Birthday Bowling

My friend Christie recently had a birthday and I recently purchased a groupon for cheap bowling, so we combined those two events and had a party. She, her boyfriend Bart, Ron, our friend Aaron, and I went to dinner first, then went bowling.

I have to say - I wowed everyone with my skills. I think Christie's exact words were, "How are you so good?" I almost won the first game - that's my 118 at the top - but Ron pulled out a strike in the last frame and beat me. As soon as we started the second game, though, they learned the real truth: I'm completely inconsistent. I had 1 point for the first two frames. I managed to pull out a respectable 92 and 95 for the second and third games, but my reputation as a fine bowler has forever been tarnished.

Independence

The Fourth of July was the first day last week that I really had somewhere to go. My brother and sister-in-law had a cookout and party at their house, which I hit up first. They set up a slip-n-slide in the backyard. Nalon and Holden were all over that.



I left that party to go to the YSA cookout at my friend Crystal's. We had more food and played some very messy sand volleyball. It had rained right before we played, so the sand stuck to everything - ball, skin, and clothes. Afterwards, we went downtown to watch the fireworks, which if I must say, were a bit lackluster for my taste. I've seen some much better shows in Utah - they know how to do fireworks and they do them all summer long!

Ron took a picture for us, though he had to take a picture of himself first. I'm not sure why he thinks that face is attractive.

We came unprepared without chairs, but the ground wasn't too hard. Crystal and I made new friends with Carolyn and Rebecca. They were new to me, at least. Maybe they moved in while I was gone.

The next morning, Tessa and the kids packed up the van and left for Myrtle Beach, SC. While I could definitely get behind the idea of being at the beach for a week, I was not jealous of them having to be in the car for twelve hours, especially when that trip includes kids. I love those kids for sure, but I'm not about to sign up to spend a full day trapped in a car with them.

And just for good measure, here's my most recent favorite quote on the subject of independence:

"In fact, independence, real freedom, is best exhibited and experienced by always choosing the right." -Elder Keith K. Hilbig

I know I have felt strongest and the most free when I have done what I know is right, even when it was hard or unpopular. I'm grateful for the inspired founders of our nation who gave me the right to follow my conscience and the selfless soldiers who allow me to keep it.



Back Home Again in Indiana

I've been home for a little over a week now, and I've done a whole lot of nothing. It's been hard to get myself back on Indiana time - I've had lots of late nights and late mornings, and I haven't been very motivated to get going on that school planning I have to do. I don't think I left my house for about three days last week. 

 

It's been really rainy, which is in sharp contrast to the drought we were going through last summer. I love summer thunderstorms in Indiana.

 

These friends have made being home much more fun. 



This cracked me up. I was sitting outside enjoying the nice weather, and she told me she wanted some peanut butter crackers. I told her to go inside and get the crackers, peanut butter, and a knife.  A few minutes later she showed up at the door like this, whining "I can't open the door!" She had been very dutiful in getting everything I told her to. I just forgot that her hands are a bit small...

Utah Trip: Part 5 - The Train and The Van

I wanted to spend some more time with Jaime's family and my friend Whitney up near Ogden, and my parents were staying down in Provo so I hopped on the Frontrunner train one afternoon and rode up to the Roy station. For not being that big of a city, Salt Lake has a pretty great public transit system - a train that runs all over Salt Lake City, including to the airport, plus one that runs from Provo all the way up to Ogden (about 80 miles). That's in addition to the bus system, which I haven't ever taken. They've definitely made it easy to get pretty much anywhere you want to go along the Wasatch Front, which is awesome when traveling without a car.

 

The Frontrunner is a really nice train - tables, power outlets, bathrooms, air conditioning - and I couldn't help but compare it to the trains I became so familiar with while serving my mission in Argentina - no air conditioning or heat and usually full to the point of bursting. I can remember more than one time riding the train while shoved up against strangers without the ability to even move my arms. Even worse, if you ended up in the car for bikes, there were barely any windows and plenty of smoke to go around. Still, I loved it. I miss it, actually. I love the sound of trains, and the activity that surrounds them. I wish Indiana had a train.

 

I had a whole four-seat section to myself on this train. Not too many commuters at 3 pm, I guess.

When I got to the Zogmaisters, we had dinner, I went to see Joey and Michelle's new house that they're remodeling, I went to meet Vennesa's new baby, and we just hung out with my second-favorite group of kids in the world. I love all of Michelle and Joey's kids, but for some reason I especially love Haizyn. When she was born, I was going through a hard time - I actually don't even remember what was going on - but I remember going up to Jaime's house to visit her family while she was in Wyoming and I would just hold Haizyn forever. She was tiny then, and I would hold her for hours. I don't usually love newborns because I think they're kind of boring, but this baby was therapeutic for me. Holding her made me feel better. Since then, I just love being around her. She's had a huge personality from the time she was a baby, and now three years later she still makes me laugh.

I had fun playing with the other kids, too. Taigon recently turned six and he got a baseball and bat for his birthday, so after him asking for a while, I finally went outside with him to play. Maizic was our catcher and Haizyn, in her princess dress, was our "outfielder," which means she ran to get the ball wherever Taigon hit it. It was a little bit tough playing in the dark, but we had fun and no one got hurt.

The next day I spent the afternoon with my friend Whitney. She's getting married in a couple of months and only gets one day off during the week, so I told her I'd run any errands with her that she needed to. We went to pick out fabric or a quilt, bought some stuff for her dad, and did part of her wedding registry at Target. It was actually a lot of fun, and I learned some things for when I have to register someday: Look around before you start scanning stuff, and don't take your husband with you for most of it. We did the kitchen and bathroom and she kept saying how glad she was that her fiancé wasn't there because he would be so bored and would be rushing her. It also made it easier for her to pick out what she liked. :)

That night my parents picked me up and we went to Logan to spend the night before picking Micah up from EFY and starting on our trip home. We drove by Bear Lake again and stopped for more pictures. I just think water is naturally gorgeous, and the mountains surrounding it definitely increase the beauty.

I don't think my dad was ready for the silliness and goofiness that prevails when surrounded by just girls. I convinced my family to drive home through Kansas so I could check it off my list of states, but I don't think my dad was as excited to make all the stops that we wanted to.

 

This van is so huge, which makes it a bear to drive (and clean) but is really nice when you want to stretch out and take a nap.



I was expecting a lot of nothing in Kansas, but the eastern part was actually really pretty - lots of hills and trees. Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri were both really pretty and the skyline was up on a hill which made it stand out even more. We also stopped in Independence, Missouri, where we visited the Church's visitor's center there, which is right across the street from the Community of Christ's temple. Isn't that a cool building? It reminds me of an oil can.

Our second day of driving was my mom's birthday. We went to the store the night before to get food for the trip so we wouldn't have to stop on a Sunday. We got stuff for sandwiches, but I wanted to get a treat for her, too. She doesn't like most store-bought stuff, though, so we settled on a small cheesecake sampler, and it was actually really good! She's such a good sport - driving across the country on a Sunday while my dad starts to get cranky doesn't sound like my idea of a great birthday, but she stayed in high spirits the whole day.

We had to drive through St. Louis anyway, but we made a short detour to drop a bit south to see the St. Louis temple and the Gateway Arch (this was the part my dad wasn't too excited about). It rained most of the time we were there, but that helped us keep our visit short.

  

We made it home late Sunday night after being gone for two straight weeks. I was happy to be in my own bed and not have to live our of a suitcase. I was also really excited to see my little munchkin friends that I live with. I still miss Utah, though, and it was hard to leave. I feel like I have two homes - when I'm there, I want to stay there, but when I'm here in Indiana I want to stay here. There are things and people that I love in both places and I wish I could just have them all in the same place. It was a little easier to leave knowing that I'd be back in just a couple months for two weddings!

Utah Trip: Part 4 - Four-wheeling, Farms, and Suntans

My parents drove Micah up to Logan one day for EFY, and I didn't really think that sounded like much fun, so I contacted my friend Jayne to see if I could hang out with her for a while. She and I were talking, and I think we've seen each other a total of like 6 different instances, but I still feel like she's a really close friend. Probably because one of those instances was a two-week-long trip to Guatemala, during which we had many bonding experiences. This time around, I visited her in Morgan, Utah, and we went four-wheeling in the mountains close to her house. She let me drive the whole time, which I'm not sure was the best idea, but we made it back alive and it made it easy for her to tell me all about her four-month-long trip through Central and South America with her husband. We had a lot of fun, and I think the views speak for themselves.

While we were riding, I kept looking out over the gorgeous mountains and valley, and I couldn't stop thinking how lucky I was to be able to see things like this. Not like I would classify visiting Utah as "seeing the world," but I have seen a lot of the world, the mountains of Utah included, and that's not something everyone gets to do. I've seen towering, majestic mountains; powerful, sprawling oceans; vibrant, lush rainforests; and serene, green prairies. I've experienced many cultures, walked in ancient structures, spoken different languages, eaten a variety of foods, and met people from every inhabitable continent. I'm only 27 years-old, and there's a lot missing from my life that I desperately yearn for, but I have lived a very full and interesting life. I'm grateful for that. 

Next on my list of people-to-see in Utah were my friends Andrea and Chrissi, who I've been friends with since childhood in Indiana. Most of the girls I grew up with in church now live out west, so it's strange to make it a point to see "friends from home" while I'm very far from home. We had Café Rio, chatted, and played with little ones (I usually had whichever one wasn't crying).

That night, I went up to Wallsburg (right up Provo Canyon here) with my friend Angela and her fiancé Tanner for their engagement photos. My job was to make sure Angela's smile didn't look fake.  They're a beautiful couple so it wasn't hard to get gorgeous photos. I snapped a few pictures with my phone so Ang would have an idea of what they'd look like.

At one point, they trekked through a field down to a riverbed. No one informed me we'd be off-roading, so I was wearing shorts and sandals - not ideal attire for walking through tall grass and weeds. I hung out up by the barn and took some pictures of the mountains instead. I love Indiana's green trees and vast skies, but man, Utah is gorgeous.

The next day I met my friend Allie Weathers at Seven Peaks Water Park in Provo. Several members of my extended family came, too, but I'd already seen them so I spent most of my day with Allie. She's the only person from my last ward in Provo that I still keep in touch with regularly. If you could call talking on the phone one time since I moved as regular...

 

She had to leave a bit early, so after she was gone I spent my time racing Spencer and VoNique on the side-by-side slide. I won until Spencer figured out how to push himself off. My winning streak was short-lived. 

Utah Trip: Part 3 - The Reunion



Our main reason for going to Utah this summer was for the Green Family Reunion - my mom's side. We get together every three years, and it's lately been in Utah since the largest majority of the family is concentrated there. It worked out well for me when I lived in Utah because I didn't have to travel, and this year it worked out well for me because I was able to visit other friends in Utah, too!

 

We had our reunion at Bear Lake in northern Utah, and even though it wasn't quite warm enough for lake activities, the view was gorgeous. I went on a walk/run each morning that we were there, and the scenery definitely made it worth it. 

We had this giant house to ourselves, which worked out really well because everyone was able to have their own space to retreat to (each room had a bathroom), but there was plenty of common space, a huge kitchen, a pool and hot tub, and a volleyball court. It was definitely the best place we've found so far. Unfortunately, Micah and I are single so we don't merit our own room. So rather than share a room with lots of little girls, we opted for trundle beds in a giant utility closet. It really wasn't too bad, except that there was no air so it got kinda stuffy at night. And yes, I do make my bed even when it's in a closet.

 

We had a talent show night, which ended up being really fun. Micah and I sang a song while my mom played, then I played and sang a song, and Dominika performed a song that also told the story of how she and Isaac met. This was her first time meeting most of my mom's family, so that was really fun for everyone to hear. Isaac and Thomas also showed some pictures from some projects they'd been working on.

Afterwards, everyone went to the kitchen for some snacks - which were mostly just leftovers from previous meals (which were all delicious. We seriously ate well.) Isaac wanted some Rice Krispies, but none of the bowls were big enough to fit his needs, so he just busted out a mixing bowl.

There was lots of playing the whole time - we had a ping pong tournament, we played dozens of games of volleyball, card games, board games...and everyone loved playing with the cutest 2 year-old at the party - Malcolm. Dominika also brought some props for a picture booth, which worked for planned and unplanned pictures.

We took pictures the last night we were all there. Since we were about to drop Thomas off at BYU to start school and football, we did a BYU theme for our immediate family.

Here's the whole clan that was there. We were missing a few people, but we really did have a big majority of the family! I'm really grateful to come from big families on both sides.

Holden had his 7th birthday while we were there, so we sang to him, gave him presents, and Isaac made Mississippi Mud Cake and Dominika made cupcakes.

On our way down into the valley from Bear Lake, we stopped to go to church at a random ward in Perry, then went to my friends the Zogmaisters' house for lunch. The Zogmaisters were my surrogate family while I lived in Utah, and I still feel so close to them. It was really fun for me to have my two families meet and spend time together. My dad's a great grandpa, even to kids who are not his grandkids - like Maijer.

That night we all gathered in Bountiful to have one final picnic meal that my Grandma Carole could also attend (she wasn't able to make the trip up to the lake). It was also Thomas' last night before school started. He rode down to Provo with VoNique and Jared, while my parents took Micah up to Logan for EFY, so it was Micah's last time seeing Thomas before we left to come home. Thomas gives her a hard time, but they really do get along pretty well, and I know she'll miss him a lot at home. She had a hard time saying goodbye. :)