On Fish and drowning

Disclaimer: This is not an exciting blog post. I don't think I am an exciting person anymore. Seriously, the most exciting thing about this week is that I made lemon squares on Sunday and it is Tuesday and they are all gone because I live with a man who has the stomach of a whale and the metabolism of a cheetah. Also they are gone because they are delicious. But really, that's about it. I'm getting really good at sitting on my bum and watching Netflix shows until too late in the evening.

Honorable mention on my mind right now: Noah, the movie. WAS. TERRIBLE. Read Matt Walsh's blog about it. I agree with all he said.

3rd Runner up for my brain space: ...........boredom. Oh and it's raining right now. Will it deluge and last 150 days? I think not, but even if it did, I still wouldn't want to kill my family.

2nd Runner Up: Boredom. Is there anything more evil? Boredom sucks away at your brain, turning it into a sludgy quagmire. I had about an hour yesterday where I felt like I used my intellect, my good ideas and was able to participate in a healthy, robust discussion. I wish that I was busy--with efforts that were mentally engaging.

If you had to choose between being busy doing mindless nothings or having nothing to do but being forced to do it anyway, which would you choose?

1st Runner up: Fish. Smells. So. Bad. When. It. Gets. Microwaved. At. Work.

Seriously I'm gagging over here. It's not the fresh fish smell, that salty tang that blows off the sea. It's not even the smell of a can of just opened tuna. It's the smell that filled my dorm room freshman year when some friends put a dead fish on our ski shelf and it sat there for 3 days without us knowing why our room smelled so rotten.

The only positive part of that story is that we found the fish just before we both left for Thanksgiving Break.

Hoping that this weekend will bring more exciting events.

Tactless

!!!we got in! we got in! we got in! we got in!!!

Pardon my excessive overuse of exclamation points, and my tactless way of letting you know. Jared got into DENTAL SCHOOL!!!! Hugs all around, come visit us! I'll send you all caramel popcorn (that's Kar-mul Paaahp-korn) and then your teeth will be so sticky you'll have to come see us.

One interview, one school--works for us! So, sometime after he graduates we are moving to CHICAGO!!! 

Midwestern University, here we come!


I am so excited I can't even talk about it. Chicago is my kind of place. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and your fasting in our behalf. It's been a long wait, and your support made it so much easier.



**also I borrorwed these pictures from a Google image search** 

Tattle tale

So I have to tell a story on Jared because it made me laugh and I thought it was cute.

So every morning we get up at 5 am. I make lunches/get ready for work and Jared snoozes/gets ready for the gym. Life is hard for him right?

So today, I'm putting together a PBJ and Jared comes in the kitchen and gives me a BIG Hug and says, "Happy Valentine's Day sweetie!" and hands me a big box of chocolates.

I go, "Ummmm." (cause it's early still) "Valentine's Day is tomorrow."
"What? Its the 2nd Thursday of the month." at this point he hides the chocolate box behind his back, slightly embarrassed.

I start laughing because of what happened at Church on Sunday.( At Church, one of the men giving a talk started with a story. He told us how a few years ago, when he and his wife were dating, he wanted to impress her with his knowledge and said to her, So Valentine's day is on the 2nd Thursday of February, huh? What do you want to do this year? She told him, no, it's always on the 14th of February. )

So this morning, I had a fat laugh because clearly someone only listened to part of the talk on Sunday.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Au Revoir Soeur Evans

Today I spent the day with my little sister McKay and my mom, just before she enters the Missionary Training Center (MTC) tomorrow. She will be serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Port Vila Vanuatu Mission--New Caledonia Region, speaking French, for the next 18 Months.

We are so excited for her, but of course are going to miss her immensely. This is my first family member serving a mission, so I'm a newbie at this, even though I actually talk to missionaries every day for work. Any suggestions from you more experienced out there? I couldn't be more proud of my little sister for making this decision, and for her faithfulness, her spirit and her diligence. She is a truly amazing young woman. 

I had the chance to go to the temple with her today! What a cool experience. Words don't really describe the temple. I am so grateful to be able to go to them so frequently--it's a blessing about living in Utah that we have so many nearby. I'll try not to take that for granted.

We shopped around and tonight went to dinner. We missed our Dad a lot, and wish he could have been there too. Since McKay already speaks French pretty well, her date to report was changed, and Dad's big meeting at work was well, the same day as her report date.

This is probably my favorite Thai place in Provo/Orem. The lemongrass soup (Tom Kai Ka?) is the BEST! 

From dinner in Maryland at Christmas. 

After dinner, we celebrated Mum's birthday! Yay January 28 :) a major celebration--we had shortbread chocolate pudding pie ( I woke up at 6 am this morning to make it. I guess I do love them after all ;).

And then proceeded the after-dinner laughter and rumble-glomming on the sofa as per usual. We also enjoyed a fashion show by Jared, tales of how mom can sell ANYTHING and Haley ALMOST....crossing the line. And of course lots of pictures. Most of which I would be lynched for publicly displaying, so here are the best ones.

This was going to be a picture of just H and M, but J jumped in with that lamp at the perfect moment--this picture is purely candid.

Sweet sisters. 

M to H: "let's laugh at each other!" H to Me: "Why do you ALWAYS zoom in so much?!"

"Let's all look at McKay!"

FOR DAD

These boots are made for walking. 

Home is calling

This time of year, with snow and the anticipation of Christmas, always gets me excited to visit home and family. This morning, mum sent me this picture.

You have to understand, though my family has moved three times since I've been at school, they all have the same lovely characteristic: woody, snow covered meadows and forests. Utah doesn't have these, it's all mountains here. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful and I love them. But this sight warms my heart because I have SOOOOOO many memories of taking walks in places just like this.

I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!

The Girl's Still Got IT!

Sunday was wonderful--BETH AND JONATHAN CAME TO CHURCH WITH US.

Let's not forget that normally they are in the wonderful place called Washington DC. We were lucky enough that this weekend, amidst all their family time, they squeezed us in. It was seriously so good to see them.

And they convinced both Jared and I that Dominion is the game for us. (At least for me)

Then I made homemade bread for dinner. Yes, that was pretty much it...we did have some vegetables. Cause it's not dinner without some veggies!

Now I'd like to tell a story.

Once upon a time, almost 3 years ago now, a young girl went on a hike in Wales. The walk went over mountains, through clouds and sheep pastures, past old brick houses and along merry lanes of grass. The girl grew tired and somewhat lost. She and her friends decided to stop and ask for directions to a magical place called Big Pit. They only assumed it was magical, not having been there before. 

Then, this girl, adventurous to the extreme, decided to leap a low lying wall instead of walking around it. She took a few steps back, started running and LEAP! her left leg made it over the wall, but her right shin crashed right into the brick edge. Gouged and bleeding the girl hobbled into the gas station and begged for bandages. Once cleaned up, she and her friends continued walking to the place of Big Pit. A magical experience indeed. 

Now for another story. 

Three years later, this same girl, although a bit older, has no less a sense of adventure. Maybe we should call it a feeling of indestructibility. She feels that she can do ANYTHING! So one night, alone in her apartment, waiting for her cute husband to come home (the one that made the adventure to Big Pit so worthwhile), she decided to do some yoga to work off her Thanksgiving turkey belly. Having stretched and limbered up quite well. She proceeded to practice her handstands against a wall. All went well. She moved to another room, to give herself more space and so she could practice without a wall in front of her. So close to getting up on her own, she decided that she really needed more space in front of her, that way, if she toppled over forward, she could somersault and avoid injury. 

Up she kicked her legs, her hands pressed to the floor. Almost fully extended, she lost her balance and fell. Sideways. Into a doorway. As she lay curled up on the floor moaning, her husband walked in. "Are you napping?" No. Look at my shin. There's a piece of it on the wall. 

My leg. On the wall. It's a very sharp corner.

Another one. Added to the broken toe, you'd think I'd learn to settle down eh?

If you look closely at my right leg, you can see the indentation from my run- in with the Welsh Wall. I lost a good chunk of flesh that day. 

I just started a new book. It's called Little Bee. In it, the main character (Little Bee) says, "We must all see scars as beauty...A scar means I survived."

Granted in this case, I was just being stupid. Clearly our apartment is NOT big enough for handstands. But I thought that quote has a powerful message. And I've always been proud of my scars--they provide me with stories to tell. My scars prove to me that I have lived, and I have had some pretty amazing experiences. Sorry about the graphic images. 

Do you have any favorite scars?