Summer

Today is the last day of July and I can't help but think back and review my summer thus far and I must say I'm a little disappointed. This was my first summer in Provo Utah and I'd heard very good things about summer here. There are outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, biking, and water sports, shorter terms with easier classes, pools, and a more relaxed atmosphere. This was going to be my summer of BIKE. I got a bike in March and it was the love of my life until the chain fell off a few weeks ago. I was just casually taking it down the steps to go for an evening ride when the chain bounced off. I know that is the easiest thing to fix on a bike and I tried for a while but just ended up getting the chain caught around another part of the bike, getting my hands covered in greasy black stuff (I think it may have been that stuff from Spiderman 3 that makes you evil) and making it worse. So since then my summer of BIKE has been put on hold. My roommates and I have tried camping a few times but since the recent bear attack, every time we attempt a camping trip we ask ourselves, Is camping really fun enough to lose a whole night's sleep because we're afraid to fall asleep and then be awoken by an angry bear? I had very serious plans to float down the river and hike Mt. Timpanogos again but that hasn't happened. I would also like to go to Seven Peaks, a water park here in Provo and I haven't done that yet either. It hasn't been a total bust though. I was able to go to Vegas and see the sexiest concert of my life in the greatest venue I've ever been to. I made a road trip down to San Diego for some good quality California time and I was able to spend an entire week with my family. I have put in a good amount of pool time and I've read more non-school books this summer than all of my college years combined. The best part is, it's not over! I still have a whole month to accomplish my summer goals. I just think I need to re-evaluate and make a concrete list of things I must do before I'm a full-time student again. Here are the most important goals from my list:
1) Float the Provo River
2) Hike Mt Timpanogos
3) Go to Seven Peaks
4) Get my bike fixed and continue with Summer of BIKE (ride to Utah lake?)

More babies

I was hoping to express some of my creativity through my blog but I didn't realize the formatting on blogger was so limited. I can either have my pictures on the right side, the left side, or the center. I can chose the color and size of my font but I just believe my creative mind is being quelled by my limited options. I don't think I would go crazy and have psychadellic pictures and designs or anything but I do think I would enjoy a nice collage or small display of thumbnails or something. Maybe I've underestimated Blogger and there really is a plethora of design options. I will look into it. In the mean time, enjoy the pictures on the left side of the screen.

Sorry...

I am sorry for two things: 1) My previous very long descriptive blog about my almost-near-death experience. and 2) For posting endless pictures of my nephews, but if you have any you will understand.




Caleb's favorite game was throwing everything into the dirt around his high chair.

Stephanie couldn't stand not to give Caleb his bath, even on a two day camping trip...

Precious

I have returned to my temporary student home in Provo, Utah and it was no easy task. I was trying to think of times in my life when I have been scared. Not just sort of scared but really really scared and this is what I came up with:
1) Camping- I heard scratching outside of my tent and could not wake up my tentmates, the scratching was not made by something small.
2) Motorcycle- My dad took me for a ride up the Kern Canyon on his Honda CBR 1100 and the wind was blowing really hard. Some gusts were hard enough to push us into the next lane.
3) In Hawaii- I went shopping in Waikiki by myself at night and thought I had missed the last bus back to North Shore and a scary man was trying to get me to come home with him.
But none of those events compare to the level of fear I had last night on the plane coming home. The pilot announced we would begin our descent shortly and that it was currently raining in Salt Lake. Then as we got nearer to the airport, the plane shifted directions and the pilot announced we were in a holding pattern and could not land because they had closed the airport to all incoming flights due to weather. I will compare my levels of fear with the levels in the Homeland Security Advisory System. In normal everyday life I am at a green, or low fear level. In potentially dangerous everyday situations such as driving in heavy traffic or snow I would be at a blue level, or guarded level of fear. In situations that are notorious for fear such as flying or rock climbing, the default level of fear would be yellow or elevated fear. At this point of the flight, I believe every passengers level of fear jumped to orange, or high fear. As we began to circle, the weather that was causing our delay became visible out of our plane window. We were circling an enormous electrical storm. Flashes of lightning were almost nonstop and every one was clearly visible. Of course my mind started to play the worst-case scenario game and I was sure one of those bolts would strike our plane and we would be vaporized or the fuel tanks would explode but the kind lady next to me, who seemed fearless, sensed my terror and began talking to me about her daughters and the drama of buying her youngest daughter a new wet suit for her birthday and her oldest daughter changing majors 4 times and her other daughter learning Spanish while doing research in Costa Rica and Spain. Her endless chatter was helping a little but all I could think of was that I still haven't surfed a short board, been to Costa Rica or Spain, learned Spanish, or finished my major. So after 45 minutes of circling the ginormous cloud o' lightning, the pilot announces that the tower is going to send a plane down to see if it can get through the weather....and that plane is gonna be us. Those were his exact words. Our level of fear was now at red, or severe fear. Why couldn't he have just said, Well, it looks like the weather has cleared over our landing zone and we'll just have to get through some bumps as we hit the tail end of the storm or something?? The descent back to earth was beyond scary descriptions and everyone clapped when we touched down. Anyways, we landed and I'm alive. I came home and wiki'd lightning and airplanes and found out that every plane gets struck by lightning at least once every year and all planes have lightning protection on them so that the electricity doesn't affect the instruments or fuel tanks. The biggest risk to an airplane in a thunder storm are the wind pockets it creates which can throw a plane out of control. huh. I'm pretty sure this is what happened to our plane: http://s.freissinet.free.fr/videos/foudre.gif

I am Blog

I decided that I needed more internet in my life and since I have recently decided that most other forms of Internet networking (myface...spacebook... whatever) allow myself and others to delve too deeply into the lives of its users, I have chosen to create a blog that will, instead of stalkerish behavior, allow a view of my life- through my eyes. That being said it is the perfect time to recount events in my life because I have just spent a week in my hometown of Bakersfield, California with my family. We camped, ate, and um... ate. (I've decided that when I come home, I usually end up catching up on things I don't get to do very well in Provo, Utah: Eat and Sleep.) I was supposed to fly back to Provo today but as I was packing, my sister-in-law was mentioning all the things we didn't get to do while I was here (pedicures, thrift store shopping, etc.) and we were all wishing I could stay just one more day...so I called the airline and my boss and told them both I needed one more day with my family and the arrangements were made. Anywho, here I am. Still in Bakersfield California and I feel like I am on borrowed time and every moment is precious and I have to make the most of it. Tonight my mom, sister and brother and their spouses and children all went to Dewars, the old fashioned ice cream parlor that is famous for its candy chews and ice milk. Each moment was like a Kodak commercial and I felt like I couldn't keep up.