A Few of My Favorite Things

~ Highlight of the Day/Week: Visiting with Ashley face to face :) ~

 ~ Highlight of Yesterday: Learning to drive the Toro! ~

~ Highlight of Monday: Imagine Dragons concert! ~

 ~ Highlight of Sunday: Lauren's farewell! ~

 

 ~ Highlight of Saturday: Hiking Squaw Peak! ~

 

 

Whew. Glad I got all that off my chest!

And here are a few little gems I've picked up in the last few days:

 

1. When people 'go to Squaw Peak' to make out, they are not really going to the top of Squaw Peak. There is no parking lot at the very top. And therefore no gross (or shall I say engrossed) couples.

Only hard working, nature loving hikers :)

 

 

Also it rained. So what used to be a quaint dirt path

became 7 miles of mock dirty-dash :)

 

 

Also, moss does grow in Utah!

 

 

2. Cakes fashioned out of chocolate muffin mixes are lovely.

Especially if coated in argyle frosting.

 

 

 

 

3.  Working on the Pesticide Crew is great. And learning to drive a manual is even better (even if blue foam blatantly attests to the world my inability to drive in straight lines. . . :)

 

 

And 4. People and food are probably two of my most

 favorite things in the whole wide world.

 

 



Catch-Up Part 2: California

~ Highlight of the Day: Looking through the Jerusalem Cookbook - brings back so many memories ~

 

California.

It was a small miracle we made it there and back, and it wasn't the best thing for my bank account, but the more I contemplate the trip, the happier I am that we went :)

 

There's something liberating about knowing you can pull off a trip like that. I can go places if I want to! And let's be honest, I most definitely want to go place :)

 

On our way to California we stopped at the Bellagio in Vegas.

I was completely against the idea, because I've been to Vegas and didn't really desire to stop in again, but I admit I'm glad we did. The gardens in the Bellagio were fun - they had giant daffodils and mushrooms, and a butterfly house. How could you go wrong?!

 

 

Then we threw pennies into the fountains and made wishes:

 

 

And ate at Steak 'n Shake. . . it's apparently an East Coast thing we

West Coasters haven't caught on to quite yet.

 Their shakes were pretty good. 

 

 

 

 

Then there was Disneyland. My family went to Disneyland my senior year of high school, as a last-family-trip thing, and after two days there I was very ready not to go back till I had my own little tikes, but going with roommates is a totally different experience. . . :)

May I just say, California Adventure has changed a lot in the past few years. The whole entrance is new, and they've got Carsland now! I loved Carsland.

 

So . . . my glasses are quite broken, have been since January, but a bit of tape does the trick, and I've been just fine all semester. But then you introduce the need to switch back and forth between glasses and sunglasses and things get tricky. . .

 

Long story short, my excellent tape job couldn't withstand the perils of my bag, and my glasses were reduced to pieces. I wasn't too torn up about this till we got on the new Little Mermaid ride, which happens to be very dark. So I was holding my glasses up to my face (since they no longer had arm/band/go-behind-your-ear thingies), . . . and I dropped them.

 

We talked to the ride guys, but they couldn't really do anything till the end of the day, and so, one half-pair of glasses less, we continued on our way.

 

 

Thanks to Katie I didn't run into too much after it got

 dark and I couldn't wear my sunglasses anymore.

 

 

(Teacups ride)

 

(Last line of the day: Carsland. . . the one big

ride at the very end of the road through Radiator Springs, I forget the name :)

 

Ok. This tree is WAY cool. It's a spiny-pink-floss-silk tree. . . or something like that. I absolutely love it though, and they have several around Disney. Kudos to D. Grounds :)

 

After some crazy Disney time we took a day to relax at the beach:

This is Little Corona Del Mar

 



 

 After we exhausted the tide pools and ate at the most amazing little café (Rose Café, I think) we decided to venture to Balboa. We took the cutest little ferry I'd ever seen, and then just wandered around town till we found the beach.

 

It was too cold to swim (though that didn't really stop Katie ) so we just flirted with the water :) Well, ok. I wasn't flirting with it. I was trying to get a picture, but couldn't stay put because I was so terrified of a big wave coming in and totally soaking me.

So I mostly just ran back and forth in fright :)

 

 

GMERK: Gabby Marina Emily Rachel Katie

 

In that order because it's the only thing that

 faintly resembled a pronounceable word. . . :)

 

You know, despite all the loveable things about Provo, there are just some things Provo can't deliver. Like tide pools. And the ocean . . .

 

Gotta love Cali :)

Catch-Up Part 1: The Mish

~ Highlight of the Day: Hiking! Why have I not done this every weekend?! :) ~

 

Well I am way behind. Like more than two and a half weeks behind! Usually in these cases I just cut my losses, but I kind of have to blog about my mission call*. And a few other things too. So here's Part 1: The Mish
 

 

It was the last day of finals, and not only was I completely done (this is the first year I hadn't put any off till the last minute {don't ask my how that happened. . .}), but Alicia, our long lost roommate, was coming up for her cousin's wedding.

With her child. Everett.

Who I hadn't met yet, due to my many

excursions over summer and fall.

 

It was quite wonderful getting to catch up with her,

and a great distraction from a certain white envelope that had arrived in the mail :)

 

 

The best thing about it all was that for the first time in a long time all 6 of us from freshman year were together - and it'll be a long time before we get back together again. . .

at least two years, since half of us are mission bound :)

And then it was time to open my call.

I believe that successfully pulling off a Mission Call Opening
 is a vital step in preparing to serve a mission.
 

 It requires flexibility.

("yeah, I think my call will come today. . . but it might not")
 

And social skills.

(Lets just gather all sorts friends together from all sorts of places, and put them in the same room to awkwardly socialize while family members are being put on speaker phone)

So I opened my call. . . and I'm going to Paraguay!!! More specifically the Paraguay Asuncion mission. I'll be speaking Spanish (so glad I took three years of that in high school :) and I'm reporting to the Argentina MTC (Missionary Training Center) on August 15th.
I am so excited. You have no idea.

I have a video of me opening my call, but I've yet to learn the ways of video uploading, and so this lovely picture of me and Madison will have to do.

And then to finish my day I drew a life size Iron Man (it was Madison's birthday) and packed for our trip to California, which you can hear all about in Catch-Up Part 2: California, coming soon to BlogSpot and Facebook. :)

 

 

*Missions: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints encourages their young adults to

serve a full time mission. Boys (Elders, as we call them when they're missionaries) 

serve for two years and can go when they're 18. Girls (or Sisters) serve for 18 months, and we can go when we're 19.

 

We don't choose where we go. We fill out our papers and send them in to Church headquarters where the Prophet and the Twelve Apostles receive them and assign a mission through divine inspiration. So naturally, getting your call is a pretty big deal, and is a much anticipated event for any prospective missionary.