a WICKED good time

Last night, Luke, Leslie, and I went to Lagoon to ride some of the rides because we now all have season passes and a)I've never been to Lagoon or any amusement park for that matter, and b) we need to get our money's worth. Well, considering I didn't technically PAY for the pass, per say, I would say that just going would count as getting my money's worth! Anyhow, it was so much fun. I totally love Lagoon now and am going to go every single night...well maybe NOT QUITE that much but I definitely am planning on going again....tonight actually! lol To sum up the whole night in one word would be "wicked!" Luke was trying to decide all night whether to make me go on WICKED first and then all the other rides wouldn't seem so scary or to save it to the very end so that I didn't think all the other rides weren't so scary....a catch 22. I was totally at their disposal so they decided to save the best for last....or second to last I guess (we hit up the Colasses last). I thought all the rides were terrifying until I went on Wicked. I don't think that I have ever been so scared in my life, well except for when i went bungee jumping. The whole ride is like 10 seconds long but seems like 10 minutes. It was awesome. Luke and Leslie wouldn't even let me look at the ride before I got on it. They found out how ticklish I am and used that as the way to keep me from looking. Everytime I snuck a look, they tickled me. Anyhow, I am DYING to go back and ride Wicked tonight. That is one ride well worth the long line. I may even be brave enough to put my hands up on the old rickedy white rollercoaster now. Everyone needs to go check out Wicked at lagoon. Love it. Lagoon is such a fun place. I have to go see how great Lagoon-A-Beach is now too. I love having a season's pass--there is no pressure to wait in long lines or ride EVERYTHING in one night because you know you can go back anytime. Like last night, we decided to go home even though it was open for another 15 mins because we didn't feel like waiting in line and knew that we were coming back tomorrow. If you're ever planning on going to Lagoon, let me know-- I'm going to be an expert in no time.

This is a picture of Wicked...Yep it is completely vertical and not a clever photo angle!

Backstreet's BACK...alright?!?

Today is a good day. yesterday I wrote that gay post for 4 hours because I was actually BUSY at work so it took forever to finish. Then after all that work, I go to publish the post and it says "we're sorry, the blogging site is temporarily not responding!" I was so mad that I vowed to never post again because the post was lost somewhere out in cyberspace. You can not spend as much time as I did on a stupid, not even cute post, and have it delete on you just like that. Well today is a new day. I signed on and my gay little post had been saved as a draft and I just got to bring it up. Happy day. So due to the fact that I am in such a good mood now, I thought that I would write ANOTHER post. Two in one week. Ahhhh...I'm turning into a loser.

And since I have nothing exciting to write about now, I will write about nothing other than the Backstreet Boys. You heard me, Backstreet's back, alright! On Saturday I went up Mills Creek Canyon for a little bonfire and smores with random people from the ward and ended up driving back with Steve. He has some great "classic" music that always makes me laugh...and reminds me of being 14 again and being obsessed with Britney Spears. Anyhow, point being, he asked me what I wanted to listen to and I told him to surpirse me. He's like "alright, I'll play my new favorite song for you." He puts in his CD and it turns out that this "new favorite" was none other than Backstreet's Boys--Backstreet's back!! I about died. Of course I know every single word by heart so we had a good time singing along with the lyrics and it was a proud moment for me. I'm sorry but everyone loves Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and N'Sync. It has got to be one of those secret guilty pleasures that everyone has but nobody wants to admit. Another one for me is the Olsen twins movies....ummm.....Billboard Dad much? And I'm proud to admit that Backstreet boys was the first CD that I ever bought. In fact I only own 5 CDS total-Backstreet boys, N'Sync, Britney Spears, Five, and 98 Degrees! How embarrassing is that. I stopped buying CD's once boy bands weren't cool anymore. BSB or bust.

Peanuts are People Too

Hey there all of you Peanutty People out there. In case you've never heard, Peanuts are People too! In honor of a great friend (actually my bestest friend), a great day, and great dessert(s), I wrote a little ode I like to call "Peanuts are Piggy too" to commemorate the blessed event. Ames, you're the best.

Peanuts are Piggy too...

What to do on a sunny Monday afternoon?
Should we go to work, go to school, or go to Lagoon?
Nah, let's ditch all real life and just play,
at the hotel El Clubo we will stay!

The guest list will only include,
A cute peanut, piggy pig, and lots of food.
Hey, it's out party so we get to decide,
We can not be disturbed when we hide!

What to eat when we are so starved?
Sandwiches, potatoes, or maybe a turkey carved?
N0!, our motto is "does it have sugar in it?
Then YES! Hey, our stomachs are a pit!


Several pies, icecream, and PB balls later,
We love sugar, don't be a hater.
We felt much happier and could finally "relax"
what to do next you will ask?


Well we decided to get a little fresh air,
On toTemple Square, just Amy and Claire,
We looked at the beautiful flowers in the gardens,
And said hi to the sister missionaries by the thousands.


We staggered back to home to watch Fool's Gold,
"the stupidest movie", or so we were told.
It turns out that the movie is legit,
Too legit, too legit to quit.

Amy had to run home right after that,
I guess it was okay because we were already fat,
with treats and laughter, what a perfect day,
I love you my peanutty pie, what more can I say!


Peanuts can be piggies it turns out,
But can Piggies be peanuts? I dont know 'bout...
that!





Thanks Peanut for finally coming to play,
and to all a goodnight, and a good day!

I LOVE YOU!
It's true.


Wow, that has got to be the gayest poem/ode that I have ever wrote before (and trust me THAT is saying something), but what can I say? Amy you inspire the best in me! ha ha Let's get together again soon...you know maybe sometime before you have little Nicky! that would be fun. You look so great. Thanks for being you. Miss you tons and tons already!

Snow Cones on Steroids

Tonight was so fun, can I just tell you!? For FHE we did this special Stake activitiy where we went to visit random old people around Salt Lake that were in need of some assistance or who were lonely or just wanted some company. The theme of the activity was FEED MY SHEEP. I was a little nervous about going because I have never been on a mission, never had a desire to go on a mission, and will never go on a mission (until i'm like 90 years old and I make my husband do all the work--even then I'm only going to either Heber Valley Camp or Hawaii), but once again it was so much better than I could have ever imagined. Angel was our team leader and boy did she ever lead the team! We met this 77 year old (young at heart for sure) lady that was so cute and so welcoming and so much fun. We played random songs ranging from "I am a child of God" to "Hey there Delliah" to The Red Hot Chili Peppers to "I love to see the Temple."Hey, whatever works. She had 2 of her granddaughters there too who are not members and it was so neat to realize what a testimony they have even though they don't think they do. Amy, the older girl, said that she always goes to Temple Square whenever she just needs to be alone and pray. I thought that it was so neat. Such cute girls. I loved everything about the activity. Man the ward and stake has been so great about reaching out to those in need. I love it.

After the activity, some of the people from the ward decided to go get what Courtney calls "Snowcones on Steroids" from a place called SnowOasis or something similar to that. This little Snowcone place is just some random shack in the back of a Dan's IGA place out in the middle of nowhere. These are special snow cones because they add like cream or something to them and have random cool names so they are extra cool. I got the Godzilla snowcone. I was a little nervous about venturing away from purple snowcone because that's my favorite....cherry good too but not as much a favorite (Brian Reagan anyone??), but it was dang good. Nothing says summertime like a good snowcone. The only bad thing about the night was that Kiely's car ate her key and it was stuck in the door, unable to budge. It was actually so bizarre because I have never seen a key get stuck in a door when you are trying to lock it--it was almost like the key was a super strong magnet. After much effort to get the cute little yellow bug opened, we had to abandon her car at Dans. I just feel bad because I don't think that Kiely even wanted to go in the first place but hopefully they will be able to fix it tomorrow. What is with everyone and their cars falling apart? My brakes are about to go out, Amy's car shakes uncontrollably at 50 MPH, Angel's car decided that it's going 100 miles an hour when you're actually going like 10, and the list continues...I guess these things happen together. Oh well, it was definitely worth the snowcone.

Volunteering is FUN

To apply to Grad school in Occupational Therapy requires a minimum of 50 volunteer hours with a certified OT. After first avoiding doing the hours and then having a bad attitude about it, I finally started volunteering my services at IHC Utah Valley Regional last week and am really loving it. I guess I finally found a job or calling in life that I would enjoy vs. just biding my time, watching the clock until I can escape from my job. I guess I mostly just love the patients and feeling like you are actually helping someone. I'm sorry but sitting at a computer all day starring mindlessly into space does NOT benefit society, yourself, or ANYONE!

My favorite patient is a guy named Doug. He is so optimistic and hardworking and FUNNY! He always teases me for working for free and it just makes working with him so much fun. I tell him that I only work for free so that I can see him every day. He asked me on Monday what La Quinta is spanish for? I told him that I had no clue and he quickly said, "It's spanish for next to Denny's!" ha ha so funny but SO TRUE! He's cute too because he's learning to walk again, 4 years later after having a stroke. I guess that they are trying out this new treatment on him that is way expensive but is working. He said that when he took his first step 3 days ago that he about cried....and then he said that his wife cried too because of the COST! ha ha He's amazing. I hope that I can have such a positive attitude if I'm ever stuck going to Rehab.

Another great patient is Chuck. He's so crazy but so fun. He actually got to go home on Monday with his family so I won't be seeing him anymore. My favorite thing about Chuck is that you have to watch him 24-7 or he will cheat at every activity. He HATES using his left hand (the affected side of his body) to do anything so he will start talking to you like crazy so that you will forget to watch him and he can switch sides on you. Nice try Chuck but you STILL have to do the exercises--even if you have to go back and redue everything. tricky guy.

We also got the funniest and sweetest new patient yesterday. He has the cutest laugh you will ever hear and thinks everything is hilarious. He just keeps saying "if you would have told me 5 days ago that I would be stuck doing little kid activities, I would have laughed in your face!" And then he starts laughing at himself because he has really poor coordination right now. I love him. Who would have known that I would LOVE working with old people. I have always been TERRIFIED of them before now. Everyone should volunteer..it's good fun.

And the hits just keep on coming

(Note: I was NOT smiling and enjoying the rain like this girl...nor did I have a rain jacket)

Wow, today has been the worst and funniest day of my life (less on the funny, more on the worst...)! So last week or so I got a flat tire and recruited Nathan to help me change the dang tire (okay, okay so I just watched while he did it for me!) and have been MEANING to take it to a tire shop to get the tire patched in case another tire were to go flat. But I have been really busy and don't get off work until after 5 and had all my belongings in my trunk so I wanted to wait until I had a place to live before getting the tire patched. Poor decision! And I was just thinking this morning, "Ok, i NEED to get that taken care of because what if some freak accident were to happen and I don't have a tire to put on my car?"

Well, the unexpected finally happened today! During my volunteer hours this morning I left to go get some coconut and evaporated milk so that some of the patients could practice cooking cakes today and noticed that my freakin tire had EXPLODED! I suspect foul play. Seriously the tire was BAD--unrepairable. It wasn't like the flat tire in my trunk that just had a slow leak; this tire was a complete goner. So I sorta panicked because I didn't know what to do because my only current option was to replace my flat tire with a FLAT tire. Umm....awesome. So I called my bestest friend Amy to come save the day. I was hoping to just borrow her spare tire and drive over to Big O Tires to get my "spare" repaired and then give her tire back to her. But then I quickly found out that huge JEEP tires do NOT fit on my tiny ghetto car! I'm sure the rest of you are not surprised by this, but being the untechinal and unmechanical person that I am, I had no clue. So Amy had to drive me over to Big O so that I could get a temporary donut in order to make it from IHC to Big O...the only problem was that they were fresh out of donut tires. I'm sorry, but shouldn't a shop that specializes in ONLY selling tires, i don't know, SELL TIRES?!?! The guy there rounded me up a used tire that he said I could borrow and bring back just to get my car over there. So I went BACK to IHC to change my tire (meanwhile it was pouring down rain so it was AWESOME!) and go inside to call security to come help me. And quickly found out that they apparently can not help people change tires but they did offer to blow up my flat tire enough to make it to a tire shop. See the only problem with THAT is that, like I mentioned earlier, my tire has EXPLODED. There was no way that a little air was going to miracuously get the tire to go anywhere. I then went BACK out in the pouring rain and played my damsel in distress card until this super nice guy offered to help me change the tire...or should I say attempt to change my tire. See, the guys at Big O actually gave me a tire that didn't fit my car. Poor guy was in a huge hurry too and in super nice clothing but was kneeling on the dirty ground and getting soaked from the rain. It was so embarrassing and I felt really bad.

After we realized that the tire was never going to fit, he drove me BACK over to Big O (starting to see a pattern yet??) so that they could help me. So me and some random employee there drive BACK to IHC to get my "spare" flat tire from the trunk, the exploded tire, and the tire I borrowed to see if they could at least patch one of them. They were able to patch the flat spare tire but the other tire apparently had a giganormous hole in it (how exactly that happens I'm not sure) so it had to be left behind. Then Mr. Big O drives me BACK for the last time to IHC, changes my tire, and I'm on my merry way. And the best part of all is that he didn't change me a DIME! I couldn't believe it...that is some serious customer service. I was terrified that my other tire would pop on the way back to work and I would be back in the same perdictament.

The whole thing was just embarrassing and frustrating. It was funny too because this other kid offered earlier to change my tire when I first went outside and noticed that it was flat. And I was like, "Umm....thanks that would be great, but the only problem is that my spare is flat too!" He looked at me like I was the biggest moron in the world. Actually I'm sure he was just thinking "typical girl!" Oh well, the moral of this story is when you get a flat take care of getting it patched or a new one ASAP. Do NOT wait until you have a flat tire to repair your flat tire! 2 flat tires does Not = a filled tire. I learned that one the hard way.

Not homeless anymore...

It's official!-I finally have a place to live and park my car. As fun as it was to have all of my life's belongings crammed into my tiny ghetto car riding everywhere with me for a month, I finally got to unpack that sucker and relocate my junk. So exciting!! Brandon and Melissa were nice enough to let me stay (and OVER stay) at their house until I could move into this place. Thanks guys, you're the best! So now I am a current resident of "The Club" condos in Salt Lake City. Don't you wish that you were apart of the "in" crowd? I tell you what! Sad, I am no longer a fellow Ptown-ite. It was a bit of a shock to the old system in the beginning but I am actually starting to like Red Land. Where has all the blue gone to? I still don't know how I feel about venturing out into Ute land but I'm starting to realize it's not as bad as I had thought. Things are definitely a lot different up in this neck of the woods, but a GOOD different. I was ready for a change and I didn't even know it. I will miss the Y and Provo because I have so many good memories from there but it is time to move forward. Things are definitely looking up now that I'm no longer homeless. It's amazing how much better you can feel after you have a clean (no thanks to the last tenant!) and nice place to call home. You should come check out my new pad....it's pretty sweet let me just tell you. I think the best part of the whole place is that I am less than 1 mile from work so I can ride my bike to work and don't have to pay those ridiculous gas prices. Yay for saving money! I need a scooter for Sundays and then I'd be all set.

Anyhow, thought you might like to know that I don't have to live out of my suitcase any longer. I miss that luxury queen bed in Melissa's basement already though, I tell you what! I wonder if they would notice that it was missing...hmmmm....

P.S. this is NOT a picture of my current home... I wish!