get in the zone.

A story:

A few days back my car read as "my parents car" in case they actually read this  died. The soul of the car sputtered in resignation and forfeited on the journey through life. It left me without vehicle for a space of time, but fortunately kind people take pity on those that are truly pitiful. Finally, after reaching a point of frustration due to my lack of mobility and post-pep talk from my dad, I obtained the necessary aid to remove the battery from my car. After assuring me that we didn't have to put the heart of my car into a cooler and jump on a helicopter in order to make it to the nearby hospital where Dr. McDreamy was waiting to transplant the organ into a needy patient whoa. what tanget did i just go on? we lugged that battery to the nearest Autozone. And then we lugged it to the second nearest Autozone because the first was useless to us.

I flexed my impressive muscles as I lifted the part onto the counter for the man to inspect oh wait. the guy i was with actually carried that unbelievably heavy cube for me. also, i do mean that he was to inspect my muscles, yes. and told the man, with a level of authority and pride previously unbeknownst to my being, why I was there and what I needed. The conversation went as follows:

"I bring you the heart of my car, which is in need of repair. My vehicle is of the Nissan make and the Versa model with a manual transmission. I trust you to find the absolutely best. Go forth and do not disappoint me." 

"oh. hey there. this is my battery and it stopped working so what do i do now? also do you have sink i could wash my hands in? and perhaps some lavender smelling lotion because i have some dirt on my pinky finger."

"Ah, as I examine the fine specimen before me I can see that the vehicle, and the vehicle's owner, are of the highest caliber. We are honored by their presence and will do everything within our power to supply such a noble pair with our most valiant battery replacements. In fact, we shall give it to you for free, in payment for your wonder. You do a service to the world for simply breathing and driving."

"HA! Look at that cute little battery. We for sure don't have anything that size. I'll probably mount that thing on a wall somehwere. Hahahaha what a joke. Oh, and that will be $130."

Moral of the story? Sneaky lives.

Second moral of all this? I always have more pictures.

Biking The Carriage Roads

Acadia National Park

The Beehive Hike

This was the first vacation since I was 18 that my sandals didn't join me.

RIP Merrels.

 

peace and cookie dough

i want a lifetime supply

rrw

excessive never looked so good

You know what I haven't posted about in awhile?

Glacier. And it's about time I do. Because I still have about 300 photos from that trip. Plus I still have Colorado pictures. Man...am I little excessive? My family would answer "Yes." I would answer "Stop talking and say cheese. Right now. The lighting is perfect." except for i don't really say that nonsense about lighting because i'm not official enough to.

Anyway, take a look at Two Medicine area. Because, like, dang. The lighting was perfect there. jklolhags

Aster Falls 

2.8 miles roundtrip

-bunny sightings a likely occurrence

-attempting to catch said bunny will result in only good things and won't be humiliating at all. give it a shot.

what's up Captain Kirk?

looking a little angelic.

#appropriate

#beibershortsforever

#andohwowrememberwhenihadbangs?

i spy with my little eye....Caroline.

yeah. couldn't think of something clever to put there. 

any suggestions?

coolest cairn i've ever seen.

and i've seen my fair share of cairns.

nbd.

Running Eagle Falls

wheelchair accessible.

which i think is about the coolest thing. because even though people might not be able to hike all over montana, they can still see such pretty things!

yeah! life's cool!

While I won't be in this ^^^ part of Montana next week, I'm still really looking forward to being in Big Sky Country. I mean...LOOK.

ok ok. i show this one all the time. but it's probably my favorite picture i've ever taken.

peace and german chocolate

shootdang i forgot how good that stuff is

rrw

getting used to summer

Don't mind me. I've been busy. But here are some pictures. Let's hear a hoorah for phones, because lugging the camera around is sometimes a pain. oh my. what have i just said. i love my camera. and will provide real pictures from it soon. but for now, phone pictures. 

Vegas wedding.

We are the party.

Bellagio. 

I WILL have this in my future home.

Or maybe I could convince my landlord to install it now...

Speaking of weddings, I think I found the perfect accessory for mine in an old antique shop in Leadville CO.

#scaryplace 

#whydidiputthatonmyhead

#iprobablyhaveadiseasenow

Who needs the Alps when you have the Rockies?

More summer adventures are on their way. And that is why I don't take classes during the summer.

peace and traveling

rrw

4 Pics 1 Week

-Mountains, trees, hiking...I mean come on! Summer is here. Get out there and take in the vistas. I suggest Glacier National Park surprise surprise but Logan Canyon, Millcreek Canyon, and even Provo Canyon have some pretty fantastic areas if driving 14+ hours isn't in your weekend plans. My goal is to find some new trails this summer because this whole sitting-in-a-chair-all-day thing is killing me. Kind of.

-Sorry for all those who are grossed out by feet holla atcha jr high friends and those who are just grossed out by MY feet ....sisters.... but I have had some pretty successful dirt/tan lines going on this week. This is nothing compared to my sister-in-law's Chaco lines though. She's so cool.

-Batman was spotted at the nearby Macey's on Tuesday.

-Met up with these lovelies for some frozen yogurt and to catch up on their lives. sorry boys, both are taken.  I was extremely please with my cold concoction of Cookies...you know what, never mind. I can think of nothing more boring than reading about what someone else decided to put in their dairy product. So just enjoy the picture, which shows that my #nomakeupmonday became #nomakeupanyday this week. It happens.

peace

rrw

a few of my faves

This list portrays quite accurately what has been on my mind for the last weekish. don't worry rebecca. no more bangs. although...they have, quite literally, been on my mind.

*Avalanche Lake

Glacier National Park

*Sarah by Orson Scott Card

as well as Rebekah

and Rachel and Leah

*this quote from Sarah

"Love is finding that the things you like best about yourself are not in you at all, but in the person that completes you." -Orson Scott Card

coolio.

someday i'll put that to the test.

*coconut chocolate wonder cookie from Sweet Tooth Fairy

*embracing my singledom and treating myself to lunch and a movie

that...sounds so pathetic.

but it actually was really fun.

oi.

but hey, go see Jack the Giant Slayer.

*all things Warm Bodies

no, but really.

i think i have like, one friend who might understand how much i'm absolutely loving on this movie.

**the Warm Bodies playlist

**specifically this song

no really, listen to it. 

and try to picture an attractive zombie man driving a bmw convertible on an abandoned airplane landing strip.

sound weird?

just go watch the movie.

***oh, and this one too

seriously, go watch it.

*Nicholas Hoult

hair, eyes, scruff, cheekbones, height, suits, accent, fact that he likes to read actual books because he likes how they smell, red lips, super humble....

man. i'm a teenage girl to the max

but wow.

he's beautiful.

and also in Jack the Giant Slayer.

is that why I saw it?

probably.

whatever.

go see it too.

and then see warm bodies again.

peace and pinstriped suits.

oh my. my heart.

rrw

you know it's been a good weekend if

*you just pick up and leave for the weekend and know you have a nice, always welcoming, fun place to stay only 40 minutes away
status: poet.

*you were perfectly content to go to a movie and dinner with your parents

#lincoln

#socool

#datesareoverrated?

#ikeeptellingmyselfthat

*you were able to convince your little sister to spend the day skiing with you

*while skiing you accidentally hurt your sister twice by skiing into her but she forgave you

*you spent most of lunch laughing at the pathetic meal you packed that morning

*the nice people at the table next to you heard you complaining that you were still hungry, so they gave you their chips

i felt like oliver

*two guys asked to sit down with you, realized you are eating carrots and brownies, looked at their overflowing beer cups, stood up and left.

you laughed harder than before.

#represent

i don't know why or how that applies but it's cool

*you're little sister has no inhibitions and decided to do a super cool trick in front of everybody.

so naturally you recorded it.

[this is where i would show you the video but blasted blogger is struggling right now and won't let me.]

#moreupsetthanishouldbe

*you decided that was so super cool that you want to record something else.
like you skiing down the mountain.
so you go all go pro.
but you only have your phone.
so you rig up your own "no go pro" by sticking your phone down your sisters goggles.
it was her idea
you press record, and then you ski.
she looks like a fool.
but it's super hilarious.
at least to us.

[see above.]

blastedblogger.

um...don't mind my crazy hair (awkward trying-to-grow-the-bangs-out-AGAIN-stage)

*you played a rhyming game while sitting on the life. key phrase: blue skies and...
results:
...cute guys
...chicken pot pies
...flabby thighs
...bleary eyes
...mcdonald's fries
(any additions?)

*you got to eat pizza factory breadsticks
i'm going to be investing in those more often,
because,
dang.
they're good.
wanna join?

*you got to feel like a little kid again, staying up late reading a book and just loving it
it was seriously completely refreshing to read an actual book with actual paper. 
remember when that's what we did?
please.
go try it.

*you got to attend the blessing of your newest cousin and be with family and eat parfaits and quiche and cookies and play concentration with your 7 year old cousin who also treated you like a set of monkey bars and you realized that you want to spend a lot more time with her.
concentration...64...i'll go first...i'll go second...category is...
remember?
what does the 64 mean?

*you eat stuffed chicken breast for dinner and don't know what to do it's so good

*you spend all sunday night laughing with your mom and sister for really no apparent reason

*your face is peeling from the sunshine absorbed during the ski day

*you wake up to go back to provo and re-decide that you absolutely love the rockies

 great western ski lift at brighton ski resort

and...this is me.
"rock-in r"
panel one: yeah i'm sick dawg wassup homie here i be.
panel two: wait, i'm a white girl...
panel three: shame

mt olympus
aka
my backyard



peace and blue skies
little white lies

rrw

i should win an oscar

so....i got this terrific cough thing going on.

i don't know what's up.

i'm just coughing like my lungs are convinced there's no tomorrow.

news flash guys: there is a tomorrow. i'd like you to be there too.

sometimes i talk to inanimate objects.

i mean, pocohantas kind of did the same, right?

so this weekend i spent a lot of time lying laying?lounging?lieing?on the couch, my bed, and sometimes the floor.

sunday night it was the couch as i, along with a billion other people, watched as our society participated in pagan idol worship.

i sat there, on the couch, in my stretchy pants, high school sweatshirt, messy bun, bleary eyes, and worn, stained, oh-so-favorite slippers.

and i sat there looking at prada and armani and dior and other foreign words.

and then i watched as channing and charlize danced and channing was wearing interesting shoes.
and then i watched as harry potter and robin also danced and i was reminded of how short harry potter is.
he's supposed to be tall. ask jkr.
and then i got goosebumps as les miserables cast sang.
and then i got a snack as chicago nonsense was happening.
and then anne won and i was happy.
i like anne. i really do. stop hatin on her.
she's our princess, remember?
and then i zoned out for a few hours.
and then i came back and wreck it ralph didn't win.
so i zoned out again.
and then i got really into the last three awards.
and definitely decided, along with the other billion watching, that i absolutely love jennifer lawrence.
and decided that i wouldn't mind that bradley cooper man looking at me the way he was looking at her.
and i also would have been all over having hugh jackman help me up the stairs if i was her.
and then hugh lost.
and ben affleck won.
well, technically argo but it's the same.
ps. never heard of argo before sunday night.
it's like i live in a bubble or something.

i'm glad ben affleck won.
because i love him and jennifer gardner.
someone get them a pass along card.
that family needs to be eternal.
whateves. i'm sending them one.

and then it was 10pm, my lungs were still having a party, i was still wearing my stretchy pants and slippers, with a blotchy face and so many liquids inside of me i was about to burst.

i didn't feel very pretty.
and it was then that i decided that i kind of despise screens.
because they give you the allusion that you're living, doing something, being someone, interacting with people.
but in reality...no.
i can watch all the high profilers file past in their gowns and tuxes, but that doesn't change my current apparel.
i can reading as many facebook statuses and i want, but that doesn't change my current status.
i can pin as many recipes as i want, but that won't automatically make me a good cook.
no, only a miracle will do that.
heck, i can look at as many inspirationally fit bodies on an advertisement for weight watchers and that definitely doesn't change my physique.
you know how this goes.

and for that realization, the oscar goes to...me

the movie will be called "screens are for windows"
i think i'll have sofia vergara play me.
the resemblance is just too good.
#itsallinthelips


but while you're waiting for that cinematic masterpiece, go somewhere with no screens.
both literal and figurative.
maybe? does that even work figuratively?

for example, 10 minutes up the canyon.

now to pick out my oscar-winning dress...

peace and powder

heard the skiing was good this weekend.

i'm coming! just...hold on.

rrw

and i was all like...

a week ago i was all like

now i'm just like

yeah.

especially that sparkly leaf kelly's rockin.
i kind of secretly want that.

ok.

in between those two soundtracks of my life a lot of good stuff happened.

stuff like....

the. thickest. cake/cookie. i. have. ever. eaten.

my family was down for valentines day.

i had other plans so couldn't meet up with them.

but my dad left me this wonder on my doorstep.

it was red velvet.

because he remembers how much i love that because caroline and i went on and on about how much we love that on our vacation to florida last summer.

he's a good dad.

hi dad.

campus reunions.

i was called a diamond in the rough.

DAY. MADE.

you know who you are.

thank you.

coldstone creamery.

imma...just going to stick to the ice cream from here on out.

funnel cake? not overly impressed.

shopping with el padre and hermana.

completely entertaining.

completely. 

a new ski jacket resembling a certain biblical article of clothing.

and it was red and yellow and green and blue...

i love it.

games. games. games.

forbidden island

zeus on the loose

pit

crazy eights

valentine matching game created by my dad

word on the street

rummikub

bananagrams

it's a new way to play

sometimes the games can get heated but in the end we're all family and get along just as well as you would expect a semi-normal happy family to.

birthday celebration!

rebecca is a quarter of a century old.

and she got some NICE dishes to help satisfy her "dish itch"

mmmm! for gluten free cake.

actually it's pretty good.

this is the "birthday picture."

youre welcome.

missionary farewell.

man.

catherine.

really?

yes.

lord of the rings on tv.

yes it went until the wee hours of the morning.

yes i stayed up to watch it all.

yes my behavior will ALWAYS be such.

and aren't i glad i stayed up because around 1:14am on monday i received...

an email.

one that i really probably shouldn't have gotten

and had a total of 14 words in it

and might be one of the best emails i've ever received

as i expressed in my prompt three word response.

millcreek canyon.

always a pleaser

we so ninja.

minus caroline.

wreck it ralph.

ok. 

this commentary isn't going in small type because i loved that movie so much.

it was hilarious.

and clever.

and cute.

and original.

and clean.

and everything good about a movie that you can think of.

as we were walking out of the theater a little 5 year old girl said to her dad,

"i have never seen something as good as that. this is the best day."

i hear ya child.

i hear ya.

really. 

go see it.

i'll come with you.

plus it's at the dollar......

peace and paninis.
had those over the weekend too.

rrw

found the one

today i...

have a sunday hangover.

does anyone else know what i mean?

went to my 7 am cycling class.

almost got motion sick during my cycling class.

yeah.

just...yeah.

have a little bit of a headache.

look like a sprite remix can.

purple pants. pink sweater.

whatever. i'm rocking it.

???

arranged for the toilet in my apartment to be fixed.

basically it exploded.

played phone tag with the toilet fixer for too long.

lets get real. any phone tag with the toilet fixer is too long.

waited for the toilet fixer to arrive.

was relieved when he left and our toilet had been fixed.

i know. 

you were worried how that was going to turn out.

but let me tell you.

you do not appreciate having a functioning toilet until you are being glared at by the 7eleven cashier because you didn't even try to look like you were thinking about buying anything because you were already ashamed of being in a 7eleven on a sunday but really just needed to use a toilet.

you also don't appreciate having a functioning toilet until you are rationing your liquid intake in order to keep such trips to 7eleven at a minimum (9am and 11pm).

i apologize for the details.

felt like everyone was staring at me when i walked across campus.

seriously. everywhere i looked people were already looking at me.

#vain. #iknow.

it's probably because they haven't seen such bright colors in over 4 months.

enjoyed two strawberry creme swirl dove chocolates.

taste great. look AWESOME.

the chocolates told me

"Get swept away by love."

and

"Chocolate. Always your Valentine."

i wonder which one most accurately applies....

guess i found the one.

realized that one of my biggest pet peeves is when girls wear sweater-type boots and the soles of the shoes are not squarely underneath their feet, resulting in them walking on the side of boot.

...does that make any sense?

was told to tackle a professor by someone in the deans office.

mmmmm. i'll pass.

have silver sparkle stuff on my eyelids.

i just...was so worried about the toilet that the next thing i knew i was putting this stuff on my eyelids.

maybe that's another reason people have been staring.

#lookforthesilverlining

ON MY EYES.

still feel like i want to go to glacier.

#predictableiscuteright?

going to the sun road

53 miles long

3263 net change in elevation

21 feet wide

two lanes

so maybe i snapped these photos while we were driving up the road.
aka. teetering on the side of the road looking down hundreds of feet into the valley.
yes i did man the steering wheel on this road at least once.
yes it was a thrill.
yes i made it but then was too scared to parallel park on the side of the road.
#daddytakethewheel
i don't call my dad "daddy"

since when did the sky become white?
oh yeah. since the entire western half of america was burning all summer.
#smokey

logan pass
6646 ft elevation
known for springtime wildflowers and mountain goat sightings

hidden lake

trailhead starts at logan pass

only 3 miles round trip

hike down to lake sometimes closed due to bear sightings

#justourluck

#bringonthebears

hey sister sister!

greatest. show. ever.

mountains.

endless mountains.

{smiley face}

why do my legs always do that?

#ilooklikeaflamingo

don't worry. 

there are still quite a few more photos to come.

peace and peacocks
animal with the closest coloring to me right now.
...i don't know whats with bird comparisons this post.

rrw