laketh powelleth.

this week i got to go to the loverly lake powell. the actual happiest place on earth, contrary to disneyland's claims. this is year three of spending time with that lake and i would like to make it four next year. actually, i'd like to make it four this year but, no can do. anyway, i made some big milestones this year at powell. 

first of all, i cleared the dang wake on the dang wakeboard finally. 

second, i started gettin a rooster tail goin. hollerrrr. 

third, look mom! no hands!

we climbed some rocks.

did some tubage and bottled it up in our minds to save for winter.

now, i feel the need to explain the goggles. while they are not a killer fashion statement, they make tubing 10x more enjoyable as you don't have to worry about getting water in your eyes. they create a whole new tubing experience that didn't exist before. you can lay on your belly on the tube and actually see everything that goes on around you, all from the simple addition of gogs.
#goggles4lyphe

we also jumped off large rocks. look at lindsay's feet. They are ret to go.
(i realize that this photo isn't actual proof that we jumped, but you have my word that jumping off that huge 7 foot rock happened).

we sat in the boat in the shade of the rocks for some time, eating pringles and an array of junk food.

my brother and his wife tried to be cute. and, i guess they were depending on your style.

dad and me pretended to be on titanic.

after saying goodbye to the lake, we went to antelope canyon with all the navajo's.

sorry this picture kind of reaks, due to the different sun splotches and lack of flash usage due to rules saying no flash. also, i don't know how to use my new camera yet soo.

we rode on seats in the bed of the truck and pretty much bounced 1-2 feet in the air whenever we hit a small rock or bump. it was like an amusement park ride and a tour with navajo's all in one. a two-fer! two fer one! what a steal!

this is my brother.

 and this is antelope canyon. prits neat.

lake pal was great with my powells.
and i think i liked it enough to maybe even do it again next year.
...lemme ask my dad.

lumps clumps

Well, she's done it again. Little sister, Lindsay, got sick. She finished chemotherapy one year ago and what do you know? She has moved on from lumps to clumps. On Thursday she went to the doc for some chest tightness and they found a couple blood clots in her lungs, or as I like to call them, pulmonary emboli.

The doctor sang, "Are you gonna stay the night? Are you gonna stay the night? Ahhh ahhh ahh ahh are you gonna stay the night?" and Lindsay was like, "Fine".

So Dad and I brought some Cafe Rio up to the hospital. Katie and Carlee showed up and we all hung out in the wee hospital room. Katie, Lin, and I watched the Bach into the late evening hours and can I just say, I never liked Juan P. from the very beginning.

I slept over with Lin. They had a bench that turned into kind of a bed. Somehow I slept okay even though people came in throughout the night greedy for Lindsay's blood.

She was discharged the next day and has to shoot herself in the belly with some medicine 14 times in the next week. Then she'll take some Coumadin in pill form for many weeks and her blood will thin out a bit. 

What a bummer. But all is well.

 

Lindsay's account of the story is here.

2013, the end.

2013 was a strange year. The hardest I've lived through.

But there were some lovely times. And it has ended really great. This fall has been awesome. It was hard to move away from home but it's been quite the blast, actually.

Though I did plan on getting married, bearing a child, and going on a cruise this year, as 13 is my lucky number, there were some other grand moments instead.

2013's Highlights...

// I threw a ballin MLK party to celebrate Martin himself.
// Lindsay graduated from chemotherapy. That was an exciting time for our family.
// I threw an even ballin-er fiesta with my roommate, Katie, and the boys.
// I did my first triathlon. It was the most horrible, fun time ever!
// I graduated from COLLEGE. How neat is that?
// I got to visit Logan a few times after I moved away.
// I hiked Mt Timp with my daddio
// I visited the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH.
// I moved to WASHINGTON! And had a lovely road trip with my eldest seester to get there.
// One of my very best friends, Aleisha, came to visit me and we road tripped all around Washington.  Cape Flattery was the winner of that trip.
// I went on a road trip to the beach with my Washington besties.
// Good old Elizabeth Carson came to visit and we had tons of fun in Seattle, especially on the Great Wheel! The best part of that trip is when we were waiting in line to use the bathroom. I was next in line, a lady was behind me, then Lizzie. When it was my turn I handed my purse to Lizzie and asked her to hold it. She said, "Um, ma'am, I don't know you..." I burst out laughing and the lady in between us did too.
// I also got to fly home for Thanksgiving and now for Christmas! Utah is great.

What a year it was.

katie jo

I have this sister named Katie. She is the middle child and is right above me. Right above me in many ways. 

Some of my favorite memories with Katie start from a wee young age of the single digits. Back when we shared a room. She was the best story teller. Most nights she would tell Lindsay and me stories. She would give us a synopsis of three different stories that she would make up on the spot and we would get to choose one story for her to tell. We loved the mysteries. 

 Katie and I used to go on bike rides all the time. She would ride on her big purple bike and I would follow her on my little pink bike. We would ride around the neighborhood, stopping at the neighbor's mailboxes to fill our bike tanks with gas. Cheapest gas I've ever gotten.

We were cute...

Years and years later, we transitioned from riding bikes and getting free gas at mailboxes to driving cars and spending four bucks on a gallon of gas. 

We both went to Utah State where we would go to dinner together weekly, usually at Panda Express and then we'd grab a small bite of ice cream at Coldstone. In the dead of winter. Now for anyone who knows Katie, this is quite significant. Katie thinks any temperature under 80 degrees is cold.

I would have to dub Katie the Snapchat queen. Her snaps really are the funniest. I would love to post some but I won't for fear of retribution.

Fall 2011

Katie's really good at calming me down when I'm stressed. She helps me realize my problems are nbd. So, that's a good thing. Katie is also very blunt and confident and even once told me that "any man that marries into this family will be marrying up".
So, there ya go. We're a pretty neat bunch.

moved to washington. brb.

On Thursday morning, Carlee and I headed out from Utah and drove the twelve hours to Vancouver, Washington where I will be living for the next half year. The scenery was quite barren and dead looking up until the last two hours. Even so, we had a lot of fun. We had some really goods chats and ate lots of m&m's and pop from McDonald's.

We arrived in Portland and decided to drop by the Portland Temple real quick. It was pouring rain. Pouring. It's a beaut, that temple. 

Friday morning we left early and drove to Astoria, Oregon. It was a cute little old coastal town, like straight from the movies.

 Next we drove down the coast to Cannon Beach. It was rainy and soooo stinkin pretty, that drive. And I'll prove it.

Cannon Beach was gorgeous too. It was cloudy and overcast and the waves were crashing so hard and loud against the beach. We saw the famous Haystack Rock.

I could have stayed there forever.

Don't mind my hair. It doesn't much like the coast or rainy Washington. It curls into little ringlets. So basically, my hair won't be straight again for many many months.

Next we went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We watched people making cheese, sampled a bunch of cheeses, and got some ice cream. It was pretty neat.

We drove around Portland a bit. On Saturday we decided to hit up Seattle. It was only 2 1/2 hours away, by golly! We went to the space needle. It was a whopping 22 bucks to get into! But it was really cool, and how can you not go to the space needle if you're in Seattle? Duh.

 We tried to see Mt St Helen's, but then realized we were almost out of gas. So this is as close as we got. You can see the back of it!

It was one helen of a view.

It was quite a nice trip with LOTS of driving. We drove about 1600 miles total! Sheesh.

So anyways, I think I will like this Washington place.

the eldest

carlee is my oldest sister. and sibling. the oldest of five kids. as such, her responsibilities are many. she is the protective one, she will scold you if you do something not very good, she will console you when you cry, and she will listen to your incredibly long boring stories. somehow, being the oldest gives you patience for that sort of stuff.



carlee and i are very different in some ways. but very similar in others. i usually get advice from her, and even though she's always right, i don't always do what she suggests. and sometimes i get bitten in the butt for it. but what can ya do?

that sister of mine is six feet tall with long slender legs that i envy and a pretty face. my legs are short and stubby. we have both agreed that i could take two inches from her and we'd both be happy. then i'd be 5'8" and she'd be 5'10". everybody wins, men included.



my favorite thing about her is that when i'm having a hard time or need someone to cry to, she will always listen no matter how long i cry to her for. also, we can talk/facetime for a very long time just because we don't want to get off. it's just a thing.

like all of my siblings, carlee is very motivated (i'm the least motivated of the fam). she has a masters degree, went on a mission, goes to the temple weekly, and finds ways to be productive all the days. this is very unlike me. i always have good intentions to be productive. but i end of facebooking or playing my guitar.

carlee, lindsay, me

carlee, like all of my family, is a travel junkie. however, since no one else can really afford to travel, carlee does it for us. this year alone she already went to china, korea, and has two more trips planned across the states! holy!

carlee is extremely stylish. not a day goes by that she isn't wearing excellent pants. and pants are the most important part of one's outfit, am i right? always.

i don't know where i'd be without her! haha, jk. i'd be in a carlee-less world. and that world would be dark.

lake powell

Lake Powell was grand, once again. Carlee and I decided that we can start saying Lake Powell is our yearly vacation since this was our second year going! So basically, it's staying a tradition. 

We spent a couple nine hour days out on the lake... wakeboarding, wake skating, slaloming, skiing, tubing, driving around for hours, and eating all sorts of junk. dreamy.

There's not too much to say, but a lot to show...