissa is still certain she saw a cougar in there!

We had to climb down into a big pit to get to the cave and this is the view from the bottom. This actually makes it look much deeper than it was, but it was still pretty cool!

After we camped out a couple of nights and explored the park, we headed for St. George. We stopped by Brigham Young's winter home which was actually way cooler than I anticipated! Seriously, go take a tour sometime.

A kind, fellow tour-goer offered to take a picture of us in the mini orchard at the back of the home. If we look sleep-deprived, it's because we were. We also smelled a lot like campfire smoke. We even heard a woman and the end of the tour wonder what was burning. Next time, we're going to go to civilization before we go camping!

After getting Mongolian BBQ and Coldstone, and painting masterful watercolors at the St. George Art Museum, we headed to Enoch to visit Tyann and fam. We really appreciated the showers and the delicious food she fed us! Not to mention playing with the kiddos. Melissa has some pictures but my camera died almost as soon as we got to Enoch! :(

Anyway, we have decided to make spring break an annual tradition whether BYU gives us an official one or not. Next year, we're thinking Bryce or Arches!

Because Yesterday Was My Birthday

2011-01-30T19:35:00.000-08:00

I could (and maybe should) write a post about how fun Christmas was, or how school is going, or even my feelings on current political issues (that would take about three sentences), but because yesterday was my birthday and I feel like I still have some leftover "birthday rights" I'm not going to blog about any of that. Instead, I will show you my new shoes:

You're very welcome.

Hooray for Christmas!

2010-12-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

Lots of fun things have happened this season to get me in the Christmas spirit! Of course, that doesn't take much. :)

Me and Melissa decorated our room:

We went to Riverwoods (gorgeous!):

And Bree and Carson helped decorate the tree while we watched the First Presidency's Christmas devotional:

I love this time of year!

One Thing I Like About Halloween

2010-12-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

I know it's much closer to Christmas than Halloween, but the pumpkins me and Melissa carved this year were AWESOME, so I had to share.

My Beatles pumpkin!

Melissa's Hunger Games pumpkin!

The two of us being happy!

Melissa EATING raw pumpkin! Bleh.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

2010-12-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

. . . or pictures. Here you go:

Dreams

2010-11-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

Today in Statistics 121, the girl sitting next to me asked me if I was a writer. I was a bit startled by the question, until she gestured at my notebook where I had been writing snippets of a story instead of taking notes. I found myself nodding and smiling in answer to her question without hesitation. We both turned our attention back to the lecture (mostly), but I keep thinking about what would have happened if she'd asked the follow up question: "So, what have you written?"

Uh . . . Well, I have a blog. And the margins of most of my notebooks have random bits of potential stories. I have a few short stories floating around from my high school days, and once upon a time I started writing a young adult novel, but I'm only five pages into it after five years, so . . .

That's how I would have had to answer the girl in my stats class. So while I think of myself as a writer, I have to wonder if others would think the same if they knew that I haven't ever finished anything that could be considered worthy of publication.

When I got home from stats, I stumbled across this article which made me wonder if I've stopped reaching. In high school and even before, I wrote all the time, and I'm not even counting the stuff I wrote for school. We're just talking about fun stuff here! I made a dedicated effort to take writing classes and tried to improve. I wrote every day. Now, the only writing I get done is in the margins of my stats notes.

So, I guess the real question is, how do I maintain a concerted effort to be a real writer and still get everything else done that I need to? And don't suggest that I should drop out of school to become a writer, because I'll do it as soon as someone gives me permission. ;)

Arches

2010-10-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

I just barely realized that I haven't blogged about one of my favorite vacations ever! In July, me and los parentos went down to check out Arches National Park, and it was incredible. I have a billion pictures, and none of them really do that place justice. I highly recommend going!

We dubbed this formation the Black Pearl because we thought it looked like a pirate ship.

Mom and Dad at Balanced Rock. It was definitely Dad's favorite; he couldn't stop talking about it!

This Indian guy insisted on taking our picture at Double Arch, and he was going all crazy and lying down on the ground to take our picture. I like the wacky angle of this one though, and it's one of the few pictures of all three of us together.

The famous one! Delicate Arch was my favorite, despite the long, 7 AM hike we took to get there. It was so worth it! It was seriously one of the COOLEST things I have ever seen. And a lot bigger than I imagined, too. If you look really close, you can see a couple of tiny people under it if you want to get a sense of scale.

Mom and Dad pretending to be ol' homesteaders at the cabin of one of the original settlers of the area. They're the best. :)

A spectacular view of the canyons created by the convergence of the Green and Colorado rivers. SO awesome! It was really almost as good as the Grand Canyon.

Anyone know what kind of flower this is? It was so pretty, and probably about eight feet tall! I was standing right under it when I took this.

My delicious gnocchi! We had dinner one night at a fantastic little Italian place in Moab, and I was so hungry after hiking around all day, that I ate this ENTIRE thing!

Mom insisted on ice cream or milkshakes every night, and this little tiny shack thing is apparently the place to go for milkshakes in Moab. They were quite delicious.

I was in love with all the funky trees in the area. They seriously grow in the weirdest places and into such unusual shapes. Mom and Dad kept laughing at me for taking pictures of trees instead of rock formations. :)

Dad being a Native American(?) at Delicate Arch. I really liked the hike to this one because it was easy and there was an abundance of really cool things to look at.

For the life of me, I can't remember what this formation is called. I think it's one of the Windows, but I'm not sure. Anyway, it was cool because it was one of the few that you can actually go right up under.

I believe this one is Turret Arch, but you can't really see the part that looks like a turret in this picture. This always reminds me of something funny. We were walking back from this one, and this guy behind us was like, "Look! Red sand!" and literally ran off the path (which is forbidden in that place), freaking out about the red sand. Now, you have to understand that ALL of Arches is red sand. Literally. That's all there is. You can understand why we didn't stop laughing at that guy for a couple days. :)

This trip was a little different because it was just me and the parents, and we kept saying how we need to bring Neil and the grandkids to see it, but it was really quite nice to have a chance to hang out with just my parents. We had a lot of fun!

Hobbit Day!

2010-09-24T08:36:00.001-07:00

Okay, so hopefully everyone knows by now that I'm a nerd. In case you didn't, here's the story of what I did yesterday.

I discovered on Twitter that it was Hobbit Day yesterday, or the day traditionally celebrated as Bilbo and Frodo's birthdays. It's very legitimate; it even has a Wikipedia article, and we all know that Wikipedia is a reliable source of information. Ahem.

Anyway, Melissa and I decided to celebrate with what SOME people call lava cakes. They are, of course, actually hobbit cakes. Anyway, we lit honorary birthday candles (which turned out to be trick candles as you will see in a moment) and watched the party scene from Fellowship of the Ring. It was a good party. :)

The Cool Thing About College

2010-09-24T08:16:00.001-07:00

People in college do really awesome things sometimes. Young adults are in a strange place because a great many of us haven't grown up at all yet, so we're really just kids pretending to be adults. Or maybe adults pretending to be kids. I believe the technical term is kidult. :) Not always good, I know, but sometimes very entertaining.

For instance, as I was walking across campus on Wednesday, it started to pour. A couple guys in front of me immediately started singing "Singing In the Rain" at the top of their lungs, complete with the entire dance.

A couple weeks ago, I was hanging out with my roommates in our apartment, when three guys wielding Nerf guns burst in and shot us. Then we all had brownies together.

And last night, my neighbors did this:

And that's what I like about college.

The Kids

2010-08-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

Don't know if you know it or not, but I have the cutest nieces and nephews in the world. Hands down. I even have proof:

There you have it.

Jackson Pollock Day

2010-07-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, if you don't already know who Jackson Pollock is, check out this Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock

My friend Melissa learned about him this past semester in her Humanities class, and she got the genius idea to create a painting the same way Jackson Pollock did. Here's what we started with:

A large white sheet held down with bricks made a perfect canvass!

We found as many diverse things to splatter paint with as we could, including flowers, sticks, scrapers, and even paintbrushes. ;)

The work in progress . . .

We signed our names, but then painted mostly over them. You can still find them if you know where to look.

We had to scrounge for paint because, well, paint is expensive. Some of the old stuff we had in the garage wasn't exactly in working order . . .

Me, looking like a caveman.

My hand (left) and Melissa's after dipping them in the weird pink paint (above). It eventually became, in form and color, much like cottage cheese and Jello salad. Weird!

Our paint-splattered legs and feet.

The artists (don't look at me too long; it's not my favorite picture of myself) and the finished project! We decided we need to do some more. We thought one made entirely of warm colors or cool colors would be awesome, as well as white paint on a black sheet.

So, anyone have any paint we can have? ;)

Bree's Birthday!

2010-07-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we got to go over the Taylor and Faith's to celebrate Bree's 4th birthday! She was way excited, and so cute. It's so fun to see her grow (even if it's only half an inch since her last birthday ;) ) and see her little mind develop (at a somewhat alarming rate!).

She was so excited about her stingray cake!

Bree and her cousins, McKayla and Kyler, checking out the loot!

Opening presents!

Her cousins were good helpers with the present opening. :)

And just because he's cute, here's a picture of Carson.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

We all went down to Tyann and Dave's NEW house in Enoch for Memorial Day. It was quite the party!

I think this picture illustrates how different these two little guys are nicely. They totally crack me up!

Jarrett and Bree hopping around in pillowcases. Don't ask, 'cause I don't know.

We went to a nearby park for a traditional Memorial Day picnic of KFC. Me and the kids played a very interesting combo of Avatar and pirates. It was FUN.

A rare moment in which Carson was not running away screaming from his cousin.

Jarrett enjoying another traditional Memorial Day treat!

Who knew Bree's mouth was that big? ;)

Another rare moment in which Ronny and Carson appear to be getting along.

We also celebrated Rachel and Ronny's birthdays when we were there.

The birthday kids and cake.

I LOVE their dark eyes! Rachel looks far too grown up, though.

Ronny using chopsticks! As you can imagine, more ended up on the floor than in his mouth, but he had fun.

We also went to visit the St. George temple. It was so pretty and the kids loved it!

They were WAY more interested in the bugs that were gathering on the light than me taking their picture.

ALMOST everyone looking at the camera. Silly Jarrett!

The temple. I was surprised at how well my camera did in the poor lighting.

The kids on the temple steps. Ronny is trying to escape and Jarrett is making a funny face, but at least they're all looking! :)

And here's a big, happy Livvy-smile for you!

Another Adventure of Bree and Carson

2010-06-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this month (I think. This is [once again] so late that I don't remember exactly when it was), a fire hydrant up the street was spewing water. So, what else is one to do but go play in it? I remember when I was about eight or nine and they did the same thing with the hydrant at the end of our cul-de-sac. It was the best thing ever so I was glad Bree and Carson got to experience it.

And let me just point out that I managed to use brackets in a sentence. Yes.

Carson pointing at something and keeping mostly dry. :)

Bree was much more adventurous than her brother.

Notice: Carson is still in the exact same spot. That other little boy is a neighbor that Bree (sort of) made friends with. She kept following him around and asking him questions and he politely ignored her. It was cute. :)

Four Kids and A Dog

2010-05-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

I do not even remember what weekend this was, but Melissa brought her dog to play with the kids. I'm not sure who had a better time: the kids or Sammy! It made for some pretty cute pictures.

Jarrett and Rachel getting Sammy to do tricks.

A delightfully cheesy grin from Jarrett. He loved giving Sammy treats!

Ali absolutely adored the dog. I thought she would be a little freaked out, especially since Sammy is pretty big and very energetic, but she jumped right in and made a new friend!

The kids insisted on "walking" Sammy. The only problem is that Sammy is a big, strong dog! She dragged them all over the yard. It was way funny!

And because he's adorable, here's some pictures of Ronny. He didn't really like the dog unless he was far away from her. He does like blowing bubbles and eating popsicles, though. :)

A Thing That Happened A Long Time Ago but May Prove to be Interesting

2010-05-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been at the Legos again.

Wait!

Before you roll your eyes and turn away, know that there is more to this story than there first appears to be . . .

This, of course, is the zombie army. Basically, we have a bunch of Lego people missing body parts. Obviously that makes them zombies. For the record, by best buddies Nicole and Melissa were involved in the creative process.

This is Chuck the Copper. I don't think we ever decided if he was a good guy or a bad guy, but he has a pretty sweet 'stache.

The zombie stronghold! You should see it in person. It is COOL. And very well-defended. Especially since the headless guy is standing guard.

Unfortunately, I failed to get a picture of all the other people, but I will tell you their names and you can imagine, because I think it's funny.

Gansta Bill (has a very gangsta metal detector)
Stevo the Dweebo (only good for doing laundry)
Willis the butler (probably has some kind of ulterior motive)
Larry and LaVerne (they constitute the biker gang)
and . . .

The WASP!!!

Okay, so the wasp is totally not a Lego. It did infiltrate the construction zone, though. We were happily adding more guns to the zombie stronghold when Melissa jumped up and started screaming. Four bites later and lots of slapping and jumping around, we discovered this little bugger had crawled up Melissa's pant leg and decided to munch on her! Random, no? TOLD you this post got more interesting. :)

Conference + Easter + Birthday Party = Fantastic Weekend!

2010-05-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

Laziness + Becca = Late Blog Post . . .

No surprises there, though.

Anyway, I have lots of picture from the first weekend in April, but let's start out with some of baby Livvy. Being the youngest, she has some catching up to do in the picture department. Also, she's stinkin' cute! :)

She sort of looks like she has no legs . . .

I was trying to get a picture of her curly eyelashes.

Relaxing in her Easter outfit. Notice the bunny slippers. :)

Okay, so this is not a picture of Livvy (which I hope you gathered), but it cracks me up. I have no idea what he was doing with that pillow case, but I just love his little smile.

In an attempt to get the kids to sit still for General Conference, we helped them make spaceships out of boxes. And, of course, with spaceships you need . . .

. . . Space helmets!

Or Easter baskets. Whatever happens to be handy.

Rachel, Ronny, and Ali examining the spoils on Easter morning.

Ali showing off her basket.

Boxing! The Easter Bunny (ahem -Dave-coughcough) got the boys boxing gloves. They had SO much fun with them!

Rachel getting in on the action. I promise, this looks worse than it was. :)

At the end of the weekend, we got to celebrate Tyann's birthday! Apparently, she turned four. Speaking of candles, Rachel TOTALLY blew them out before Tyann could get to them. Little goof. Anyway, it was a really fun weekend!

Ali's Baptism!

2010-04-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I don't have a single picture on my camera of Alison from her baptism. What kind of aunt am I? My only excuse is that I was too busy wrangling the younger kids to get any pictures of beautiful Ali in her dress. Luckily, Ali has a mom! Check out Tyann's blog for pictures of the wee eight-year-old herself: http://dtpangan.blogspot.com/2010/02/alis-baptism.html

I did manage to snap some shots of everyone else while I was wrangling.

Bree, telling me off for something, I'm sure. Rachel and Ali both had big beautiful flowers in their hair for the occasion, and Bree wanted one too. Cute, no?

Ronny with his uncle Taylor. I love how relaxed they both look!

Trying to find entertaining things for everyone to do while waiting for the program to start. From left to right: Jarrett, Bree, Rachel, Ronny, Carson, and a bit of Grandma.

These two usually play quite well together. Just look at those adorable little expressions! By the way, Taylor made the game they are playing. I believe I'm the reigning champion. (At least over the kids. But I wasn't going to mention that . . .)

Ronny the Magician balancing his binky very carefully. You can see from his expression that he takes his work (and his binky) very seriously.

Again, apologies for not having a picture of Ali. At her next baptism, I will do better! Oh, wait . . .

They Say It's Your Birthday

2010-04-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

So, don't know if you noticed, but I haven't been posting much lately . . . I shall blame that on school and a lack of inspiration.

Anyway, here's some birthday pics. Yes, I know. My birthday was like, a bajillion months ago. Be happy you're getting them at all. ;)

Me and my twin in matching hats and shirts! We're just so adorable, huh? This picture is from our actual birthday as opposed to our friend party. Los parentos took us to Los Hermanos, and it was amazing. Then we received our hats and a bunch of other fun stuff from the fam. It was a good day!

As for the friend party, Nicole and I knew we needed to do something especially awesome, it being our twenty-first and all, so we threw a huge party. We decided on an 80s theme (we were born in the 80s after all) and got all dressed up and played Rock Band. Good times, even if I did look like Willy Wonka. Seriously, my hair . . . is my hair.

Me and Nicole and our Barbie birthday cakes Becky made us! Very cute.

Us singing "Happy Birthday" to each other very dramatically.

Blowing out the candles! We even managed not to melt any Barbie body parts. And yes, there is a story that goes along with that. Feel free to ask Nicole.

Christmas! (Belated)

2010-01-31T17:03:00.000-08:00

Once again, I'm frightfully late on my posting. I have to get my Christmas and New Years pics up so I can post stuff from my birthday! Which was amazing, by the way. Also, I still have Hong Kong pictures I need to post! Yikes.

Anyway, on to Christmas. This first picture doesn't actually have that much to do with Christmas, but the Christmas Tree IS in the background.

Carson with a chipmunk on his head. Random but awesome.
(See the tree in the background? See it?)

Okay, on to actual Christmas pictures. :)

My new Droid phone! Which I love! A whole lot! Probably more than anything! ! ! !

Bree zipping up her new PJs.

Carson attempting to do the same.

Those of you who remember THIS, will appreciate almost as much as I did the fact that Taylor and Faith got me a Lego set. I LOVE it.

Bree concentrating very hard on opening her present. Don't you just love that face?

Carson LOVES books!

He also loves his new hobby horse. He used it as a weapon instead of something to ride on, which was pretty hilarious.

Rachel, Jarrett, and Ali opening Twister!

Ronny getting read to by Grandma . . .

and Grandpa . . .

Then trying to do it himself! I love the upside-down book and the little bare foot. :)

All the kiddos playing Twister. The game was a HUGE hit! That's pretty much what we did the entire time we were there. It was a blast!

A video of the kids playing Twister! Jarrett tries so hard to get the right hand/foot and color. :)

New Years, Birthday, and Hong Kong coming soon!

More Adventures With Bree and Carson

2010-01-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

If you don't at least get some laughter from the next few pictures, consider yourself inhuman. Ready? Make sure you're sitting down.

L. O. L.
Carson's expression just about makes me pee my pants every time I see this. Little scholars, both. They LOVED their "glasses."

Okay, picture this. You walk up to the front door of your house and a huge note in your mom's handwriting is taped to it. It reads: "Please do not disturb the spider web."

Uh . . .
How big a spider web are we talkin' here?

So, with more than mild apprehension, you open the door and walk in to find . . .

This?

Not exactly what you were picturing . . .

Aha! There's the spider! And . . . Bree?

It's all coming together now, isn't it?

My mother made the mistake of giving Bree a ball of yarn and turning her back for more than 1 second. That little tornado of a three-year-old wrapped yarn around every stationary object in the house, and probably would have got Carson too if she could've gotten him to hold still long enough. On the plus side, She was extremely entertained, and it really wasn't that hard to clean up.

Ready for some more of Bree's creativity? Let's call this next section "A Hundred-and-One Ways to Use Toilet Paper".

Faith, don't worry. I know that you shouldn't let small children put plastic bags over their heads. But really, isn't this picture worth any potential danger she might have been in? Concrete proof that Bree is insane. Just look at those eyes!

I looked up and there was Bree, up to her knees in unwrapped toilet paper. I still have no idea how she managed it.

The creativity continues . . .

For the record, she could walk around like this! Flexible ankles is all I have to say about that.

Her masterpiece! Admittedly, I had to help a little with this. As you can see, she wasn't quite tall enough.

Getting ready for a dramatic toppling.
(can toppling be used as a noun? I sort of doubt it. Pretend with me, okay?)

There it goes!

The aftermath.

So, I forgot that my camera's videos can't be flipped, so you'll have to watch this sideways. My bad. I promise it's worth it, though. :)

Stay tuned for more adventures with these two, because there always are. :)

Goodbye to the Neily

2010-01-18T19:02:00.001-08:00

I realize this is really late, but I've been pretty busy with Christmas and going to school again and all that, so cut me some slack. :) I just wanted to post some pictures we took of Neily before he headed into the field! (If anyone isn't on his email list, make sure you give me your email address so I can add you.)

Neilina with the Pangan Clan. Jarrett just might be missing him more than I am.

Our attempt at a picture with all his nieces and nephews. How is it that Neil is the only one looking at the camera? And not one of them looks normal . . . Oh well. It would actually probably be weirder if they were all smiling happily at the camera . . .

A serious moment between Elder Neily and Bree. This is the morning before he left for the MTC.

A less than serious moment between Elder Neily and Bree. He's so proud of teaching her to go cross-eyed.

An adorable moment between Elder Neily and Bree. 'Nough said.

Elder Neily practicing his "missionary walk" with Dad. Doesn't he look official?

Me and Elder Neily at the MTC! He managed to close his eyes.

Elder Neily and Mom and Dad at the MTC! He managed to look shifty. :)

Well, that's about it. We miss him like crazy, but we're so proud of him, too! He's loving serving the people of 'Bama, as he calls it, and doing well. Here's to you, Elder!

Hong Kong! (part 2)

2009-12-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

All of these next pictures are from our trip to Victoria's Peak, one of the highest mountains in the area.

The group minus Si Sok Allen, who took the picture. Me, Bill, Gary, Kassen, Travis, Sifu Dave, and Shane. This is at the shopping area at the top of the peak.

Bwa ha. This picture never fails to make me laugh. They're poking fun at one of the guys that was there to train but really sucks at kung fu and is a big jerk. :)

A view of the city from the peak. Isn't it COOL?

Another cool view. I LOVED it up there. Very peaceful and gorgeous!

Sifu Dave found a random broom among the foliage and decided he needed a picture with it. :)

A cool picture of the tropical-ness of the area. :)

Here we are again! The idea was to get the cool city view in the background, but my camera just isn't that great for shots like that.

The escalators at the shopping complex. I just love this picture.

Stay tuned! More Hong Kong on the way.

Hong Kong! (part 1)

2009-11-24T15:32:00.000-08:00

I'm back from the most incredible experience of my life! Well, actually I've been back for about a week, but between jet lag and (finally!) getting my computer fixed, I haven't had a chance to get posting. I hope you guys are ready for a ridiculous amount of pictures because I took over 800 and I plan to post them ALL! Okay, just kidding about posting all of them, but I DO have over 800 pictures. If you really want to see all of them, come on over and I'll show you. :)

The view of the harbor from our hotel room. Let me tell you, you would not want to swim in that water. It kind of disturbs me that people eat fish out of there, actually. It was a cool view, though.

Our home away from home. These beds were so comfy! Me and Sifu would always turn on the TV at bedtime and then fall asleep and leave it on. There was just no staying awake once tucked into one of these!

My first meal in Hong Kong! This one was actually really good. Just some fried noodles with vegetables. And yes, I totally ate with chopsticks the whole time. After all, it was China.

They don't have floors 4, 13, or 14. Unlucky numbers!

Me and Sifu on a cool chair at the hotel. Seriously, that hotel was dang awesome.

Inside the subway in a rare, uncrowded moment.

Ah, the smell of dried fish on the open market . . . wait, what? What do they even DO with dried fish skins? There was weird stuff in the street markets, let me tell you.

Racks and racks of un-refridgorated meat. Yum.

Pig foot!

Langham Place. A huge mall just accross the street from the Mong Kok station. It's a pretty big landmark, so we used it often as a meeting place. It also housed a McDonald's which we ate at when we could no longer stand weird Chinese food.

Speaking of weird Chinese food, this is pigeon. I thought I was ordering chicken but . . . Anyway, it looks pretty good, but it was NOT. Besides the fact that it had all the bones included, it was still bleeding in places. Yeah. The rice was good though.

Class at Grandmaster Ip Ching's school! The guys in red are all from Germany. We had quite the collection of nationalities there to learn from Grandmaster.

A bit of Hong Kong traffic.

Instructions painted on the street so you don't get run over. And the buses and taxis will run you over. Plus, they drive on the wrong side over there, so I kept looking the wrong way and not seeing oncoming traffic. Yikes.

Okay, that's all for the moment. Rest assured, there will be several more posts!

Neily's Mission Call!

2009-10-21T11:09:00.001-07:00

And he's going to . . . . . . .

Birmingham, Alabama! He's leaving on December 16th! Here's the video:

My Feelings About the Current Month

2009-10-20T21:31:00.000-07:00

So, as many of you know by now, I am NOT a big fan of Halloween, and really, the entire month of October. I don't like scary stuff, I don't like how it starts to get really cold, and I also feel that "October" is an ugly-looking word. "Anyway, I'm sorry. But that just happens to be how I feel about it. What do you think?" (You get a billion points if you know what that quote is from.)

Okay, moving on. The fact is, there are a few things I like about Fall, and even Halloween.

Like this really gorgeous, fall-colored vine randomly growing in a pine tree/bush. My friend Melissa pointed it out when we were coming home from church. Fall colors are pretty!

Closer . . .

Closest!
Isn't it cool?

My cousin Britney and her cousin Kayla invited me over to carve pumpkins! I actually enjoy this part of Halloween. You will notice that none of them are remotely scary. Mine is on the far left! I named him Otis in case you care.

The other good things about this time of year include: new seasons of TV shows, the way in which Tyann decorates her house, Jarrett and my Dad's birthdays, seeing cute little kids in costumes, and candy. Um . . . yeah, that's pretty much it.

Morning Adventures With Bree and Carson

2009-10-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

For the past little while, Bree and Carson have been coming over every other morning when Faith goes to work. Let me just tell you, there is never a dull moment with these two around! I thought I would show you some things they like to do:

1. Play in boxes.
Bree looks like she's about to injure her little brother, but she's just making a silly face. I think.

2. Conduct science experiments.

3. Receive cuddles from Unca Neil.
(I love how she's folded in half!)

4. Make the leopard feel better by use of the magic wand. (Seriously, that's what she said she was doing.)
You may also notice the headband malfunction in this picture. Giggle.

5. Talk to the kitty.
He can even say kitty!

6. Look incredibly adorable.
That little curl on top of his head plus the overalls is enough to cause cute overload. Looking at this picture too long may cause seizures. ;)

7. Do tricks.
Note the stuffed dog in her left hand, also standing on its head. That is Skylie Blackandwhite. Last I checked. It tends to change. Oh, and for the record, Bree is still Ralphie.

8. Wrestle Unca Neil.

9. Take a nap! (Yeah right.)
G'night, everybody!

The Neily's Birthday

2009-10-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

Neil's birthday was on the 26th of September. The big 19! People keep telling me I should call him my younger brother instead of my little brother, considering he's much taller than me by now, but there's a lot of "baby Neil" still in him. :) I love my little brother!

Neilybob reading his birthday card.

Neilykins opening his present: Beatles Rock Band! It is a ridiculous amount of fun . . .

We went down to Cedar City and Tyann made another one of her INCREDIBLE cakes! This looks EXACTLY like Neil's phone, to which he is a bit attached. Isn't it cool? The Neily loves Tyann's fondant cakes.

Contemplating his wish . . .

A few days later, Neilina had his friend party. Of course, there was much playing of Beatles Rock Band. And pizza. This is Neily and his friends Mike (left) and Spencer (right).

The whole crew.

A heartfelt(?) rendition of "Twist and Shout." One of them said it best: "Only choir kids can sing this bad." Take from that statement what you will.

"Here Comes the Sun," sung by the Chipmunks. Who were on crack at the very least (you know I'm kidding, right?). Note: you have to try really hard to fail the vocals on Beatles Rock Band. These kids have skills.

Anyway, happy birthday, Neilyboy! You are one fantastic kid. :)

Lagoon, and Other Exciting Adventures

2009-10-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, more crazy kid stuff, because . . . well, what else do I have to take pictures of? And besides, sometimes there's just nothing more entertaining than children being children. Ya'll ready? Okey dokey.

Super cute picture of Alison. If I ever take one that's NOT cute, I'll be sure to post it. Otherwise, no one will believe me.

Jarrett making an important call. I love how the "dashboard" is just hanging there while he holds the phone.

"Return of the Jedi Baby"!
This picture never fails to crack me up.

Haha, Bree being hysterical as usual.

Our good friend Becky gave the kids a quilting kit, but we decided to make scarves instead so each kid could have their own, and Grandma too. Thanks, Becky! Everyone loved them, and it kept the little ones busy for a nice long time, not to mention warm and cozy. :)

We had the tent set up in the backyard from when Nicole and I did this. Of course, the kids loved playing in it. Carson, Ronny, and Bree having a grand ol' time.

Ronny looking innocent as he whacks his cousin upside the head. Silly babies!

Ronny being his hilarious little self. And eating, of course.

I bet you were all beginning to wonder where Lagoon was going to come in, right? Well, wonder no more. Actually, I meant to post the Lagoon pictures first, but even though I've posted almost 50 times, I forgot that the pictures load in reverse order. Ahem.

Ali loved this car ride. Doesn't she look awesome in that little tiny car?

Ali and Jarrett on a boat ride. The little kid in the boat behind them screamed bloody murder the whole time. It was . . . annoying.

This picture is a little blurry, but Neil's expression is priceless. Poor Jarrett looks like he's about to cry, but he was fine once he got used to it. Ali is next to him, and Rachel is up by Neil but her arm is in front of her face.

Ali, Ronny, and Rachel in the bumper cars. For some reason, I don't have any pictures of Jarrett in the bumper cars, even though he rode them about a hundred times.

Aaaand . . . let's finish things off with a nice video, shall we?

For more pictures of the Lagoon Adventure (including a couple rare pictures of me) check out Tyann's blog: http://dtpangan.blogspot.com/2009/09/fun-weekend-at-lagoon.html Besides seeing the pictures, her blog will also help you get in the mood for fall. :)

A Post About Baptism and Cousins

2009-09-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

My cousin's little boy Carter got baptized almost a month ago, which makes this post WAY late, and I considered not posting it, but there were just too many hilarious pictures. Carter and his siblings are about the same ages as Tyann's kids, so they like to hang out, and it was quite the weekend.

My mom played piano at the baptism, and the kids wanted to "help" her. This is such an adorable picture!

Ali holding Carson and hanging with Uncle Taylor.

Some of the kids were less than amused during the talks. Bree looks ready to scream, and McKayla is like, "Okay, I'm done. What's next?"

We tried really hard to get the kids all lined up for a picture, but it was . . . difficult. This is still an adorable picture, though.

Rachel, Kayla, Bree, Ali, and Jarrett led us in some songs while we waited for Carter to get changed and come back to get confirmed.

A couple of days later, we ended up with ten short of a million people at our house. It was exciting.

Carson, Ronny, and Kayden. Three adorable little dudes.

More cuteness. I love Kayden's expression a lot.

Carson is done. Priceless expression. Also, look how cute Ronny and Kayden's feet are. Carson's are cute too, but you can't see them.

With the assistance of my best friend, Nicole, the girls had a fashion show in the basement. Get ready folks, 'cause this is fun stuff coming up.

A proper depiction of the pre-show chaos. Good times.

Bree, walking the walk. And . . . not looking at the camera. She's adorable, anyway. :) Look at Carter applauding. He was so sweet!

McKayla didn't hold still long enough for me to get the front of her, but I assure you, she was very beautiful.

Rachel looking gorgeous as always. I am jealous of that girl.

The boys. They were such good sports to let the girls play fashion show. They were the camera men and judges. And in-between, when the girls were getting dressed, they were the entertainment. :)

And . . . just because I love this picture of Jarrett. He is SUCH a stud.

A Morning With Miss Frizzle

2009-09-23T11:44:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be out of chronological order because I have about three posts that I've been meaning to get up for a while, but I can't help it. This is just too funny, folks.

So, as you may or may not be aware, BreeAnna LOVES the Magic School Bus show. If you haven't seen it, you should, because it's quite entertaining. Anyway, we were babysitting Bree and Carson this morning, and it was freezing in the house, so we went out to sit in the van and soak up some sun. We soon started pretending we were in The Bus, and Bree declared herself Ralphie, Mom was Keesha, Carson was the lizard, Liz, and I ended up being Miss Frizzle by virtue of sitting in the driver's seat. Bree has yet to stop reminding us of what our "real" names are, and when she said a prayer for lunch, she blessed Ralphie's, Miss Frizzle's, Liz's (which she pronounces List), and Keesha's food.

Also, before all the Magic School Bus stuff began, Neil was reading the kids Pinocchio, and when he read the part about the puppet wanting to be a real boy, Bree looked up and and asked, "Are you a real Neil?"

And then, when we were outside, Mom pointed out a jet trail to her. She gave us this look like we were complete idiots and said, "It's not a trail, it's a straight cloud!"

Okay, this is my favorite. Ready? She wrapped one of those glow-stick things around her neck and said, "It's a neck hat!" So. Funny. I've pretty much just been laughing all morning, so I had to post and share it with you all.

And because I think posts without pictures are boring, here's some pictures. None of them are from today, but they're still Bree and Carson being hysterical. :)

Carson in his "lumberjack outfit." Just so you all know, he was not originally dressed like this, he got his blue shirt all wet, and we had to put the red plaid one one. Obviously, this shirt and these shorts were never meant to be together . . . You can see from Carson's face that he's not too excited about it either.

Bree going cross-eyed. Possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen in my whole life! Neil taught her how, and she's really quite good at it.

So, here's to Bree and Carson. Thanks for the hilarity, guys.

The Almost Campout

2009-09-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Nicole and I did another crazy thing. You may recall one of the other crazy things we did. Let me preface this with saying we have been wanting to go camping for about two years, and just haven't gotten around to it. We eventually decided to camp out in my backyard, but it wasn't just going to be ANY old camp-out, oh no. We wanted to find out what MREs taste like, wear camouflage, and cook on a portable stove! Wait, you've never had that desire? Ah-hem. Let's get to some pictures, shall we?

Part of our "field kit." MREs, matches, and plastic spoons. :)

Me, keeping a careful eye on the stove. We had no desire to burn the backyard down. Isn't it funny how you can see the swing set and the old bunny hutch in the background? I think it's funny.

Nicole preparing the MREs at our lovely campsite. It almost looks like it's not in the backyard . . .

Wild animal attack! The kitty LOVED the MREs. Go figure.

So much in fact, that he felt the need to mooch off of Neil. Neil didn't let him.

Steele all dressed up. I admit, I want a shirt that says CIA.

Me and Nicole in the tent. We decided to be EXTRA strange and played a Lord of the Rings game. Or tried to, anyway. First, I couldn't remember how to play, then we were attacked by a rabid wasp! Thanks to our exceptional field skills, we vanquished the foe. :)

As a final word, I would like you to all know that Nicole and I have the GREATEST respect for the troops, and this was our way of honoring them and trying to find out a little bit of what they go through for us. Thanks to all the men and women out there serving our country!

A Bit of Creativity

2009-09-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit. I LOVE Legos. Still. Always have, probably always will. There's something . . . therapeutic about sticking those little blocks together. I pretty much can only build cool houses – my cars, spaceships, robots etc., end up really stupid-looking. But my houses rock. Faith and I collaborated on this one (we can not only clean kitchens, but build houses!) and it is probably my crowning achievement. Seriously, we spent almost a whole day on this, so you're required to tell me it's awesome even if you don't think it is. ;)

The outside view. I like the turret windows a lot.

Master bedroom. They have a little TV on the table and a set of dresser drawers that didn't turn out quite as well as I would've hoped. The lamp is cool, though.

The master bathroom. Lookit! The toilet has a handle so you can flush it! And there's a really awesome tub.

Kid's room. There's a toy chest that opens, a little chair that swivels, a toy car (Faith's genius idea) and a cute little lamp!

The living room. Couch, armchair, coffee table, TV, and house plant.

The laundry room. There's the washer and dryer and ironing board and iron. This was by far the easiest room.

The bathroom. Once again, awesome toilet. The sink looks really retarded but I was running out of white pieces by then.

The kitchen turned out rather small for all the large appliances we put in there. That's the stove in the bottom right, and the sink next to it. The fridge is in the top left.

Detail on the fridge. Complete with opening door and cans of pop. :)

I don't know how this picture turned out so crooked, but it's the awesome tree Faith made.

The outdoor table and chair set. Faith made this, too. Adorable, no?

The wee little BBQ. You would not believe how long we spent looking for the right kind of hinge so the thing could open!

The garage. That car in the background was almost completely designed by my neice, Bree. Doesn't it look like a really cool antique car? The little moterbike just came like that, but it's my favorite.

Budding Photographer

2009-09-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

So, I meant to do this post like, a month ago. I should have done it at the same time I did the Shakespeare festival, because this was all the same week, but I didn't. Oh well. Anyway, as I mentioned before, Rachel had my camera most of the time when Neil, Nicole and I were in Cedar City. She is quite talented and creative, and I may have to give her license to use the camera more often. This post is composed entirely of pictures she took.

Let's start with some self-portraits, shall we?

Funny kid. :)

And now, some portraits of Neil:

Aren't these great? I especially love the scenery in the top one.

Speaking of scenery . . .

I love this one. It feels like you're going to slide right off the planet because of the angle she took it at, but I think it provides a pretty cool effect. The lighting is also really awesome.

This is my favorite! It's just a close-up of a pond at SUU, but the lighting is so awesome and she got a really clear picture. Nice work, Rach. :)

We Few, We Happy Few

2009-09-02T17:21:00.000-07:00

Nicole, Neil, and I had the profound privilege of going down to Cedar City to attend the Shakespeare Festival. We felt like big kids because Mom actually let us take the van and go by ourselves! It was ridiculously fun, and even though it was a little on the steep side, it was well worth every dollar. We got to see Henry V in a replica of The Globe, pictured below. It was incredible!

We couldn't take pictures of the actual plays, but here's one of the Green Show, which is a free hour of skits and songs to get you in a Renaissance mood.

Oh, and Rachel took both of these pictures, I believe. She commandeered my camera for most of the trip, but I didn't mind, she did a good job.

The Great Kitchen Adventure

2009-09-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, my sister-in-law Faith and I decided that the Monroe house had been under the oppressive rule of twin tyrants Disorganization and Clutter far too long, and we prepared for battle. With Lysol wipes and scrubbers in hand, we tackled the kitchen.

The battle was sore and I failed to capture much of the proceedings, but here is a dramatic rendering that was taken mid-strife.

What is so significant about this, you ask? I, in all my twenty years, have never seen this particular spot of counter top. A true miracle!

My personal victory. Disorganization was banished from this drawer in the space of an afternoon.

Clutter put up a valiant fight for the hutch, but after throwing a thousand useless papers away, we gained a foothold.

Most silliness aside, it was quite the experience, and I'm pretty proud of the final product. Thanks for the help, Faith!

And for a bonus, Bree and Carson being their cute little selves. :)

Even More Family!

2009-08-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

As promised, some pics from the Monroe family reunion! It was so incredibly fun to see all my cousins and aunts and uncles; we really don't get together as often as we should!

Neil, my cousin Britney, and Rachel Lou.

Ali, Rachel, and my cousin's little girl Emily playing in the canal/river thing.

I love this picture of Bree! It's very Winnie the Pooh.

Ali trying not to get her pants wet. :)

This is the coolest thing ever! The little kids got the idea to surf down the river on a big plastic lid. Me and Neil were really jealous that we were too big.

Ali and Grandpa having a conversation on the bridge.

The Ronny Boy after eating an Oreo.

Ronny and my cousin's little boy Parker. They're pretty close to the same age and exactly the same size. They were fun to watch!

The closest thing to a group photo I got. This is only about a third of the people who were there, counting the kids. but it kind of gives you an idea of the proceedings. I had so much fun hanging out with the family, as always. :)

Ah, Family. :)

2009-08-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

I have about a billion adorable pictures from the last week or so, and it was really hard to pick, so I had to narrow it down for myself and only use pictures that fit within the theme of "cousins." All six of my nieces and nephews spent a good amount of time at my house the past few days, and it was - shall we say - riotous fun.

Well, at least they're all sitting still, if not looking at the camera and/or smiling. Close enough. This is outside the new Oquirrh Mountain temple if you couldn't tell from the sign.

This picture cracks me up SO much. It totally looks like they're rapping, with Jarrett doing vocals and Bree beat-boxing.
So. Funny.

Ali and Bree, a pair of incredibly gorgeous little girls!

Bree trying to help Ronny walk. It was quite hilarious because she would grab his hand, and then take off at a run and Ronny wouldn't be able to keep up. It frustrated Bree and made my mom nervous because Ronny kept falling, but I was laughing. :)

Grandma with the babies. I love how they're both like, "Okay, we are done with pictures, can we just go home?" Also, if you think THOSE matching expressions are funny, check out the next two.

L . . . O . . . L

Awww, buddies. Actually, Ronny was just trying to crawl over Carson, but we can pretend he was giving him a hug.

Okay, this doesn't actually fit with the cousin theme, but it's so cute that I couldn't help it. Ali got hurt on the swing and needed a cuddle from her grandpa.

These two were HILARIOUS. This started out as a fight over who got to use the beanbag chair, but soon became some kind of weird wrestling game. They did this forever, and you should have heard them giggle!

Bree and Jarrett enjoying some TV. Note the nearly identical hair color, and striped shirts. Cute.

Ronny: "Please, please, please give me some of whatever delicious food item you have up there!"
Carson: "No way, buddy. Go mooch somewhere else."

Okay, this doesn't fit with the theme either, but come on, you wouldn't want to miss the chance to see Rachel as a Tongan warrior would you?

We decided face painting would be a good idea for some reason, and it DID keep everyone entertained for quite some time, but it was a MESS. Especially for poor Grandma. She, very bravely, allowed the children to paint her face. Her whole, entire face. I just like this picture because all six of the wee ones are clustered on the blanket around their grandma. :)

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. A video of a couple of three-year-olds having a pillow fight! Wahoo! Seriously though, this is way funny. In case you were wondering, this took place soon after the beanbag chair incident.

Okay, that's it for now, but I need to do a post about our Monroe family reunion that was last weekend too, so stay tuned. For the moment, I'm going to go watch House.
Because I want to. So there.

When I Look at the Stars: My Adventures at the Switchfoot Concert

2009-07-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night, one of my dreams was fulfilled. I got to see my favorite band in concert! I've loved Switchfoot for a long time, but they never come to Utah. Unfortunately, they were touring with Blue October, so they weren't the main band and didn't play nearly as long as I would've liked. Of course, I could have listened to them for hours. They were so fantastic live!

By the way, I actually didn't take any of these pictures. My friend Nikki, whom Neil and I met at the Relient K concert a couple months back, took them. I forgot my camera! *smacks forehead* Anyway, good things Nikki was there. :)

That's Jerome - who was playing keyboard, tambourine, and guitar at one point - Drew on the bass, Chad back there on the drums, and Jon Foreman as lead singer. Jon's brother Tim is in the band too, but he's too far to the right to see him.

Me and Nikki. And Neil, doing a thumbs-up. Without meaning to, the three of us and our other friend Jon all wore blue!

This is the lead singer, Jon Foreman. He is so awesome with the crowd! I swear he has ADHD or something, because he doesn't stay on the stage. He was running all over the place, and climbing up on banisters and things like that. The BEST thing was, he ran right through our group! We all got to touch him! It was pretty much the coolest thing ever! By the way, he's really short. :)

Just a cool shot of everyone getting into the music.

Group shot! Jon, me, Neilybob, Nikki, her sister Amber, and Amber's boyfriend, Tyler. The concert was at the Saltair, and after Switchfoot performed, we all went outside to a beautiful sunset overlooking the lake. And then, Jon Foreman and the drummer, Chad, came and said hi to everyone! There were high-fives all around, and they were so, so nice and personable. Seriously, they were the coolest guys ever! Basically, it was one of the best nights of my life. :)

Green River Trip!

2009-07-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

After me and Neil's week long stay at Tyann's house and kung fu camp, we headed out for our annual camping/fishing trip at the Green River. And I mean right after. We got home from Cedar City Sunday evening, and left Monday morning for the river! It was a little insane, and I probably wouldn't want to plan two trips in a row like that again. I was pretty exhausted, and I tweaked my wrist a little at kung fu camp (which ROCKED, by the way. Kung fu camp, not messing up my wrist) which made it difficult to cast. It did leave me with lots of time to take pictures of the beautiful area, though.

I was pretty impressed with my little camera. It was doing really well with close-up shots. I really like this picture. A lot.

My dad had hooked this fish, and he came right up to my feet, like he was posing for the picture or something. Good fishy! Also, doesn't the water look awesome? The lighting was perfect, and the water in that river is incredibly clear.

Neil casting, and Mom and Dad in the background tying another fly on. Right across the river from here, we saw a mama deer and her TWO babies! They were so cute, but too far away to get a good picture. :(

Dad holding one of the few fish we caught. I think this is actually the same one who swam up to me.

My cousin Katie's little boy Teancum. We invited our family that lives in Vernal to come and visit us at the campsite, and we had SO much fun with them. Teancum was the life of the party, let me tell you. He is adorable!

Our traditional camp meal: sishkebabs. Which, incidentally, is the weirdest word ever. Anyway, the food was really yummy.

Some of the fam. Katie is over there on the left, then Teancum, my Uncle Melvin, Aunt Jerris, cousin Tagan, and cousin Britney. We had a ridiculous amount of fun that night!

And lastly, a picture that I feel belongs in a fishing magazine. For some reason, I just think it's really cool.

Okay, now that I'm done praising myself, I'll finish with this. If any of you ever get the chance to go to the Green River/Flaming Gorge area, do it. I'm a firm believer that there is not another place on Earth quite like it!

Stop Child Abuse!

2009-07-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, folks. This is serious. Look at the pictures below and tell me you don't want to do something about it:

Did I get ya? Okay, I know, I probably shouldn't joke around about child abuse, but these pictures are just too priceless. No, they are not posters for Bikers Against Child Abuse, they are pictures of my nieces with their movie make-up on. They had to fight a dragon. By the way, you should feel privileged that I'm posting these. Exclusive behind-the-scenes production photos, people. For a preview of the movie they are in that my brother is making, Warriors of Destiny, go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN4IEpgbiNY

Okay, now on to chronicle the week Neilyboy and I spent in Cedar City with the very entertaining Pangan family.

This may give you a glimpse of how crazy these kids can be. I love Rachel's loopy expression, and Ali's crazed, maybe evil, one. We were stuck in a traffic jam coming back from St. George and we were bored. What can I say.

Ronny = water baby. What more needs to be said?

Whoa! A picture with all four of them smiling and looking more or less at the camera!? Someone alert the press! Apparently, you just need to stick them all in water to make them cooperate. This was taken at a really cool water park in St. George. I'm pretty sure it was the best day of Ronny's life.

Rachel courteously standing so Ronny can get a jet of water up his nose. What a good big sister. :)

Let this be a warning to you. Ronny eats everything. If you want to eat something in peace, you have to lock yourself in the bathroom - and he'll probably still find you. This is him "sharing" Neil's Gogurt.

Ali and Ronny playing in a clothes basket. One of my favorite pictures ever for some reason.

Rachel on her big-kid bike. She's decided she's no longer a "girly-girl" and requested a blue bike. I think it's pretty awesome, myself.

Ronny, after his mother played with his hair when he was defenselessly drinking his bottle.

The very handsome Jarrett-boy. This kid is surprisingly good at posing. Of course, you may remember that from this post.

How many people can you get on Tyann's couch? Quite a few, apparently. I really don't know what was on Neily's computer that was so fascinating, but it must have been good.

Jarrett boxing. And that kid CAN box, too. He loves hitting stuff.

Ahh, parting shot. Isn't this pretty much the funniest picture you've ever seen? Cracks me up everytime.

Anyway, a very huge thanks to the Pangans for letting us come and visit. Couldn't have asked for a better time!

Balloons and Fireworks . . .

2009-07-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

. . . or, my really late Fourth of July post. Sorry about that, July has just been a really insane month. Pretty sad when it takes me until the NEXT holiday to post about the previous one. Oh well. How about I just say Happy July, and keep my bases covered? :)

Okay, enough babbling. Onto the pictures.

Quite honestly, I don't remember if it was actually on the 4th that we went to see the hot air balloons. They're cool, regardless.

Bree and her friend Christopher admiring the Smoky the Bear balloon.

Carson was . . . less than amused. Seriously, he made this face the whole morning, and I have lots of pictures to prove it. Funny little guy. :)

He was a little more entertained by the fireworks. We went to a parking lot to watch the Stadium of Fire ones, which were pretty lame, by the way.

Bree and Uncle Neil. I don't know what happened to the background on this picture, but it's kinda cool. And Bree and Neil are cute, as always.

Another really cute Bree and Uncle Neil picture. Why Bree was wearing shades at ten o'clock at night, I will never know. I've stopped trying to figure that kid out. :)

I tried really hard to get a picture of the fireworks with the full moon, but they just weren't close enough to make it very dramatic. It was a good idea, anyway.

This is a picture of the fireworks we did at the Kreis' house on the 3rd. Bree LOVED them. She laughed every time we set one off, but it was late and she fell asleep before we were done.
It was cute.

Here's the obligitory kids-with-the-flag picture. Cute, huh? Check out Carson trying to keep his feet off the grass.

Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic 4th, and are having an awesome 24th. I, for one, am certainly proud to live in this country, and am grateful for the freedom to light explosives in our front yards. :)

Another Adorable Children Post!

2009-06-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

We went down to Cedar City this past weekend and I managed to take about two-hundred and fifty pictures. Good grief. The kids are just so cute that I can never help it, though. :)

These first three are ones that I really like because no one is paying attention to the camera. I really like capturing people just doing the things they do - stealth photography, you could call it.

(playing Down by the Banks, not holding a seance, by the way)

Okay, so Neil is paying attention to the camera in this one, but he doesn't count.

Rachel (movie star)

Alison (model)

Jarrett (cowboy)

Ronny (philosopher)

We finished off the weekend by blowing some bubbles. Obviously, I have way more pictures than this, but I'm too lazy to post more at the moment. Thanks for sharing your kids, Tyann! :)

Grandpa Hammond's 80th B-day Party!

2009-06-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Okay everyone, I can hide it from you no longer. I am a complete Stargate addict. As a matter of fact, you are about to see the extent of my obsession. Get prepared.

I myself, have been watching Stargate for a couple of years now, and have recently managed to get my friends and younger brother obsessed as well. We started at the beginning of SG-1 and watch about two episodes a night, religiously. One of my friends is embarrassed by this, so in public, we refer to these nightly viewings as "going to visit Grandpa Hammond." And last night, we decided to have a party. By the way, I don't have the time to explain all the references, so if you don't know much about Stargate, you may wish to turn back now. :)

These cookies say "Happy B-day G-pa Hammond." They were made by my fantastic friend, Bridget.

We were in the store getting things for the party, when my brother held up a box of Nerds and said, "Nanites!" He has really good ideas like that.

Machello Jello! Believe it or not, we didn't come up with the name until we were actually eating it. We had just watched "Legacy" and thought that Machello's inventions sort of looked like Swedish Fish, except blue. Hence the gummy sharks. Anyway, my embarrassed friend who wished to remain anonymous, put them in Jello. We were all sitting around eating it when my other friend said, "Pass the Machello Jello." We all just stopped and stared at each other, realizing the genius, before freaking out.

Nicole demonstrating Machello's Goa'uld killing invention. :)

Goa'uld salad, complete with a couple of Tok'ra spies! Nicole's inspired idea.

Okay, folks, now we're getting to the really good stuff.

Rodney is SO CUTE. My brother decorated him, and I was totally in love. Also, dreadlocks are very difficult to make out of frosting, but my anonymous friend did a fantastic job. :)

Cute little Asgard! My favorite is the girl one.

These ones aren't very obvious, but we have an Unas, Apophis, Bra'tac, Dr. Fraiser, and Grandpa Hammond himself!

SG-1, seasons 9 and 10

And of course, the original SG-1!

Okay, here comes the crowning acheivement. But first, the story of how this started. One night, a while back, when it was just me and Nicole watching the show, she decided chappa'ai would be a cool basis for a rap song. She started saying "Chappa, chappa, what?" to which I would reply enthusiastically, "Chappa'AI!" We now all do this whenver someone says chappa'ai. Anyway, one day it hit us: we could make a chappa PIE! Ingenius, no? Here are the results:

My awesome friend, Bridget, with the Chappa Pie.

Me, looking at the Chappa Pie with pure joy.

My little bro, Neil, with the Chappa Pie. He did all the detail work on the 'gate.

And a pic of the Chappa Pie all by itself. Isn't it cool how the camera's flash made it look all shimmery? The chevrons are little apple wedges, by the way, and it's white chocolate pudding with blue food coloring for the event horizon.

And finally, a lovely group shot. Wanna know the funniest part about this party? The only things we could bring ourselves to actually eat were the Nanites, Goa'uld salad, and Machello Jello. Everything else was just too cute, and so the cookies all remain on my counter and the Chappa Pie sits in the fridge.
Anyone hungry? :)

Toes

2009-06-04T11:14:00.001-07:00

My mother has been in Hawaii since the day after graduation (the 29th), and I am most certainly ready for her to return. I'm really glad she got to go - she's been wanting to go to Hawaii for probably her whole life - but I am kind of done being the mom at our house. :)

Anyway, she went with some of our most excellent friends, the Kreises, and they got pedicures before they went. Mom insisted I take pictures of her toes before they "got ruined." So, here you go. Tyann, she especially wanted you to see, so tell her I did a good job next time you talk to her. ;)

Mom's toes (white sandal), Bridget Kreis's toes (black shoe), Becky Kreis's toes (tan sandal).

The Neilyboy's Graduation

2009-06-04T11:03:00.001-07:00

Group shot! The graduates (Bridget and Neil) with their parental units.

Neilina with a couple choir/ward buddies.

Neilykins with Mom and Dad

And lastly, the Neilyboy with me! I'm very proud of him. :)

Memorial Day Shindig

2009-05-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day was really fun this year! We (Mom, Dad, Neil and I) went to Scipio which is where my grandparents lived before they passed away and where I remember spending pretty much every Memorial Day, and had a family picnic. It was mostly my dad's cousins and their families who were there, and most of them I didn't know, but it gave me a great opportunity to meet new people. Actually, I probably have met most of them before but just don't remember. Anyway, the Monroe family is made up of super friendly, nice, people so it wasn't too hard to make friends!

This is my adorable 2nd cousin, Landon. I think. I'm not 100% sure how we're related, but I think he's my dad's cousin's son. Everyone loved him and his bubbly little personality. My mom said he should be the poster child for America!

Neil and my cousin Erica's little boy, Parker, sharing a snack. It looks like Neil is about to eat a Cheeto or something, but it's actually a baby snack that was pretty weird tasting. Neil liked them though, almost as much as cute little Parker!

My cousin Laura playing with her niece, Aubry.

My cousin James helping his nephew, Parker, down the stairs. James is just two weeks (ish) older than Neil and most of us think they look a lot alike. They were both so good with the little kids, chasing them around and playing on the playground with them. They're good guys!

Aubry telling me how old she is. We had three babies born right in a row in the family: Jarrett, Conley (my other cousin's little boy), and Aubry.

This is my dad teasing Aubry. That's my cousin Ashley (Aubry's mom) in the white shirt.

Thanks for being so awesome, family! I love you!

Da Boyz!

2009-05-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

I'm making up for my text-happy posts earlier with some picture-happy ones. This is Carson and Ronny who are both practicing standing up and pulling tablecloths down. I couldn't get them both to look at me at the same time, but they are still so cute and fun! They're both pretty chill little guys too, as long as their mommies are in sight. :)

Kickball!

2009-05-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

When the whole family was at our house for our Hogle Zoo adventure (see Tyann's blog because I'm too lazy and she picked the best pics: http://dtpangan.blogspot.com/2009/05/trip-to-zoo.html ) it was such nice weather that we couldn't resist a little outdoor playtime. It reminded me of when Dad would play a modified version of baseball (since we only had three players usually) with me and Neil in the backyard. This time it was kickball with a huge ball which made it easier for the little ones. It was so fun to have a bunch of us just playing together!

Ali proved to be a pretty good pitcher. You can't see it too well,
but the expression on her face is priceless!

A cool action shot of Ali going for the home run!

This is Bree helping "Bunny" kick the ball.
She and Jarrett struggled with the concepts of the game a little. :)

Jarrett was a pretty good kicker and pitcher, he just didn't get the running part.

Bree and Jarrett eventually gave up on kickball and started stick-fighting instead. Surprisingly, they were really good with each other and there were no injuries!

A couple good group shots.

Interesting tidbit: once when playing baseball with Dad in the backyard I stepped on a rusty nail sticking out of one of our wooden bases (not that smart, I know). This time, I was playing barefoot (again, not that smart) and I scraped the tip of my toe off running across the cement. No tetanus shot this time, but it sure hurt! Good thing I had "Nurse" Rachel to help me out!

2009-05-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, peeps. This is random but really important! :)

Star Trek was one of the most fantastic movies I've ever seen! The actors were awesome (Kirk was especially attractive, Scotty was hilarious, and there was even a cameo from one of my favorite television actors); the cinematography was completely unique and interesting (all kinds of extreme angles and this weird light thing; you kind of have to see it); the effects were truly stunning (they quite literally dropped my jaw on several occasions); the explosions were massive; there were several fist fights, a sword fight, and a shoot out which were all intense; and it had just the right balance of humor, angst, and action. Oh yeah, and a super creepy bad guy with a very spiky ship! So, basically, I totally recomend it*!

Here's an interesting little comparison for you. I thought they did really well on finding actors who looked like the originals. Also, little-kid-Spock looked a LOT like the older version. Kinda cool.

*I feel the need to warn you of a smoochy scene. No one's actually naked, but pretty close. Close your eyes and it will be over soon. :)

My Trip to Cali

2009-05-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

So, tragically, my camera got buried in a duffel bag full of blankets when I moved my stuff from my apartment back home (yes, I now reside in Orem again) and I didn't find it until AFTER I got home from my two-week California adventure. I was very sad. My roommates that I went with got some pictures but I don't have access to them yet, so you'll have to deal with a big chunk of text because I'm going to tell you about it with or without accompanying photos. Sorry.

We, my roommates Lauren, Sarah, Courtney, and I, left for Cali on the twenty-second, the last day of finals. We didn't get going until five in the afternoon so we decided to spend the night in Vegas with Lauren's good friend, Courtney Waldron. We eventually made it to Orange, which is where Lauren lives, without any mishaps, though we did have an almost run-in with the Italian mafia on Zzyzx Road. Lauren and Courtney both live in the same area so Sarah and I met their families and then got our stuff settled in at Lauren's house.

That night we went to a Duck's game, and felt an earthquake! It was just a little one, but it was kind of exciting.

The next day we went to the Getty museum in LA which is really cool and free, and then we drove up Hollywood hills to see the sign. That night we went to a beach party but it got broken up by the cops because it was after ten or some such nonsense.

The next morning we headed to Corona Del Mar beach which was gorgeous. It was kind of cold because of a breeze, but we had fun in the water anyway. It was the first time I've ever gotten more than my feet wet in the ocean! Lauren and Courtney insisted Sarah and I go completely under even though the water was freezing.

The next few days we hung out with Lauren's friends and family and watched movies and ate delicious food. On the twenty-ninth we went to the San Diego Zoo which was way fun! We spent all day there and took two of Lauren's nieces and nephews with us: Daniel and Katie.

The next day we went to the beach again and saw sea lions and dolphins! That night we had a bonfire on the beach and I lost my new flip-flops.

We went to Venice Beach a couple days later and it was so fun! It's basically this open market kind of deal where people just set up their little stalls along the sidewalk and you can find really strange things and people there.

Then we went to Disneyland! Lauren's sister's friend works there and got us in for free, and it was also Sarah's birthday so the day was fantastic.

Our second-to-last day we went to LA again to check out the La Brea tar pits and the accompanying museum. That night Lauren's sunday school teacher took the whole young adult sunday school class out to dinner at this awesome little restaurant called Ruby's on the Pier, and yes, it is literally on the pier.

Our flight home left at 7:30 PM so we went to LA again that morning to see the stars on Hollywood Boulevard before heading to the airport. It was a nice short flight and we were home again!

Wow, that turned out really long. So, if you made it all the way to the bottom, congratulations! Maybe someday I'll post some pictures . . .

Babies With Guns and Other Funny Kid Stuff

2009-03-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

I went down to Cedar City to go to my brother-in-law Dave's kung fu seminar this past weekend, and had way more fun than should be legal! The kids were hilarious and crazy as always, even though I didn't get to spend much time with them or Tyann because I was at the seminar all day on Saturday. This pic is Ronny with Jarrett's toy gun. I think his state of undress and the binky make this all the more funny. :)

This little man cracks me up! He got all ready for church and he just looked so cute in his little suit that I asked him if I could take some pictures of him. He happily obliged, modeling his outfit in a very GQ fashion. He's such a little stud! He was also very cuddly all weekend. He kept pretending he was a cat, and would come and curl up on my lap and meow and expect me to pet his hair. Very, very adorable.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the girls this time around, but they are as beautiful and smart as ever. They're both writing stories and they wanted to bounce ideas off me so I got to be creative with them; and believe me, they are very creative!

I'm going down again this coming weekend with the whole fam, so I'll get to spend a little more time with them, and maybe I'll even get through a movie with my big sis without falling asleep after a long day learning kung fu. :)

Oh, and because I don't feel like making a separate post, here's a random video of BreeAnna "reading" a book:

The Violent Death of Spiderman

2009-03-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

This is a random, but amusing video that I forgot was on my camera. This is actually when we were all pretty sick so we probably shouldn't have been out in the cold in our PJs, but it was just one of those things that had to be done. I don't even remember where we got the pinata, but we didn't have anywhere to hang it up so this is the result. The quality of the vid is awful because it's night and my camera doesn't take the best videos in the first place, but you can pretty much tell what's going on. :)

At the end when Lauren goes to pick up the candy, you can see her kind of freak out and run away. That's because some dumb boys decided to throw freezing water at us. It's a wonder we didn't all end up with hypothermia. Or hypo-freakin-thermia as I said today when the wind was trying rather hard to freeze my eyeballs out of my head. Ah, spring.

Enter At Your Own Risk!

2009-03-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

My apartment has had its share of germs this semester! All of us, except Lauren M, got hit with this nasty influenza thing a while back and we even hung up a quarantine sign outside our door because that bug was intensely contagious. Then, a few days ago, one of my roommates puked so much she got really dehydrated and passed out and went to the hospital for a couple hours. Another roommie started puking yesterday, and I really hope I don't get it! Anyway, the picture is of Courtney reading LC (in the polka-dot blanket) a really strange story to make her feel better. LC was the first one to get sick with the influenza thing so this is a happy scene before we knew what we were in for. Ulrich (the dog) and Amy's elephant were helping to act out the story.

Severely Belated Birthday Post

2009-03-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

So, for some reason, I have no amazing pictures of my birthday even though my birthday itself was amazing (it was also like, a month ago, but sometimes I'm just slow. I can't help it.).

We got to drive up to Idaho so Nicole and I could celebrate our birthdays together. This is at the bowling alley in Rexburg.

These are the shoes that I quickly discovered are really, really bad in -100 degree weather and twelve feet of snow. Mom bought me new ones in Rexburg.

This is a random pic that I find absolutely hilarious. I have no idea what either of them are doing but it does attest to the fact that I have a strange family.

So, yeah, basically my birthday was way more fun than these pictures make it look.

Growing Old is Inevitable, Growing Up is Not . . .

2009-03-01T23:27:00.000-08:00

I recently commented to one of my friends that I seem to be growing more mature in some areas of my life but less mature in others. For instance, I am getting better at boring grown-up things like managing money and studying, but yesterday I bought myself pirate bandaids and put one on the back of my hand even though I didn't have an owie. In fact, I am wearing one on my finger right this very minute. It's strange, but wearing my pirate bandaids makes me feel like I have license to act a little childlike. I used the words "pretty, pretty please" to ask my mom for something, and I have this strange urge to stick my lower lip out when things don't go my way. I suppose that means I shoul stop wearing my pirate bandaids, but I don't want to! So, if you see me wearing one, please excuse the occasional pout. And no, nieces and nephews, you can't have one. They're mine.

P.S. I was just going through my pictures and realized that I have a ton of fun stuff to post about, so stay tuned and I might even get them on here in chronological order. :)

Chopped!

2009-01-22T19:18:00.000-08:00

Today was my good friend Melissa's birthday, and we decided to celebrate by getting our hair cut together. We went over to Great Clips and when the lady asked me how much I wanted her to cut off, I said a couple inches. After she washed my hair and realized that it is much longer wet and straight-ish than dry and curly, she said it was long enough to chop ten inches off and donate to Locks of Love. I figured, why not? So, off came ten inches, and I love it!

If you want to see a pretty good "before" picture, check out my New Years post.

Warm Weather + Family = Great Weekend!

2009-01-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

I had the extreme pleasure of going down to Cedar City this past weekend with the fam. We had so much fun hanging out with the Pangans, and Neil even began making a kung fu movie with the kids that will soon make its debut on Youtube! We also got to go down to St. George where it was a blissful 63 degrees and see Dave's new kung fu school. A perfect weekend!

Rachel and Ali sitting in the warm sunshine of St. George
enjoying some chocolate after lunch.

Jarrett, Ali, and Rachel by this weird tower/house thing by the
ever so delicious Mongolian BBQ restaurant.

Rachel is learning to play the guitar! Mom wrote down a bunch of simple songs for her and she caught on really quickly.

Poor little Jarrett was sick all weekend. He did his very best to keep up with everyone, but he crashed on the floor and fell promptly asleep with his new baseball right before dinner on Saturday. Poor guy!

I went a little camera happy on Ronny, but he is just so cute I couldn't help it! That middle one there is him in a clothes basket. He absolutely loved it! We dragged him around in it for a good half-hour probably.

New Years! (finally)

2009-01-19T22:53:00.000-08:00

My hair and the streamers got along quite well.

Rachel and Jarrett sword-fighting (horn fighting?) with Uncle Neil.

Poor Ronny, he couldn't quite figure out what all the noise was about!

Rachel being her crazy self.

Bree and Faith. I believe Bree is spitting at the camera . . .

Ronny loved the champagne. Just kidding, we don't give alcohol to babies! I mean, we didn't have alcohol at all! :)

When the festivities were mostly over, Jarrett got out the broom and started sweeping. Ali decided to help him and it was very cute and sweet of them.

The Tale of Three Christmases

2009-01-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was rather extended, but very fun. We started out on Christmas Day with my parents, Neil, Aunt Sharon and I, and by the time we were finished unwrapping, the Eshelmans got to the house and round two began! The next day the Pangans came and we had round three! It was very exciting. Anyway, enough talking. Here are some pics:

Bree was excited about her new bear, and that's Aunt Sharon showing Carson his new bear.

Carson's new toy!

Bree's favorite part of Christmas? The boxes!

If Bree's favorite part was the boxes, Ronny's was the wrapping paper. I love the slightly crazed look in his eyes in this one.

A cuddle brought on by Ali's new towel.

Rach and Ali opening presents.

Jarrett and Unca Neil.

Rachel and Ali helping Bree with her new dress-ups!

Cousins! These two should have a lot of fun together in a couple years.

Rachel leading Bree and Jarrett in "The Train." They did this forever and I was worried they were going to pass out from giggling!

More cousin fun to wrap this up! Ronny growls and Bree thinks it's hilarious.

This is belated, but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and I will try and get New Years pics up soon. :D

Some random but really cute pics

2009-01-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

May I just take a moment to proudly display my adorable nieces and nephews? We're up to six little ones in our family now and they are so fun!

This is BreeAnna, the two-year-old tornado, displaying a really cute nose wrinkle and her new hair cut.

This is her baby brother, Carson Rex, at his blessing. Sweet little boy!

I have yet to figure out what these Pangan kidlets are doing, but they look really gangster and awesome. That's Rachel in the purple, Ali in the orange, and Jarrett with the sucker. These three are good for hours of entertainment. :)

And last, but certainly not least, Ronny. Not to brag or anything, but this is probably one of the best pictures ever taken. ;) It helps of course that this kid is incredibly cute.

Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I will continue on to Christmas and New Years! Stay tuned for more cuteness . . .

All-nighter!

2009-01-08T14:36:00.001-08:00

So, a long time ago (I seriously meant to post this weeks ago), I decided I didn't want to get up for a 7 AM shift on a Saturday. I very cleverly skirted that issue by not going to bed; that way I didn't have to get up at all. Luckily for me, I have really cool roommates who decided to hang out with me on my quest for an all-nighter. Anyway, the pic is pretty self-explanatory and I don't remember much about the night anyway . . .

By the way, I made it through a full 38 hours with only an hour nap. I was pretty proud.

Deck the . . . Living Room?

2008-12-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

Amy got our Christmas tree up today! He is a faithful little Christmas tree despite the fact that he's fake, which, I suppose, makes him more faithful as he won't die on us. :) Here is a little video that I uploaded mostly to see if it would work, and so you can hear the Christmas music in the background.

Those Are My Beaters!

2008-12-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I didn't get very many Thanksgiving pictures. I was enjoying myself too much I guess! However, I did get several very adorable pictures of my hilarious two-year-old niece, Bree. Here's my favorite story from Thanksgiving:

Once upon a time, Bree was enjoying licking the beaters from the home-made whipped cream.

A little while later, we made home-made ranch dip and Bree wanted to lick them again.

It wasn't quite what she was expecting, but she still liked it. In fact, when Grandma tried to take the beaters to the sink, Bree cried, "Those are my beaters!" in a most hilarious fashion. We are still quoting her.

I'll never buy a mop again . . .

2008-11-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

It was a dark and yucky night, and cleaning checks were looming just around the corner. Specifically, nine AM, and we did not have a mop. Well, technically, we did have a mop, but it was so gross and old that trying to mop with it just spread around the slime. After I complained a lot, Amy enlightened us with a solution from her childhood. Following her suggestion, we all donned socks, dumped hot water and soap on the floor, and went skating. It was genius! It was so much fun even though our little kitchen isn't really big enough for all of us to slide around a lot. :) And, our kitchen floor was the cleanest it's ever been! Who needs mops?

This is actually from a while ago, but I just barely got the picture from Lauren, so here it is. See the nastiness of our socks? We did this for a long time . . .

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

2008-11-05T23:32:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time, there was a man who tried to blow up the British parliament in the 1600's. His name was Guy Fawkes, and to this day, people in Great Britain light bonfires and burn effigies of Guy. We decided to follow this esteemed tradition . . .

The construction of our Guy . . .

The burning of our Guy . . .

The slow, painful death of our Guy . . .

The ashes . . .

It was one of the funnest things ever! We are totally making it a new tradition.

Lauren's Birthday!

2008-10-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my roommate Lauren's birthday! It was way fun decorating the apartment and making cakes and cards for her. We love birthdays in this apartment, and we always try and decorate as awesomely as possible given our limited budget. Here's what the living room looked like:

And here are the cakes: Lauren's friend Chandler made the palm tree one (because Lauren is from California and she likes palm trees) and we made the beach ball one.

This is Courtney, Sarah, Lauren, Chandler and Richard, enjoying the party!

Also, randomly, we decided to see how many people we could jump over on the couch. Way more entertaining than it sounds . . . This is Courtney (pink shirt) landing on Lauren after trying to jump over me, the other Courtney, and Lauren. Richard almost broke our couch trying to do this . . .

Bodyworlds

2008-10-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a very cool experience. I went to the Bodyworlds exhibit with my kung fu family! I don't know if you guys have heard of it, but basically, this guy decided it would be cool to take human bodies and "plastinize" them. So the exhibit is of real human bodies that have been turned into plastic! Sounds freaky but it's not as scary as it sounds. They pose the people doing different things, so you can kinda see what's going on with the muscles. There was a guy throwing a javelin, and this girl who was doing a bit of archery:

We thought this one was funny because it looks like she has her hair in a bun, but that's really her brain sitting on top of her skull! There were all kinds people displayed doing different things, and then individual joints and organs were also displayed. At the end we even got to touch a real liver that had been plastinized! Probably the coolest thing was that they were able to preserve individual veins and arteries, and even the tiny capillaries! Here's a picture of someone's skull that they stripped all the muscles from and just left the veins:

So amazing! You can see why face wounds bleed a lot. I asked Sifu why there had to be so much blood in our ears, and he said that blood has to reach every cell of living tissue, which I probably should have known . . . Sifu also pointed out to us different muscles and joints that someone had either hurt, or was likely to hurt during training, and showed us how fragile wrist bones and floating ribs were. He also showed us where to hit people to damage their liver, kidneys, etc. Very, very awesome! I would definitely recommend the exhibit, just don't go get steaks afterward. :)

Conference!

2008-10-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post a couple thoughts about the incredible General Conference we just had! I found it truly inspiring, comforting and just generally awesome. I feel so blessed to be led by such great men! I especially enjoyed Elder Perry's and Elder Wirthlin's talks on how to find peace and joy in this troubled world, and of course, I loved every word President Monson shared with us. I also got to share the experience with lots of different people, including my roommates (along with what seemed like half of my ward), my family, and my coworkers.

This is kind of a crappy picture, but this is during Saturday morning session. Emily's sister Ann is there in the front, and then Smalls, Courtney, Sarah, Richard, Amy, Eleisha, Emily, Sam, Janae and Ashley. We did a good job keeping each other awake!

Chalk it up to Friday night!

2008-10-03T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ah, my crazy roommates! Somehow they got the idea to do chalk rubbings of each other's faces! We ended up doing elbows, knees, ribs and feet too. This is a picture of Amy and Janae doing a rubbing of our friend Richard's ribs. It was kind of difficult because it tickles and the rubbings don't work as well when you're laughing. :)

When we were done, we taped all the rubbing to our wall. It makes a really awesome decoration I think! What better way to cover up a boring old wall? You can see our shoes and hands pretty well but faces, ribs, etc. aren't as distinct.

Then the fun moved outside and we traced each other ALL over the complex - even on the stairs! You can't really see it in the picture but it says "this is what happens when you do your home-teaching late."

Did I mention I rarely get bored? Very rarely . . .

The Pie Adventure

2008-09-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got home from work to find three of my roommates and our friend Jonathan trying to make a pie. A quite involved and complicated series of events led us to owe Jonathan a pie, but that's another story. Anyway, the pie crust was causing serious difficulties for the intrepid bakers and after trying to make two different batches, they gave up and went and bought pie crusts from Smith's. The goopy pie crusts they tried to concoct did make really good sculpting material and hand moisturizer though . . .

Home Sweet Apartment

2008-09-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures of my little apartment!

My roommates are awesome, and we have tons of fun. The apartment is great, except for a little incident in which the swamp cooler spewed black mud on our toothbrushes and towels. We seem to be cursed in the wet-stuff-falling-from-the-ceiling department. We had a leak in our apartment last year too!