courtesy of my phone.

a few things that i have brought to my own attention:

*melted ice with the last four drops of root beer is not worth drinking.

ever.

*peanut butter ice cream goes well with catch up.

not catsup. 

gross

catch up.

with tanned and toned tracie, specifically.

maybe i should go to hawaii and the gym. 

then i'd look as good as she does.

dang.

*burnt cinnamon bears do not smell good.

*i will put ANYbody on my favorite person list if that person compliments my blog.

hello stranger. oh, you like my blog?

let's hug.

seriously though. 

i don't know why but compliments given to this go straight to my heart.

so, to all 4 of you that have complimented,

(i mean 5.

what's up grandma!)

i thank you sincerely.

and all of you that haven't...

no comment.

*i really like the camera on my phone.

really i just like my phone in general.

it's perfect when you're on a mountain and need a quick documentation.
and we all know how often that happens.

*i like my family.

*i like skiing.

*i like skiing with my family.

my family and i went skiing last weekend. 

whoa. reading the last few lines is like reading a first grade level book.

max is a boy.

max likes to run.

max is a boy who likes to have fun.

ok.

my mom didn't make it because she got new eyes.
no, she didn't go all minority report on us.

it's called lasik.

first time not wearing contacts in over 40 years.

so cool. 

but maybe makes me a little queasy?

don't touch my cornea.

anyway.

my dad had got us all day passes for christmas.

awesome blossom.

so we all headed up the big cottonwood canyon to enjoy the mountains.

was it enjoyable?

twas.

these were both taken out the front window of silky milky

that's our minivan.

the first was down in the valley.

the second up the canyon.

they speak for themselves.

i can't express how beautiful it was up there.

i just can't.

so. try to imagine it yourself.

i'll help where i can.

like...right below.
yes, the pictures of my family count as part of the beauty.
debatable?
whatever. we're gorgeous.

wait, did i say gorgeous?

oh. yeah. i did.

kudos to annie who got the bunny ears in.

sorry it's not your face.

but really?

they pulled the same face?

figures.

we're basically the fourth couple of the family.

so...what happens when she gets married and i'm all alone?

#9thwheel

#shesonly16

there's annie's face.
and saweet glasses.

after skiing we went and robbed a bank.
we just couldn't waste the outfits.

to the founder of the feast!

and the only family member who will let me take a normal picture of them.

thanks dad.

the squeegee ninjas.
rebecca has a squeegee for goggles built into her mittens.
yes, it's necessary.
yes, we used it.
yes, it was basically like getting our own lasik surgery.
vision is good.

while on the ride up my little sister asked my brother if the day's activities qualified for his blog.
he laughed.
which is understandable if you've ever looked at spence's blog.
do it.
he's a little crazy-intense-awesome-dare-devilish.
so it was no surprise when he decided he would show us all up by trying to ski up and over a tree.

impressive?
you be the judge.

the snow cave annie found?

more impressive.

three of us finished strong while the others bailed to take naps in the car.

no judgement.

but then we finished the night off with some papa murphy's take n bake pizza.

bbq chicken.

it's da best.

and some hawaiian for those with confused tastebuds.

again, no judgement.

then, much to my shame, i slept.

and slept.

and slept.

and missed out on games.

curse you beyond-comfortable bed in the darkest, quietest room in the house.

but the day was fun.

as they say,

"a family that skis together...yada yada yada..."

love em.

peace and pinetrees
gotta dodge em if you come skiing with us.
rrw



ps. 
just to clarify...

caroline isn't getting married.
but she IS going to the sweetheart's dance this weekend!
i'm more excited than she is.

picture it

i've had these pictures i've been wanting to share for awhile now.

but i haven't.

so now i will.

i don't have much to say, seeing as it's monday.

and while church was uplifting yesterday, i felt a little... 

hopeless?

um...too dramatic for big type.

but that's an entry for my actual journal.

this is the time that i show pictures and add commentary along the way.

i've missed using my camera.

kanab, ut trip.

december 30 - january 2

is it lame and vain that this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip?

i don't even know how it happened.

but it did.

shimmy up that chimney.

 glad to have the websters with us.

fun. people.

can you see the hidden slot canyon?

swear. it's there.

allow me to zoom in on those faces for you.

yeah.

that's ma fam.

part of it.

 again.

we so beautiful.

and this is actually beautiful.

take me back.

 my dad is spiderman.

kinda.

see the itty bitty people in the bottom left?

they're lookin at the bad boys below.

ancient tagging.

it's considered valuable. 

but i mean really?

my 7 year old cousin could have done that with a spoon.

whateves.

just kidding!

sheesh. 

seriously.

petroglyphs are fascinating.

especially when a sloth named sid is looking at them.

"look, the tigers are just playing tag with the antelope...with their teeth..."

anybody?

caroline...?

 we saw this cairn on top of the cliff we were hiking next to.

obviously we had to go to it.

that's what cairns are for.

so we did.

we ran, stumbled, and panted our way up the 117 degree angle cliff.

and then stood there.

and i took this picture.

but not my mom.

see her down there?

the sanddunes.

in january.

#shouldhavebroughtasled

and this is the group.

with the sun in our faces.

and an awkward knee bend courtesy of...me.

but hey!

we take what we can get.

#selftimersarefun

so yeah.

kanab was a success.

we celebrated new years down there.

it was a quieter new years than others.

but we heard some fireworks going off out in town.

either that or someone's truck was having some serious backfire problems.

probable.

we made resolutions for ourselves.

and for each other.

#forcedtobehumble

#itsgoodforme

peace and petroglyphs

rrw

mlk weekend p.2

the previous post was all about logan.

now let's talk about how fun the rest of the weekend was.

i tell you what, those three day weekends can seriously pull through.

after dropping my friends off back in provo saturday evening, i went to my apartment, watched an episode of modern family (guilty pleasure! guilt.) while clipping my fingernails, and then crashed.

i slept from 7pm until 7:30am.

what!?

seriously.

after rising, washing, prepping, and packing, i made my way back up to slc.

and now i feel guilty again. i have added my fair share of pollution to this mess of a valley.

guilt.

i arrived just in time to pick up lindsay-friend.

i dumped her newspaper all over the front porch while trying to be helpful.

#fail

but we laughed?

we went to a homecoming.

he did great.

srsly.

did i srsly just do "srsly?"

see what i did there?

while there catherine-friend arrived!

but only after lindsay-nurse helped a young mother with her sick and throwing-up son.

she's such a great person.

i had to avert my eyes and breathe through my mouth.

again, guilt.

after the homecoming we three chicas chatted in the parking lot next to my illegal parking job.

the two of them made plans to have lunch.

i felt left out.

but then we took a picture.

and i tried to make the voice activation on my phone camera work.

it didn't.

***picture this: three girls huddled together in the parking lot, the middle one holding her phone out, yelling "cheese!" at it***

you are welcome for the mental image.

after we said goodbye and realized that the next time we might all be together again would be catherine's "imma going on a mission talk," we parted ways.

lindsay and i went to her house.

she fed me eggs, sausage, and toast.

i felt guilty for eating all the food. 

so much guilt this post.

but it was so good.

we chatting about boys and memories and funny date stories and boys and pictures and family.

her mom chatted with us.

shout out to momma bunny.

that night i bonded with my dad and sister.

after taking a 3 hour nap.

srsly. what is going on with me?

they gave me advice.

we watched lion king.

we made cookies. 

read "ate cookie dough"

and got our things together for the outing to snowbird scheduled for the next day.

the next day dawned cold and polluted.

we bundled up, layer upon layer, and made our way to the mountain.

but only after listening to the new britney spears song three times on the radio.

let's get real, britney doesn't even sing in it.

after getting an excellent parking spot (we woke up so early, we deserved that spot) we headed to the tram.

three words about the tram:

no. personal. space.

but man, you get up the mountain quick.

after breathing our first breaths of clean air in 2 weeks, our day commenced.

it was a great day.

sure, they could use some more snow.

sure, we had a few cliff encounters.

sure, i almost died.

really.

but overall. good.

the cookies we had made the night before were the perfect end to a massive lunch.

srsly. huge. we had to muscle down the root beer.

i ended up having my dad drink it.

he loves root beer.

the mountains were beautiful.

reentering the valley was not.

here's to three day weekends.

***funny moments from the slopes***

-me chatting it up with the relocated new jersey citizen who works as ski patrol, studied environmental science, moved to utah to ski, lives at the mouth of the canyon, is 28, and enjoys using four letter words.

those four letter words stopped when i told him i went to byu.

MOST. AWESOME.

-dad beginning to tell me to do something (i think it was go pick up napkins) during lunch, only to stop midway and tell caroline to go do it instead.

caroline responded with, "What? Why not her? She's not doing anything."
dad responded with, "She doesn't have to do anything but sit there and look pretty."

bahahaha! greatest moment.

maybe he thinks i need self-esteem boosts?

probably most definitely actually, seeing as he had told me my face was looking good without makeup on it earlier, in the middle of the ski store.

...oh well. i'll take.

YEAH! I HAVE A PRETTY FACE! MY DAD TOLD ME SO!

-when caroline skied over my ski pole, which had been right where it was for a good 20 seconds, stopped on the ski pole, exclaimed that it was in her way, began to tip over, did tip over, and proceeded to fall/slide down the hill.

i laughed the whole way down the run.

my tears of mirth would have frozen to my face, but once you're out of the valley the temperature rises 30 degrees.

so they didn't freeze.

that rhymed

-the three of us simultaneously whistling the theme from the hunger games at the skiers below while going up the lift. 

all we wanted was one response.

we never got it.

but the people on the chair in front of us were probably sick of us by the end of the ride.

#YOLO

ugh.

-listening to my dad chant his own made up jingle about how we need to get to the tram.

and only realizing what is happening after 47 seconds of this chanting.

and then laughing so hard the previously mentioned not frozen tears would have melted and frozen again.

if it had been cold enough to freeze.

but it was beautiful and sunny and warm up there.

#takeoffthelayers

mlk weekend p.1

well sheesh.

did you all have as fantastic a weekend as i did?

i certainly hope so.

although i also hope you somehow managed to be more productive than i was.

i mean, is it really tuesday already? 

do i really have beastly homework due at the end of this week?

and it's already tuesday!

but i mean, it's whateves. 

this weekend i was able to spend time with some seriously fun people.

and since my sister has informed me that she's been waiting for me to blog about the trip to logan, here i go.

thanks for the support becksterpenny.

friday evening:

after a brief holdup due to some broken clippers and partly cut hair (don't worry, it all turned out fine. seriously funny.), we said our prayer and went on our way, good ol' caravan style.

the playlist (at least in sneaky) ranged from lion king to michael jackson to high school musical to tyrone wells.

the fact that i REALLY need to modernize my cd library was reaffirmed.

yes i have cds from when i was 13.

we arrived at the house and were welcomed by a homemade meal courtesy of mi madre.

we ate on the ping pong table.

and crowded around the fire.

and short-circuited the lights because of space heaters.

and played games.

and shoveled the iced over, snow covered driveway.

thank you boys.

and watched star trek.

anastasia was outvoted. sad. day.

saturday:

after waking up and figuring out how the heater works, the girls made breakfast.

we were joined by the guys later.

we ate. played more games. finished cutting the previously mentioned hair. went and saw the logan temple. came back for lunch. i taught everyone how to play bohnanza oh boy. challenged the pingpong champion to a match. was subsequently defeated by said champion but at least he was nice of enough to say i was kind of good. "one of the better girls he's played." i'll take it. went and ate a sink full of ice cream. journeyed back to provo.

unfortunately it was realized last minute that i had forgotten the memory card for my camera. 

fortunately bridget pulled through.

photo cred to bridget lewis.

details of the trip that didn't fit into the general outline above, but made the trip memorable:

*me insisting we listen to the same song several times so that everyone in the car could hear the best part. it finally came and...wasn't even that impressive.

why is that always the case?

*singing kumbaya together and having my mom remark on how warm and fuzzy we must all be down at the y.

she went to the u.

*catching a dollop of whip cream in our mouths after launching it off our wrists.

while this was entertaining in general, the pingpong champion's attempts were the greatest by far.

in the first attempt, the whip cream barely made it off his hand before hitting the floor.

in the second, the force used resulted in whip cream stuck to the ceiling.

everyone in the kitchen died as he sat there, looking at it stuck to the ceiling.

funniest. thing.

this photo cred goes to catherine.

*strobe light party in sneaky

we didn't get pulled over.

*personal hygiene jokes

"we don't have to shave if momma isn't showering."

i couldn't tell if they were being serious or not though? 

i mean come on, i don't have to wash my hair everyday, do i!?

*teaching newly returned missionaries what a hashtag is and then allowing them to instagram for the first time.

natural instagram talent right there.

minus the typo.

house? i think he meant hand.

*sharing our fears on the drive back to provo

deep water, moths, needles, and armpit-sweat-marks are serious business.

all in all it was one of the better three day weekends i can remember.

and i haven't even gotten to part two of the weekend.

you can look forward to reuniting friendships, missionary homecomings, cookie making, crashing on skis, and hunger game whistling.

yeah, my family has fun.

but for now i'd like to say to all of my friends that made the time to join me on this trip,

thank you.

i think you're all awesome.

love it or leave it

so i have this thing.

i guess you could call it "state pride."

or "love for utah."

or "my state is better than your state."

i'm sorry...but only kind of

or "defend the honor of the beehive state!"

or "why would i live anywhere else?"

whatever you wanna call it, i have it.

i love utah.

allow me to list a few of the many things everyone should love about this state.

*the mountains: the rockies are in many states, yes, but the rockies in THIS state...

umm...yes,

*the seasons: what do you want? we have it.

*the redrock: just go to southern utah and you will understand.

*the heritage: whether you share their faith or not, you must admit that this state was founded by incredible, strong, faithful people.

*the great salt lake: a remnant of the great and mysterious lake bonneville. i mean, it's like our own little ocean out there for those who prefer spending their time in bad-tasting water to clear, high mountain peaks. but i mean, it's whatever.

i know that comparison to the ocean was a stretch, but like i said, i have this state pride thing BAD.

*the family ties: it seems like almost everyone i know has some sort of relative in utah.

*the olympics: the fact that the ENTIRE world couldn't take their eyes off of this place in 2002 says something about it, wouldn't ya say?

*the snow: our license plates say it best.

and in order for such wonderful precipitation to occur, an extremely necessary ingredient is needed.

what is it? ah yes. allow me to explain.

you see, it's this.

COLD.

now, on a different tangent, but one that will tie in with the above thoughts, i'd like to explain a phenomenon that occurs in utah.

it's call inversion.

when high pressure builds up around the wasatch mountains, it pushes the cold air down into the valley.

while there, this cold air mixes with all our yummy and irresponsible pollution.

now the air is super heavy. 

follow?

this super-heavy cold air has no chance of escaping the valley, what with the with the laws of physics and thermodynamics reminding us that while hot air rises, cold air does not.

so the cold air is left in the valley.

and with snow on the ground, reflecting the small amounts of sunlight that make it through the layer of newly developed "smog," there's no hope of warming the ground.

so it stays cold.

and gets colder.

which is why all our phones say its -1 degree out there.

there are many things to love about utah, one of which is the cold.

it's part of this state.

the thing is, with so much to love, more people keep coming here.

i can't blame them.

but if you're going to come here and drive your car and fly your planes and run your furnace and put all your pollution into the air, then i'm going to have to ask you to stop complaining about the cold.

because just maybe, your pollutants are making it worse.

perhaps this is coming off a little "green" and sounding like a bunch of "hippy talk"

maybe i'll get hired to do a prius commercial

i don't really care if it does. 

i'd be fine with that.

but my main concern is this.

how would you feel if i came into your home, tramping mud and dirt,

breaking things,

using all your toilet paper,

putting silverware in your microwave,

and eating all your oreos,

and then proceeded to criticize you for the fact that your microwave doesn't work.

no?

i don't like it either.

oh, and you're welcome for the crash course in meteorology. 

rrw