albert christensen day

so, after i got home from my moab trip earlier this spring, i discovered, much to my chagrin, that i was only minutes away from the famed hole n' the rock made famous by mr. belnap's slide show day at the end of ap history in high school. since i made a return trip to the area this past weekend, i was able (after 11 years of waiting) to pay homage to the great albert christensen. he was a self-proclaimed artist, sculptor, and taxedermist, emphasis on the self-proclaimed part. unfortunately for me (and you, too), photography was not allowed in the actual home that albert blasted out of the side of the rock wall. it makes one wonder how mr. belnap ever got the pictures for his own slide show, but that is another question for another day. suffice it to say that the slide show from 11 years ago did not do the taxidermy justice. it was much, much worse than any photograph could ever portray.

thankfully for me, i went with my roommate niki and friend mike, and after only a brief introduction to the wonders of the place that is hole n' the wall, they were able to barely stifle their laughter along with me as we took the $5, 12-minute tour of the home. the slide show i have created is only a glimpse of how truly bizarre this place really was. i couldn't stop laughing. and neither could they.

another highlight of the visit for me was the petting zoo. let me rephrase that. another highlight of the trip for mike (age 32) was the petting zoo, as he had never actually been to a petting zoo before. he was quite enamored with the vietnamese pot bellied pigs. the highlight for me was the overwhelming glee that emanated from mike as we walked through the 100 feet of petting zoo. it was priceless.

anyway, if you have any more questions about my very own albert christensen day, please, feel free to ask. i really can't do it justice in such a short post. if only i had mr. belnap singing his ode to albert christensen called "the ballad of albert christensen" to serenade you during the slide show. . . sigh!

kinda like an episode of the simpsons. . .

surprise! i'm still alive. i honestly don't think that i've even turned on my computer in an entire week, so this is a big day for me. i've been checking all of the essentials at work, so this one's really gotten away from me. i'm totally loving my summer break, as long as you don't count the fact that i actually have to work full days now. i could do without that. i feel bad that my buddy andy is sad about having to see me mope around work all day, but really, a person can only answer phones for so long. and i'm completely beyond that point. luckily, i have things to look forward too after work, like going to the gym (kinda) and reading really really good books. in the past week or two, i've read all of stephenie meyer's books. just finished the host last night, thanks to laura's letting me borrow it before she could even read it. don't worry, laura, it's on its way home now. i just went and bought my own copy. in other exciting news, the camping posse is going camping this weekend. that's right. i belong to a posse. i bet you're jealous. there's a group of about 15 folks from the good ole 37th ward going down to moab for a few nights. i'm surprised so many are coming. apparently, people actually get together with their families for memorial day. it's like i told this guy in my ward when we invited him to come with, "i guess people go and do crap with their families on holiday weekends, but we're not those people." haha. it made me laugh, even as i said it. needless to say, the people coming this weekend are mostly people with families outside of utah. that's right. the out of staters. maybe that should be our new posse name. hmmm. i'll have to pitch that one at our next meeting. and then i'll be promptly kicked out by the in staters who are offended at my suggestion.

one of the best mondays on record

as the title of this post would suggest, i've had a really great day! even though it got off to a rough start, i can't complain. i started my day by waking up 15 minutes after i was supposed to be at work. maybe it was missing that first 30 mintues on the phone that made my day so great. anyway, work was pretty okay for a monday. i had the best lunch ever (exaggeration, but it was still great). i went to this place called caruso's deli (1308 w 2100 s in salt lake) on the suggestion of one of my friends who works near me. i had a very tasty mushroom melt sandwich, which was basically just a french dip with mushrooms, but still very fabulous. i got lots of compliments on my hair because i got bored last night and curled it into cute little ringlets all over with my flat iron. it works sooo much better than a curling iron ever could. even after sleeping on it all night it was pretty cute still (sorry, no pics). this afternoon when it was a little slow at work, i checked my credit card statement because i wanted to see the $0 balance on it. i paid it off last weekend. i was so proud of my self i wanted to cry. but i didn't. after work i had to run some errands. first i went to the saturn dealership to buy a new bulb for my turn signal. and then i changed it all by myself (but not in that exact order), so i feel pretty awesome. i also went down to kirkham's outdoors sporting goods to scope out a new camp stove. turns out that the one i wanted was 25% off, so i went ahead and bought it. you can't pass up a deal like that. it was only $67 with the discount. then i went to barnes and noble to buy the 2nd and 3rd twilight books. i probably spent more than i should have on them, but i want to read them again now, and i had a coupon, so i didn't actually pay full price. i also got on the pre-order list for the 4th book that comes out on august 2nd. so so excited. so i came home and found a box full of new movies from amazon.com waiting for me. i'll be watching those a little later on. then tonight at fhe, i was talking to my friend debbie and we decided to have a girls night on saturday because i don't get to see her any more since she started dating this really great guy named james. anyway, we get to hang out some, so that's super cool. and the best part of this monday is that i can stay up as late as i want because i don't have to work tomorrow. i worked on saturday, and tomorrow is the only day that i could have off to prevent my working a bunch of over time. so yeah, that's pretty cool. oh yeah, and i told my boss that i'm quitting on august 2nd, so that's a big weight off. of me anyway, not so much for her. sorry. she knew it was coming, but she didn't think i'd last as long as i did, so she still really likes me. mostly. i'm going to go enjoy the rest of my very fabulous day now.

so piggin' cute

here are some pictures of the boys (my nephews) that i've been meaning to post for a while.

every single picture i have of emery has this same cheesy grin. it's his one look.

i like this picutre of evan. you can't even see his scars unless you look really close.

this is evan peeking over the edge of the couch at me. he was mad at me because i wouldn't let him take any more pictures with my camera.

i can't even tell you how long it took me to get them to sit together and look at me at the same time in order to get this picture. but as you can see, all my hard work was not in vain. it's funny how much a like they look but emery still looks just like eric and evan takes after sarah.

charlie the unicorn

this video is one that my friend julia showed me last night. i was laughing so hard that i was crying. i'm sorry if you don't find it as humorous as me, but just watch it anyway. it's mostly for my brother charlie (michelle, sit on him and make him watch it and tell him it's especially from me) because he could be charlie the unicorn. they act just the same.

my friend huseyin

this is my friend huseyin. we've shared an office this past year, and we've also taken some classes together. it's been a pretty fun year, and i'm surprised i haven't talked his ear off yet. sometimes i just get going and it's hard to stop me. anyway, huseyin is transferring to the university of texas in austin, so i'll have to break in a new office mate next year. but seriously, huseyin's been an awesome friend and i'll miss him a lot. these are just a few of the reasons:

• he has the greatest deadpan sense of humor that comes out every once in a while that ALWAYS makes me laugh.
• he's as dedicated to his religion as i am to mine. and we respect that
• the way he apologized right and left when he suggested we go to a coffee shop when i go visit him in texas. ("oh, um, no, i mean, you don't drink coffee. i'm very sorry. um we can go somewhere else.") like i said, we respect each other's beliefs.
• the way we both get very uncomfortable when our friend hyobin (from korea) starts talking about sex. again.
• he always offered me a cup of tea when he was making some for himself in our office. (ah the joys of electric tea kettles). and when i refused, he'd make sure to point out that it's just herbal tea.
• knowing how frustrated i would get when the wifi in the office was on the fritz yet again, he would always remind me where the logon id and password were for the computer in our office.
• completely being able to understand each other when talking about how anxious our parents are for us to get married. (sorry mom, you know it's true. it goes without saying. love ya ;)

and the list goes on and on. he and i were meant to be friends. our birth days are only 5 days apart. really. he was born 21 jan 1981 and i was born 26 jan 1981. you don't have to say it. it's crazy. i know. what are the chances. anyway, last week we had a little going away party for him. i made a cake and decorated it like the texas flag. sorry i didn't take a picture of it before we cut it up. it's was pretty amazing, though, i have to say. here's a picture of our little party.

(l-r, ilham (from azerbaijan), ilham's wife and daughter (also from azerbaijan), stithorn's wife (from thailand), stithorn (also from thailand), huseyin (from turkey), akiko (from japan), hyobin (from korea), me (from idaho), and doug (from pittsburgh))

i don't know if you noticed (that's why i'm pointing it out), but me and doug (irish lookin' guy on the far right) are the only americans in attendance. and i love it! it's like yellowstone all over again. i was only friends with the foreign folk (and a few other extra special folk, like you jenni). i like it better that way. please read the previous post again if you don't believe me.

IR radar

so tonight i went to a little house party with my friend julia. she's the only one i knew there, so i just kinda sat around next to her while she talked to the few people she knew. there was an empty space on the couch next to me, so people would intermittently come and sit next to me and kinda talk to me out of some sense of obligation. then this one guy comes and sits next to me and we started talking. turns out he's from spain and is here visiting his old mission companion (who, oddly enough, i had also spoken with). anyway, we sat there and talked for about 20 minutes or so and then he got up for a drink. julia had been sitting all by herself for most of that time and was pretty much ready to leave. so we did. i just think it's funny that out of the 50+ people in the house, i inevitably end up talking to the foreign guy. don't get me wrong, i love that. i just think it's funny. my IR radar is impeccable.