Mary

This is one of the girls in my ward showing me why dancing is not gay.

My dad is the coolest

After spending the last 4 days in bed, sipping soup, drinking lots of fluids and getting rest (all the while looking for and applying for jobs online)...I ventured outside today. I went to get the mail and discovered a package from my father. On the inside was a note proclaiming "Happy Father's day!" "Instead of you trying to figure out something to get for me, I thought I would turn things around and get something for you." Then I looked in the box. This is what I got.

Woohoo - No more throw away cameras! My dad is the bestest Dad in the whole wide world.

(picture taken with my new digital camera)

Me

These are some pics that people have been taking of me.

My Trip to Boise

On Thursday I drove out to Boise for a friend's wedding. I've known JM since she was 2, so it was a really good experience to watch her get married. Even though her parents don't, I got a really good feeling from DC. I'm really happy for them. I ended up staying longer in Boise, though because I didn't want to go back to Rexburg.
On Friday I went to the zoo with JM's mom and siblings. It was a lot of fun. It's been a long time since I've had 17 nieces and nephews calling me Uncle Sean.
On Friday night I helped NH & VM change out all the outlets in the house (my father taught how to do this in Chad's house last year). It felt good to know more than VM and to have better tools than him. That night we went to a water park. I got some good pics there - especially of Johnny.
Also next to the water park was a field filled flags.
On Saturday, I went shopping and went out to shoot pictures. That night I went shopping with MH (formally MM) and CM (I bought a hat). After shopping I got to watch the illusionist for the first time.


I have to say, one of the coolest things about this mini-vacation was that every night, as they were putting the kids to bed, I got to go on a 30 minute bike ride (so that I wouldn't be a distraction to the calming down and sleeping process). It was so nice to go riding every night.

Spring break & My trip to Provo

I've been pretty busy lately.

Spring Break
For the second week of April I went home to Cali. On the first day I went to a friend of mine's place to help her weed her garden. It was a garden I helped put in several years ago and it felt nice to get back into it.
Then on Tuesday, I took John and we went to City Beach and went rock climbing. There were five automatic belays and then a whole bunch that weren't automatic. I was able to climb 4 of the 5 without any problems. The fifth inverted about half way up and I struggled climbing upside down. There were these little kids that could do it without any problem. That was annoying. But John and I had a really good time. I think once I graduate I'll get into that a lot more often.
On Wednesday I went to an A's game with my father. We got some really good seats and watched the game. We were late, so we missed the first inning when the A's scored three points. Then the game went 6 innings scoreless. Then in the last two, the Chicago Whitesox scored 8 points. It was really sad to watch, but my dad and I had a good time anyway.
On Thursday, I went to see my friend at work. She works for Panera as the head pastry chef. We have a tradition of always having breakfast when I come to town. After breakfast I went and got new tires for my truck. I was very grateful for that purchase. While I was there, my dad came buy and bought me supplies for this semester. I got a lot of food and a lot of juice. I love it.
On Friday I packed, up so I could spend the night in the North Bay with John. We had dinner at H's place and had a basically fun night.
On Saturday and Sunday I drove home.
It was a great trip

Provo
For Memorial Day weekend, I went down to Provo to see Dun & Gu. I drove down Friday night arriving about 9pm. I met up with a friend from Boise (SD) and we went to dinner at this great Mexican place. I eventually got over to Dun & Gu's and we stayed up late talking. On Saturday mid-morning we got up and went to a Brazilian restaurant called Tucanos. The basis of the place is that you can have all the salad you want. As you sit and eat you can put up a green flag or a red flag. If your green flag is up, you are in "need" of meat. A server walks around from table to table with skewers of beef, chicken, breaded zucchini, breaded squash and various other rotisserie goodies. The server asks if you want any. If you do, the server uses his/her machete and cuts you off some. It was awesome.
To walk off the feast, Gu suggested we go up to Bridal Veil Falls. There was this great bike path there and these beautiful falls. We enjoyed the falls and the path. While on the path, Gu found these caterpillars.
After Bridal Veils, we went up to Heber to find a place called "Granny's Drive - In" where supposedly, the best milk shakes in Utah were made. It was great.
After we got home we porch sat and watched birds eat worms. I took a nap. We then went on a bike ride through Springville. About 1/2 way through our ride we came upon this mini-natural preserve. Some guy with lots of money has purchased a whole bunch of random animals and just has them there living. Everything from llamas and ostriches to reindeer and kangaroos. it was really random.
On Sunday, I went to a BYU singles ward with SD. Then I went back to SD's place to play games and hang out until dinner. For about two years now, I've been going down to Provo and dividing my time between SD and Dun & GU. Finally, they met for dinner, poker, and hearts. It was great fun.
On Monday I went to this inspiring memorial service put on by Gu's family. (Sorry, but I don't have any pics from that...). It touched me very deeply. I really enjoyed it, as an outsider. It was great to be an observer there.

So yea, those were my two trips. I'll update my Boise trip once I get the film developed.

Squirels

So I don't think there is any one local that reads this, so I'm pretty safe in writing this.

Today I came home from my internship to find out the power was out. RR told me that he heard a loud pop and that the power went out. I was kind of curious if it was a transformer (I once saw one of those explode in Oakland). So RR, TN, & DA went outside to check. Lying next to an electrical pole is a very fried squirell. Up on the top of the pole is a little converter thing with a patch of hair attached to it. I think I know how we lost the power.

Now anyone else would have just went "oh how sad" and walked away. Nope. Not my roommates. One of them immeadately grabbed a piece of newspaper and grabbed the carcus by the tail and took it in to the apartments above. (I refused to go, but I sent my camera along.)

about three hours later, DA went up to the guys in that apartment to remind them of the football game tonight (that I'm not playing in because I just barely healed from the last one). DA asked them about the squirell sitting in their trash. MR responded that they just found it there. They think that the animal crwaled in through a window, ate something and died. (And I thought my roommates were horrible cooks) When they through out the trash, one of my roommates grabbed the dead squirell and took it to another's place to leave it there as well.

I love living with my roommates. They make life so interesting.

On a different note, it snowed for 6 hours today. I hope the weather is better where ever you are.

Life Lists and a little OCD at the same time

My sister wrote a blog today about her life long list. (she was stealing from someone else for hers) This is the list you have of things you want to do before you die.

I'll admit that I have a pretty detailed list as to what I want out of life. I organized it as a "Stay In School" list. It is no secret that I hate being in school, but at times I need reasons to stay here. For example "If you don't get degree, you can't have this...."

There are six areas on my list (like I said - OCD): Involved in, Education, Travel, To Learn, To Have and To Be.

Just a sample for you:
To Have
Family (including a wife, 2-4 children, & a dog)
House (Garden, garage, home entertainment center)
Transportation (Truck, Subaru, Trailer)

Travel
Domestic (Disneyland, Vegas, Enchanted Highway, East Coast including Virgina and DC)
Foreign (New Zealand, Ireland, Russia, Canada & China)

To Learn
Cello
ASL
Photography
Woodworking
Welding
Quilts
Stars
Oceans

Like I said, it is a pretty comprehensive list. There is more to it but that's a good portion.