U-turns & Low-tech

So I lack the appropriate skills to fully document the trip I took with my siblings to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Instead I'm going to recount the journey with some quotes.

Day 1 : Thursday, July 28th

"Is that close enough!?" -Megan

"YES" -Karen (aka the GPS)

"Did you know that they don't have sales tax in Oregon?"-Mindy

"Maybe it's the fish" -Megan

... Two minutes later

"Did I just say 'Maybe it's the fish'!?!"- Megan

That's all we remember from day one, but the drive at 2 am nearly reduced me to tears.

Day 2 : Friday, July 29th

"Hat drinks" -Megan

"Turn the air on. Turn it warm. And turn it towards my pants!" -Gavin

"The shadow of the necklace scared me..." -Mindy

"This is not an OK hill!" -Megan

"I thought there would be grass" -Mindy (in reference to a Portland festivity entitled "Flicks on the Bricks")

Day 3: Saturday, July 30th

"There's a kid in my ward named... From Bremerton" -Mindy

"That guy's shirt has a picture of a giraffe and it says 'Moo, I'm a goat'"- All of us

"I'll just make a square turn..."-Mindy

Saturday was a rough day, so we didn't have very many funny quotes...

Day 4 : Sunday, July 31st

"That train is going like 2 inches a mile" -Megan

"Squish fishing!" -Mindy

"Oh, it just blew away" -Megan (in reference to a bird)

Day 4: Monday, August 1st (The day of my birth, in case you were wondering)

"How would you reuse toilet paper?" -Megan

"How many presidents signed it?" -Megan

"That music helped keep me awake on the drive home."-Megan

"That music helped keep me asleep on the drive home." -Mindy

"I think a screaming pterodactyl would have helped keep you asleep" -Gavin

Day 5: Tuesday, August 2nd

This day was mostly sleeping or watching movies in the car; however, this is just the list of quotes we remembered/documented. Needless to say there were countless more that were forgotten from the sleep deprivation accompanied with the smoke of Seattle. If we remember more amendments will be made to this post. And the running gag of our trip? "If only we had a smart phone..."

Hope you enjoyed our montage of quotes from our trip. If you're dying for pictures, click here.

Reward Theory of Attraction

We tend to like a person whose behavior provides us with maximum reward at minimum cost.

I found this in my Social Psychology book. Lame? I thought so too. Maybe people should work for reciprocation (which is defined as a mutual giving and receiving) instead of looking for the most while giving the bare minimum. Sometimes psychology makes me think people are the worst.

Dear UP House in Herriman, Utah

I want to see you so bad!

I love the Parade of Homes, and I wish I had been there the week it was open. Now I will just have to stalk this house the next time I am home. It even has the hose that Russel can't climb up, and the mail box that sparks the whole story. If only there was a squirrel somewhere, and Dug! Anyway, you are an adorable house and I think people are geniuses for this one act. Woot for the HBA (Home Builders Association) for putting this lovely house in Parade of Homes. Not to mention those who actually built you. My own personal pictures will follow ASAP :D

Stop. Drop. Gold. Black.

Yeah, the zip line is pretty cool.

There Must Be Something in the Air

Because once again this is happening all over facebook....

I stole this from Brooke Austin, but it's true; however, whatever is in the air is just causing me to have itchy, red eyes, sneeze ten thousand times in a day, and have a scratchy throat. I guess pollen isn't the only thing I'm allergic to.

I'm Missing...

The ability to breath through both nostrils at the same time. Who knew allergies could just spring up on you so quickly.

Air conditioning. I currently lack this in my car, my house, and one of my two jobs (mostly cause one is outside). I never knew how much I loved AC, but I do. Love and miss dearly.

Sleep. Because of the combination of the first two, I have had much less sleep. I've found that if I go to bed with an ice pack somewhere in my bed and a fan going full blast sleeping is much more doable; however, it took me over a week to figure this out so much sleep was lost.

Home. I have been a little homesick. Perhaps this is because I am dreaming of my bed in the cool basement, or the fact that I have the misconception that my allergies only affect me in Logan. Either way, I'm missing home.

Family. This goes hand in hand with being a little homesick, but I miss them especially.

Friends. I have friends from Salt Lake to Wyoming that I am surely missing.

I think this list has been great to think about, but I have also found a bunch of things that I have found.

I've Found...

A new respect for people with allergies. I'm not going to lie, I've always thought allergies were a lame excuse to not want to do anything or go outside. I have found the error of my way. Allergies are the worst. I have holed myself inside as much as possible if only to avoid the horrible floating white substance that blocks off my breathing and restricts my vision.

A great tan. As much as air conditioning is fabulous, within the heat of my job I've found I've gained an awesome farmers tan and an even better chaco tan line. I believe I currently hold the chaco tan line crown :) Snaps for me.

Great books. In the time that I haven't been able to sleep (usually from 1 in the morning to 5 in the morning) I have rediscovered great books. The Book of Mormon, The Red Pyramid etc etc.

Home away from home. I bought a hammock. This might sound weird as my "home away from home" but I braved two hours in my back yard with my new hammock, armed with allergy medicine and bug spray and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was simply so relaxing that the only comparison that does it justice is my own home.

Friends. At the ropes course we are staffed solely by women, minus our head coordinator. This has been the greatest. I have found a friend in each one of the girls that I have worked with there, and I am so grateful to have a summer to spend with them. Hopefully there will be many more nights of Harry Potter and or Village Inn.

Roommates. This goes along with the previous one, but I have found great roommates. What are the odds of finding a roommate that is willing and prepared to encourage me to go to a ballet class? Slim to none, but I was lucky enough to find such a roommate. And we have enjoyed one ballet class and hopefully many more as the summer progresses.

I hope my lists of randomness haven't bored you to death!

Happy Thoughts

Apparently they lift you into the air. I think Peter Pan was right. Happy thoughts are the best. My day started out with a happy thought and the happy thoughts just kept rolling. We'll share this in a list :)

I was making my lunch this morning (good old PB&J) and I immediately thought of my mother. Somehow at some point, whether by my request or my mothers offer, the idea of just having jam on bread was born. My mom and I called it just jam. I remember her asking me if I'd like PB&J or Just Jam, and usually I would say Just Jam cause it was the best homemade strawberry jam that anyone could ever ask for. I loved it. To this day I don't think anything can top Just Jam. Thank you Mother dearest for giving me just what I want-always :)

At Old Navy this morning I was working at the register. When on the register you usually have to multi-task. As you're ringing people up, you also have to greet the customers coming in as well as acknowledge the customers who are leaving. So, I'm ringing up a lady and she has two very cute kids. During the transaction a couple people leave, and I say "Thanks for coming in guys" and the cute boy who belonged to the woman I was checking out enthusiastically says... "You're Welcome!" This happened twice before the transaction was over. He was adorable, and extremely polite.

Ropes Course. (If you didn't notice my life kinda revolves around work). Anyway, today we were doing more building. Thirty feet in the air. With power tools. Now I figure most of you wouldn't believe me so I made someone take a picture. It's a small phone picture, but photographic proof of what I actually do. So enjoy. (The happy thought for this is that I didn't descend quickly [we're not supposed to say 'fall' or we have to sing "I'm a Little Teapot" for all to hear] and I didn't drop anything on anyone. Successful day at the ropes course).

Please disregard how fat the harness makes me look... We have to keep them tight or it becomes very uncomfortable very quickly.

From there we went straight to campus where we learned how to set up a thirty foot movie screen. We then proceeded to watch Tangled and then learned how to take the screen down. In the dark. It was a very good time, enjoyed by all :)

So despite my back hurting a lot (don't worry I've got ice and hot pads) today has been a very long and very successful day and I am excited for the rest of my summer :D