another vacation?

Q: What does an unemployed girl who is only taking 8 credits do with all her free time?

A: Take a bunch of trips, I guess.

I will be seeing all of the following this weekend:

Yes, that's correct, I will be going to Michigan to visit Heidizzle and Cameron. What makes this trip that much sweeter is that I will be adding 3 more major league ballparks to my list of those visited. We're going to a Tigers game in Detroit, a Blue Jays game in Toronto, and an Indians game in Cleveland. Nice. Anybody have any travel tips/recommendations for any of those cities?? Particularly Detroit?? Particularly if they involve delicious places to eat?

welcome back kotter

I know, I know, it's been far too long. BUT, if you'd been having as much fun as I've been having you wouldn't have blogged either. And after all, the best time to blog is when I should be doing homework, so now is the perfect time since I'm back in school! Where to start? Should I back date all of my summer material and do a bajillion blogs for all of my river and travel adventures? Or shall I just start from today going forward? You tell me blog readers, if anyone is even still reading this (you've probably all given up on me)... Anyways, for now, here is a random smattering of pics. These pretty much tell you all you need to know.

Ducky-ing the Daily with Monte & Emilie, Moab.

Having WAY too much fun w/ Grace at the Little Colorado River, Grand Canyon.

the loneliest little century plant in all of Grand Canyon

My favorite new pretty unnamed beach Grand Canyon mile 140ish?

Being dorky at Havasu Creek, Grand Canyon

View from the Dollhouse, Cataract Canyon, UT

Quick back-cooler snack on the S-rig (yes, fried chicken)

Rope swing in Moab

Nankoweep Granaries, Grand Canyon

Camera Obscura

No, I don't have too much time on my hands, but I am at a loss for bloggable info, so instead, I'm going to do what I do best: take something seemingly mundane, and transform it into an incredibly fascinating read, based solely on my cleverness and humor. Todays' topic: my broken camera. Apparently my little 3.2 megapixel Canon has come to the end of its road. One too many accidental baptisms in the Colorado River, far too many drops onto sandstone/granite/concrete, infinite grains of dirt/sand trapped in the innards of the zooming gears, near-theft from Guatemalan hooligans, and lots of precarious balancing on tree branches in order to obtain awesome self portraits have finally deemed it not functional. I desperately want this new one but alas, I will have to wait for my first big paycheck. I began having troubles a few months back and was able to pinpoint the issues to these five:

Issue #1: Unintentional sepia tone. Yes, although it's nice to play around with fun color schemes and developments, it is not fun when you were merely trying to take a simple best friends portrait, such as this one of the Mom, and "Crazy Analisa." Wow, these two are inseparable!

Issue #2: 1992 TV view. While I was trying to photo-document my first (and greatly anticipated) visit to Mad Greek Restaurant in lovely Baker, CA, I came across this issue. Apparently, the shot is skewed to appear as if it were being broadcast on a television in the early 90's.

Issue #3: the all-too-common line through the middle.

Issue #4: Anime feature. Yes, you too can achieve the cool look of Japanese cartoon animation. This is my personal fave: Anime Camille eating popcorn in Maple Canyon.

Issue #5: Creepy white spots. Wasn't there some awful recent horror movie that showcased ghosts being captured in photos?? Anyways, here I am getting spooked at the Getty Villa Museum in October.

Happy Earth Day!

I hope you each get outside today to enjoy the beauty of our world! Enjoy this random spattering of beautiful earth shots!

Sundance, UT

Joshua Tree NP

Point Reyes waterfall

Zion NP

Stuart Falls, UT

Ode to the Mom

Right now my dear mother is "stuck" in Munich, Germany due to an Icelandic Volcano... Poor lady. What better way to cheer her up than to post a super cheesy shot of me in my scrubs?! I know she's been wanting to see me in all my glory and this is the last chance she'll have until autumn... Thank goodness I can put these flattering clothes in storage for a few months, SUMMER HERE WE COME!

Sunday evening bike ride

Who knew that so much could be seen and done during a simple cruise around lovely American Fork?

We rode clear to the Pacific Ocean! (aka Utah Lake)

down on the (creepy, abandoned) farm

I even made it all the way to Boulder, CO to climb the Flatirons

Alicia, reaching mind-numbing (and camera-blurring) speeds

Eat-ster

I am now down to only 5 eggs; each time I crack one open it gets

harder and harder to decide which beauty should be destroyed next.

It breaks my heart to see the colorful art eliminated one by one :(

This past Easter Sunday was a perfect day. Reflecting on things of weightier consequences, Conference, feasting, friends, family, conversation, beauty, etc. And, WOW: I had forgotten how much intensive eating was involved with Easter. I put its holiday-induced emphasis on meals third in line after only Thanksgiving and Christmas. What a perfect day. My friend got tickets to the Sunday morning sesh at the Conference Center (thanks Hayley!), and we had "great seats" on the floor (don't you love how people always brag about their General Conference seats, as if it were a Bon Jovi concert or something??). That was followed by not one but TWO incredible Feasters mooched off of two great families (thanks Emily & Richs/Thaynes!). Earlier that weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend yet another Easter party, complete with dying my own personal carton of eggs (thanks Runolfsons!).

My main goal for the day was to be photographed for the

May issue of the Ensign. Try as I might, all I could

muster was this mock-shot. Next year I will wear something

that makes me look more like a sister missionary; cowboy

boots aren't really church publication-material.

Switching to homemaker mode: if you're not sure what to do with those semi-gross hollow chocolate easter bunnies (does anyone actually enjoy eating them??), take my advice and put them to good use: Strawberries were on sale for 97 cents, so we melted down our poor crushed bunnies and made something far more delicious:

Yes, your math skills prove you right. I couldn't wait to to

take a picture before eating 4 of the strawberries.