What Goes On

I just want to give props to my cronies, Julie and Sarah....they've been my go-to buddies for years now. We have a good time and usually just hang out, go eat, go on soda runs, and watch Grey's anatomy and the Office together. We do other stuff too on occasion, but these guys don't need to be accompanied by a party or activity. Its fun just to sit and talk and laugh...usually at the expense of Sarah. Hehe...I spend most of my "down time" with these two-


Me and Sarah

Julie, Me, Sarah

Ob-la-di Ob-la-da...life goes on

So a few of us got together to watch the BYU vs. Utah game. I'm not really sure if any of us really cared much about it. It was more a good reason to have a party and at least acknowledge the importance of the event. But I have to admit, it wasn't all that important to me. For the record, we all root for BYU. I'm not too sure that their loss had any effect on the mood of the party. Amy had ordered hot wings from Wingers, there was soda in abundance, and T.R. and I picked up a Papa John's pizza. So, all in all, it was a good time. Maybe next year, Cougars...



As you can see, getting a soda was more impotant than the play that is taking place ....priorities, man.
Contrary to what this picture depicts, this party was out of control with enthusiasm...ok, maybe not
Aaron (her fiance) and Julie

Dig It

So I have been wanting to respond to my sisters' emails, bloggings and general requests to share what sort of new music I've been into. Lately, I've been going to a lot of concerts with Julie and Sarah- small ones- and I've loved them all! First off my shultes, I highly recommend discovering Ray LaMontagne. I'm sure a few of you have heard his song off of the Last Kiss soundtrack. His newest album, Gossip in the Grain is amazing. I mostly listen to him these days. You at least have to love "Trouble", "Hold You in My Arms", "Shelter", "Let It Be Me", "I Still Care For You", "You are the Best Thing", and "A Falling Through". So there are some good ones to check out. We went to his concert a month ago and he's one of those guys that is somehow even better live- Love him. Also I went to Missy Higgins' concert. She's quite the little firecracker. I like her live better, but her recorded stuff is great too. My favorite from her is probably "River". We also just went to the Hotel Cafe tour which included the likes of Mieko, Thao, Kate Havenik, Emily Wells, Lenka, and (the reason why we went) the one and only Rachael Yamagata. And yes, it was awesome. So that's some newer stuff. As for what I've been listening to that's not so new but worth listening to-
"To Sheila"- Smashing Pumpkins, "My Lovely"- Eisley, "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and "House of Cards"- Radiohead, "A Call to Apathy"- The Shins, "Sweet Surrender" and "Answer"- Sarah McLachlan, and "Two"- Ryan Adams.....ok, That's enough for now.

There's a Place

Basically, you walk around this place with no pants...its very acceptable
lunch- and a bit of down time at our camp picnic table
Julie, first day in (not to camp yet) This was the first waterfall we saw
those guys up at the top are about to jump off into the water- fun stuff

There is a path in there somewhere, cause we crossed through this


Ok, so I know I've taken a "break" from the blog- but I'm back. I wanted to post about my Havasupai trip last month, but I haven't gotten a hold of Sarah's pictures yet. You see, my camera was stupid the whole time and for some reason takes blurry pics. So I am only posting a few of the ones that turned out (hardly any of me) and I will post more later. First off, this place was an absolute surprise! A little paradise hidden in the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We started hiking down around 4 or 5am. It took about 4 and a half hours. It wasn't too bad until the sun started coming up! Then it got a bit toasty with our packs on. Our party consisted of Julie, Sarah, and I...and two friends and a bunch of their friends joined us later at the bottom. Once we got there and set up our little camp (which consisted of two tarps- one on bottom, one on top, and a floaty raft for each of us) we got to take a nap. Aahh. Then, the rest from there was pretty much hiking, swimming, climbing- and occasionally eating. The whole place reminded me of somewhere you hope to find while playing in the backyard as a kid....the water was literally the color of Blue Hudini Kool aide, there were lizards everywhere, and all sorts of hidden paths and trails through jungle-like terrain. (Obviously, I was a tom boy as a kid.) I'll try to post more pics later- but the highlights of the trip were:
*Finding a cool water cave underneath a waterfall- ( kinda scary to swim to. Googles were a must)
*Hiking over an hour back into the "town" (the indian res) our third day there just to get some COLD sodas, and some crappy diner food- so worth it!
*Seeing the breathtaking waterfalls
*Playing card games one night- lots of bugs, lots of fun
*Spending all day 5 days with Julie and Sarah- lots of laughs
*Hiking out of the grand canyon the last day in...flip flops. Yup, my blisters were too bad for shoes. It was pretty comfy, and I was proud of my accomplishment.
*Hot warm weather- and basically being in water the whole time
*Huge rope swings


Some of the not-so-fun highlights:
*Getting cactus in my thigh...and not even noticing til the next day- gross.
*Nasty port a potties
*Somehow losing my balance and falling into the river we had to cross (multiple times a day) to get out of our camp- actually this was funny. I had just woken up and obviously didn't have my balance yet. I awkwardly lost my balance enough to fall in up to my neck- I got my clothes and my little backpack wet (annoying.) Sarah and Julie had a good laugh at it....the water is only about crotch-deep. I'm still baffled about how it happened.
*So many blisters and cuts on feet- my flip flops became my best friends
*Waking up SO sore from the day before's hikes that I couldn't straighten my legs for at least 5 minutes....only way to cure it- HIKE MORE

This trip was a lot of fun, and a lot of work- pretty physically demanding. Mostly cause we just went from place to place and never took a break. But it was all beautiful. I even think my mom would agree on that. (she's not a desert fan.) Overall, a way fun adventure. I felt like I needed a few days off work after hiking so much to recuperate- but of course, I started work six hours after arriving home.

I Want To Hold Your Hand

...Unfortunately, his hand was made of paper. Sean's best bud Will and Sarah got married last weekend. They're both in our ward and Sean played match maker and actually introduced them and set them up. Since Sean was to miss the wedding, Will got the idea to have a stand-up poster of Sean, so he could "be there." Of course it was nothing close to the real thing, but it was funny.

Will, Sarah, fake Sean, me, and Dustin-


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Come Together

So for the past two weeks I have been staying up way, way too late. (I won't say how late) My whole sleeping schedule is awful and I basically run off of very little sleep. Having said that, I also just recently dicovered my new favorite tv channel- Music in High Definition (MHD). This channel plays all sorts of concerts- Unplugged (artists do an acoustic concert), Storytellers (where the artist performs songs and then tell about writing them and answers audience questions) and my favorite, Crossroads (an unusual combination of two artists who do a concert together.) I wouldn't say that this is the reason I stay up late. But I tivo them so it gives me something to watch into the wee hours of the night. So for any of you out there with access to this channel- check it out!!!
Some of my favorites so far:

This is Robert Plant (Led Zep singer!) and Alison Krausse- amazing combo!
Maroon 5 and Sarah Evans (love her)
Little Big Town with Lindsey Buckingham-my other boyfriend
Dave Matthews Band storytellers- these guys are such incredible musicians...its mind blowing
Heart! These girls still rock! I'm going to their concert this summer!!!

I've also seen Lyle Lovette and Bonnie Raitt crossroads, and a suprisingly good Ricky Martin unplugged (all in spanish). I'm definitely on a music kick...but then again, I think I'm always on one

Can't Buy Me Love....

.....But maybe you CAN buy me some fun. I hope nobody is too offended by these pictures. This weekend I went to my best friend Tristin's reception party. She actually got married two months ago in the Salt Lake Temple (at bottom). Isn't her dress rad? But this weekend the ring ceremony and party was at the Canyons Resort in Park City. It was so much fun to actually stay there Fri. and Sat. night as a guest (Tris and I used to work there.) Us Bridesmaids and Tris all got a huge suite, massages and soaked in the hot tub. All this special treatment made me feel pretty spoiled. Sat. night was the ring ceremony (which was very nice and beautiful) and party. They had a 20 piece big band and a 30's/40's swing theme. There was even a little flapper girl with a tray full of candy cigarettes and bubble gum cigars with matchbooks that said "Tris and Brant". They had jazz singers and dancers too! I didn't take great pics cause I was too busy dancing all night. I'll post better ones when I get them. Needless to say, my feet are killing me- hours of dancing in 3 inch heels- It was such a bangin' party! I've never been at anything so decked out or fun! Thanks for the great weekend Tris and Brantley!



Mr. and Mrs. Eason...and the big band. Tris decided last minute on Friday night to go blonde- Marylin Monroe. Hayley was up all night dying her hair. It turned out great-

My dinner plate- yummy

Our friend Malcolm lighting up his bubble gum cigar....I admit, we all hammed it up all night



They made me pose like this- No worries Mom- its diet coke and a candy cigarette...I know, I'm a rebel! All night we felt like poor people at a really ritzy posh party (check out my resort robe.) After the party, Hayley, Trevor, Kace, Berrett and I snuck up to the hot tub on the roof (which closed at ten) and got kicked out by the polite security five minutes later.

But that didn't stop us from hot tubbin in our suite! We sure showed them! Trev, Barrett, Hayley and I...yes, four adults in a tub.


I'm an "honorary" sibling...

outside the temple...it was FREEZING!

If I Fell

I thought this was a pretty funny video- it seems that I always do crappy when I'm being recorded...but usually not THIS crappy. Just for your info, Shane, one of Sean's buddies is recording this...I never wear jeans slacklining- good thing I did this time.

Any Time At All

This is of Kayla me and Sean. We all went bowling with some of our friends. As much as I like having Sean all to myself, I really don't ever mind when Kayla's with us. We all have fun together and I'm pretty sure she never felt like a third wheel -she's too cool for that. And Sean and I aren't mushy in public. Well, this picture reminded me of the first week that Sean met Kayla when she was up here two Falls ago)...we were in Walmart looking for some Halloween costume props, and started horsing around. I just remember Sean putting Kayla in one of those huge rubbermaid bins and putting the lid on and walking away. Good times....

Getting Better

Kayla and I went slacklining this week and we learned some new stuff. If I can ever figure out how to get videos from my digital camera to my computer, I'll try to post them. We have a list of cool tricks we want to learn this summer- Yay for summer!


Kayla is working on doing a scorpion on the slack line!

this is me trying not to fall....

Fixing a Hole

So, a while back, we had this huge flood in the basement and had to pull up all the carpet and replace the padding. I guess there was some leak (thank goodness Kayla noticed before it got worse) from the upstairs kitchen sink that found its way through the ceiling and into my room and bathroom. Awesome. Sean and I did a lot of the clean up. My room looked pretty crappy during this project. Kayla was staying with us for a week too. It was fun to have her hang out at the house with us. As you can see, Sean was glad to have another person to tease. He kept knocking her down with huge pillows and tried to grab her shoulders with his ape feet. Ew!

All My Loving

So, its been seven days and counting. Sean entered the MTC last Wednesday. He got set apart Tuesday night. I was lucky enough to get to go to both of those events. I didn't even cry and I haven't cried since! I'm really proud of that. As much as my life is way different and it feels upside down without Sean here- it somehow feels right. So, here starts the mission. And I find that I have some time on my hands to finally start up this blog again! A big Hooray for Sean- and may he survive the MTC. By the way, he decided to strike that pose himself-

I'll Be Back

So I made it to Orem and I'm all moved in. It still feels like a visit except that all my stuff is here in my new room with me. Its been good to be back and to see some of my best friends. I do admit though, that it has been very hard for me to be so far away from my dear nephews and Eden. I am so glad I got to spend the past three months around them. They were my social life down there. I watched movies with them, ate with them and played with them. Naturally I have come to love the movies The Incredibles, Meet the Robinsons and The Backyardigans. I also love eating applesauce, fruit loops and those little Gerber nibblet things (baby snacks). Needless to say, I miss you Jonah, Eden, Levi and my old "roomie" Marcelus much more than I thought I would. This is a good thing though. It just means I'll have to visit them more than I used to when I lived out here before...