catching up...

last week was a fairly quick one. i can't believe july is almost here... in two days. it's crazy! ok, so this past week hasn't been that exciting. i worked 4 days of about 10 hours each so i could have friday off for jessica's wedding. jess got married friday, june 26 to chris in slc temple. the ceremony was at 11am, but i took the whole day off work so i wouldn't miss anything and so i would be able to be a slave for mike & debbie. as it turns out, i wasn't really needed as a slave, but i still tried to be useful where i could be useful. and now i am ahead of myself. oh well.
monday was just another day. not much happened. my boss and some co-workers went and bought harry potter tickets to the midnight showing. i am excited about that. wednesday will be an extremely long day, but hey...i'll live and i am still mostly young. tuesday i ran a 5k for south ogden days. i was on the macey's sponsored team, meaning they paid my entry fee. i ran the 5k in 30:05. so thirty minutes and 5 seconds. i placed 12th in my division. i don't know overall where i was, but i am quite proud of myself. it was the first race since the marathon. wednesday was a very boring day. i got home from work and just slept. i was going to go to erin's institute class with her, but i was passed out cold. (sorry erin) thursday...not really anything happened on thursday. esther came and spent the night with me so we could get up early friday and make it down to salt lake on time.
friday was a lot of fun. the wedding i didn't get to see since i am not endowed yet, but i hear it was really good. i did get to party it up with everyone after. we ate and ate and ate. and laughed and laughed and laughed. and then we partied even more at the reception center. we danced and laughed and ate and danced and just had a grand ol' time. then es & i came back to my place since we didn't really want to go clear to logan after all that partying. es did have to be back to logan by 11 for work.
saturday morning was here too quickly, but i couldn't sleep past 7 anyway. i stayed laying in bed as long as i could, but then my phone went off for a text. it was jonathon wondering if i was up in logan. i replied that i would be up in logan. he asked if i wanted to join him for an army luncheon. i apologized that i couldn't make it because i would be up in logan. jonathon then said that it was up in logan and i should come. so es & i gathered our things quickly and headed up. i had her drop me off since we were about 5-10 minutes behind jonathon.
we played volleyball with the guys, and they split jonathon & me up. i was with the 'old guys' and jonathon was with the 'young guys' and we (the old guys) whomped them...just barely. so the 'old guys' got and ego and had to play more 'young guys' so they kept me and we beat every team that came against us. jonathon tried to rescue me, but they told him that i was a winner, not a loser so i had to keep playing. it was quite funny. they also teased jonathon that his girl could hit and serve better than him. he took it well and joked back with them. when another guy asked who i was and if jonathon and i were dating as boyfriend/girlfriend or were married or something, jonathon replied, "not yet" and smiled.
after the luncheon, we went cruising logan canyon in jonathon's 1977 rs chevy camero. it's a convertable. needless to say, i got a little toasted. we cruised for a while, but had to turn around so i could go judge a diaper derby for es at stork landing. but first, jonathon insisted that we get root beer floats at a&w. they were delicious! then he dropped me off at stork landing and we made plans to go hiking today. i am excited to get out and moving. jonathon was out of town or something last week so we didn't go biking. and after the diaper derby, i went back to the house and helped brooke & chris get the yard looking a little nicer so hopefully it will sell quickly. and sunday i hung out with es and then came back to ogden. well, that's me catching up.
this week looks to be a pretty good one. i am hiking with jonathon today. and we are mountain biking on wednesday. friday after work i am driving to cortez. (anyone want to come for a weekend?) and that is all i really have planned for this week. but hey, i do a lot of random sporadic things, so who knows what else will and can happen this week. hopefully i can stay somewhat busy so i don't think about ryan too much. he is gone for the month to fort lewis for army national guard training.

my birthday

so after i left you saturday morning, i hurried and went to the store to pick up steak for dinner. ryan said he would rather cook something than go out to eat. i agreed and have been craving steak, so i told him i'd get the steak if he got the side dishes. i absolutely love the burgundy steak macey's marinades in a vacuum type machine. it pulls the marinade through the meat, tenderizing it as it also flavors it. most delicious! tragically, they didn't have any. so i had one of the meat guys, jerry, pick out two of the best steaks that were out on the shelf. jerry then offered to season them for me. (special seasoning for me for my birthday) it is called montgomery seasoning. which actually turned out to be most scrumptious and ryan jokingly said he might just eat both steaks and not let me have any. they were about a pound each. YUMMY! and i am not a steak person. so anyways.... after i got my special seasoning on my rib eye steaks, i drove up to logan.
don't tell ryan, but i think he forgot what time we said because he texted me an hour before and asked where i was and if i had even left ogden yet. then when my reply was, "i am in the canyon. didn't we say 1?" he answered, "yep. i was just checking to make sure you were coming." i really think he had forgotten...but don't tell him i told you. ;) i arrived at ryan's apartment and he was finishing up cleaning the kitchen. so i helped him. then we talked for a bit waiting for some of his friends to come over. (a nice married couple, chris & amber?) and then the 4 of us went to the 'club house' at the complex. it has a pool table, foosball table, ping pong, air hockey, big screen, tables & chairs, a poker table, and a movie rental machine. ryan whooped me in foosball, but then we got annoyed because the table wasn't put together correctly. so we were going to play pool, but the 8 ball was missing. and then air hockey, but the pucks were so badly beaten that they didn't float across the table. so we finally settled on ping pong.
i am terrible at sports and hand eye coordination things. ryan was very patient with me and explained the main rules of ping pong and how to properly serve. then we played a bit and then the 4 of us played. ryan & i won the first round. then we played girls against guys. um, yeah, the guys won. and sadly chris & amber had to leave. so ryan & i went back to his apartment and watched a few episodes of scrubs before we couldn't handle the noise from our stomachs growling to feed me. so we went to the store (ryan forgot to get side dishes.... oh well) and also bought ice cream....which we forgot to eat because we were both stuffed. and then ryan cooked the steaks on the grill at the 'club house'. he likes his steaks medium rare, so i just had him cook mine the same. i don't really know how i like my steak because i don't really eat steak.
after dinner, we fat dogged for a bit. i totally fell asleep for a while. ryan thought it was cute, but then asked if i really was just going to sleep or if i wanted to play some halo 3. i told him he couldn't laugh at my lack of video game skills. so we (ok really just ryan) played halo 3. he was once again very patient with me and explained how to use the controller and was giving me instructions as well as killing all the bad guys. but hey, i did get my bad guys killed (maybe 10). weirdly enough, the video game started making me a little motion sick, so we turned it off and went down to the hot tub and pool. yes, it was raining, but who cares. you are going to get wet anyway. and we swam and sat for a while until we were both very prune like. don't tell ryan i told you this as well, but he totally forgot that it was my birthday. i'd mentioned it numerous times and even just after i got to his apartment, but he still forgot. it was funny. oh well, he is a boy after all. but he is still very much a gentleman. ryan let me borrow his shower and i got the pool water rinsed off me. then we watched a movie. it was late by this point, so we said goodnight. i won't get to see him for a month....army training at fort lewis. but when he gets back, we are eating the steak i wanted to get originally. but that won't be until the end of july. and that was my wonderful birthday.
now, i have to vent for a second about today... i went to the park to read and enjoy the sunshine. no one was there when i arrived. then little kids started coming and playing. so i got off the swing and sat/laid on a bench. out of no where, this little girl starts yelling at me. "hey you!, hey you in the black!, hey you with the book!, hey you with the ?polka dots?" i ignore her. first because she shouldn't be talking to strangers, let alone yelling "hey you" at them. and secondly because i was just trying to enjoy reading my book outside. so then this other little girl comes over to me and stares at me for a minute. she came a little closer then asked, "are you a girl?" what kind of parents does this little girl have? to let your kid come to the park without you, talk to strangers, and then ask a perfect stranger if she is a girl. so i looked up from my book and answered, "yeah." the little girl then said, "well, that other girl is calling your name." i almost wanted to say, 'my name is not hey you.' but i bit my tongue and went back to reading. but it got me thinking....what if i were not a good person? i could have taken that kid, or done something to that kid and no one there would have even noticed. what has happened to society? why are little kids talking to perfect strangers? where are their parents? anyway, i almost wish i would have asked the little girl to point out her parents or go get her parents to ask why they don't care that their daughter is talking to me or why she has no supervision. honestly people! but i guess that's why i am a good person and would never do anything like that.

week in review

this week has gone by fairly quickly, but also kinda slowly. monday was not that eventful. tuesday wasn't either. wednesday i went to an institute class with my roommate. and then i went to body jam. oh, i guess monday i did go to body combat. and tuesday i went swimming. but still, not that exciting. thursday i was a lazy bum. and yesterday i did a lot of things.
first i went to work. then i was going to do my laundry, but the four other people there took up all 26 machines. so i went to SLC. i got registered for massage school!!! i am going to utah college of massage therapy! i start august 3. and the best part: i got financial aid!!! i got a pell grant and a subsidised loan, and an unsubsidised loan. so what that means is: i got school paid for, and i don't have to pay it back until 6 months after i graduate. life is going to be interesting for the next year. i will work in the day (cause i still have bills) and go to school at night. i may or may not be a walking zombie. work is from 6am-2pm M,T,Th, & F and W are 3am-1pm. and school will be 7pm-10:30pm M-Th & saturday or sunday (hopefully i can get saturday) for clinicals. and then when i am all done with school...who knows what options i will have open everywhere for me. there will be a lot (ucmt assures me). now i just have to get my butt in gear and study, study, study. anyone want to be a dummie? i am sure you all would love it.
so then on to the rest of friday (last night). lis & mary took me out for a girls' night. since i figured out one event earlier, lis had me put my eye mask on as we drove to the restaurant we were eating at. i was really lost until we walked in the door. and the instant my heels hit the tile floor, i knew we were at the marriott. chef was there and we talked to him for a while. he was in a suit and it looked weird on him. of course, i have only seen him in his chef outfit, but the suit was still just weird. after some food problems, we all finally got good, cooked, food. mine was perfect the first time coming out. lady's was still bleeding. lis' just tasted like feet to her. oh well. it's all good. after dinner, we went to salt lake to go clubbing at studio 600. the crowd, this time around, looked to be a little older than last time. the problem....there were toooooo many people there and the line to get in was not moving and was around the corner. so we turned around and drove back to ogden. we went to lis' house and watched "man in the moon" with reese witherspoon....a very, very young reese witherspoon. it was an interesting show. i didn't get home until 3am. and i couldn't sleep past 9am this morning. so here i am blogging. and trying to waste some time before i go up to logan. i am spending the day with ryan. :) i am not sure what we are doing, but it is going to be a fun day. and that is my week. until next time...when i tell you how today goes. cause it's my birthday!!!

what's new in my world

this last week hasn't been that exciting. i did go mountain biking with jonathon on monday and wednesday. monday was muddy and wednesday was in the rain. it was totally awesome! this week is kinda going to suck because jonathon is not going to be in town so we can't go mountain biking. on the good news side, lis said she may be getting a bike here soon, so we can all go mountain biking. tuesday i went to a bridal shower for a friend of a friend. it was alright, but by the end of the evening, i was ready to shoot the other girls there. i was on edge so much that when i got home, i vented to erin for a second and then had to take a walk. i went walking in the rain. it was a good way to calm down so i could get to sleep for work early wednesday morning. i am not sure why, but i really just can't stand 18-22 year old girls, especially the ones that are so, "wo is me. i'm not married in utah and i'm 19." it drives me insane.
um, let's see.... monday was work and mountain biking. tuesday was work and bridal shower. wednesday was long day at work and mountain biking in the rain. thursday was work and the oquirrh mountain temple open house with the ward. it was absolutely beautiful. i was amazed at the little details that make everything work perfectly together. it really is The House of the Lord. i think my favorite part was one that i didn't expect. in the more main hallway area, there is a picture of the Savior surrounded by white sheep. in His arms is one small black sheep. i can't explain why, but i started crying. i couldn't stop looking at the painting and thinking, "Heavenly Father loves ALL His children. and i am included in that." it was truly remarkable. i want to find a smaller picture of that painting and put it where i will see it everyday and remember the spirit i felt in the oquirrh mountain temple. i also didn't expect to start bawling when we entered the sealing room, but from the second we walked into that room and sat down, i was bawling. i miss my mom so much. it will be 13 years next tuesday. and deep down in my soul and in my heart, i know she is in heaven waiting for me. i know it is selfish, but i want her here now on earth with me.
friday was a pretty fun day. i went to work, came home, got my laundry done, went to body jam, and then went to the grand opening of the frozen yogurt shop 'spoon me' in ogden. i had just found out thursday night that my friend jake and his band, 'avenue of embers' was going to play. the frozen yogurt was really good. and then i went to lis' house and spent the night so we could get up early saturday morning. lis asked if i would help her with engagement pictures. the couple was incredibly cute, and the weather wasn't too bad. then we went to body jam. after jam, lis held a lia sophia party. and then we went to her family ward party. and that was my week in review. i didn't get to see ryan this weekend. he had drills with the national guard rotc. i think i will get to see him this coming weekend....for my birthday :) afterall, i still have his favorite hat.

odd date, air show, picnic in the jeep

i didn't have to work on friday. it was glorious sleeping in. i actually slept until noon. WOW! i never sleep that long. ok, i didn't get to bed until after 2am thrusday night. we did a movie night at lis' with the projector. then i came back to my place and chatted with erin for a few hours. so anyways, friday i slept in. took my time getting ready for my date with lance. went grocery shopping for my date saturday with ryan, and then took a bit more time and did nothing. i may remind you that i am not one of those girls that likes to take soooo much time getting ready. it was awkward and i still had time to spare. i was fairly certain i knew where i was meeting lance, so i didn't leave quite as early in case i got lost. my garmin took me right to where he said to meet him, pei wei asian diner. only, lance wasn't there. so after a phone call, we realized there was more than one pei wei asian diner in slc. he was a gentleman and came to find me.

it was really good food. i ate all of mine and then felt like a pig when i saw lance hadn't eaten all of his. at least he paid, right. oh well, whatever. after dinner, we went to play laser tag. we played three rounds. it was a lot of fun, but not quite so much for a date when you don't really know each other at all. i hadn't played laser tag in forever so i forgot that you get code names and go on a "mission" each man (or woman) for himself. we couldn't decide what code names we wanted, so the nice people behind the counter let us draw from a bucket. i drew for lance, and he drew for me. he drew out cupcake, and i drew out playdough. so i was cupcake, and he was playdough and off we went to go 'kill' the little kids having a birthday party. then finally on the third round, it was more adults, or at least older teenagers. ps...lance is 21. after laser tag, we went to chilli's for molton chocolate cake. again i felt like a pig as i consumed probably 3/4 of it while lance barely touched it. it was rather late at this point, so lance took me back to my jeep. we talked about another hour and then we both drove away. i think lance would be cool to hang out with again, but i don't see another date in the future. and i am hoping for something more with ryan.

so on to saturday..... :) i got up at 6am (sleeping in for me) and went to work at 7. work was quite nice and i got a fair amount done. i left at noon and came home to get ready to go to the air show with ryan. he was running late because he got to go play paintball and they got a late start. no worries though. we had all day to get to the air show and look around at all the planes. it actually worked out better for me with him running late. i got to get myself all cute and got our dinner ready for after the air show. ryan was a kid in a candy store with all the airplanes. i was fascinated as he told me what he knew about each one. we sat in the pilot's seat in one of the black hawks they had on display. ryan showed me which airplane he has jumped out of for the army trainings. we tried to get in it and look around, but there were too many people. then we watched the thunderbirds do their maneuvers. i never realized how close they really are to each other. it was crazy! ryan really got excited when he found the exact plane he wants to buy. it was a sr22 something or other. i can't really remember. but it is a sweeeeeet plane. he made the comparison that this plane is the sports car of cars. it can go out in freezing conditions because there are special breathing holes on the wings that cry deicing fluid. we couldn't find the owner to discuss more about the plane. we did get to look at some cool helicopters and talk with those guys. they run a business out of ogden airport and will let you fly for a half hour for a hundred bucks. and when i say you fly, i mean you get to take the controls and they instruct you while you fly the chopper. i think when i get an extra two hundred, i'll take ryan.

when we finally decided to leave, we got stuck in traffic. it took us just over an hour to get out of hill air force base. then we stopped back at my place, grabbed the food, switched vehicles (we took ryan's truck to the show), and went to meet mary & james at a park for a picnic. the weather turned rainy at this point, so we all climbed in the back of my jeep and finished our picnic. yes, yes, four people can sit in the back of my jeep and have a picnic. it was funny. i felt bad for james because he wasn't quite as little as mary, ryan, and me. but we still had fun.

after we ate, we were going to play frisbee or volleyball or something, but the weather really didn't want to be nice anymore. so ryan & i went to wise guys comedy club and mary & james did something else...... not sure since i wasn't with them. the first comic wasn't that funny, but the other two that performed were pretty good. the show ended earlier than we had expected, but it was still a long day for both of us. i got up early to go to work, and ryan got up early to go paintball. poor guy didn't eat breakfast, and he skipped lunch to hurry to get down here to see me and we didn't finally get dinner until 8 ish. so he was exhausted, and i was tired. we came back to my place and were about to fall asleep so we said goodbye. ryan invited me to come paintball monday evening. he left his hat here at my place...not sure if that means i have to take it to him now or if i get to keep it... it's his favorite hat i may add. so all in all, i think things are going good places with ryan. i like him a lot. and he is always a gentleman.

battle wounds

i took my bike out yesterday on the 22nd street trail. it was the first time since i bought my bike that i have actually been on a trail. jonathon invited me to hit the trails with him. we were cruising. ok, in all reality, he was cruising. i was chicken. i took it easier and had to walk my bike up some of the steeper parts that i lost momentum and couldn't get going again. i am all in one piece and am dying to go again. i did end up bleeding however. i totally wiped out at the last downhill to go back to the parking lot at the trail head. my right knee has a small gash and bled for a while. other than that, i didn't have any other wounds from wiping out. my left shin has a nice set of scratches from either a tree or rock, but i am not certain when that battle wound happened. jonathon said that we need to do this at least once a week. i agree. it was awesome. i love mountain biking, even though i am chicken and go slower. we do wear helmets and gloves, but i still don't quite like the sound of broken bones. knowing me, if i were to loose control, i'd go over the edge and end up with something broken. anyway, so jonathon and i have set wednesday evening for mountain biking. and even sweeter, he is going to trade his bike rack to me for dinner. he has a truck now, so he doesn't really need his bike rack. i don't have one and asked if he knew where i could get a good one for a cheaper price. jonathon said, "easy. you can have mine." but i can't just take it, so i said let me at least buy it from you, and he said how about dinner sometime instead. so now i have a biking buddy, and will have a bike rack. WAHOO!
and even cooler, i am going to be more active and not so lazy.monday afternoon is body combat. monday evenings are going to be hiking nights with mary, lis, sarah, and whoever else would like to join us. wednesday evenings are going to be biking with jonathon and maybe whoever wants to join us. it gets harder to bike with a big group. thursdays are going to be body jam. and depending on what else i have (ie...dates, girls' nights) then weekends are going to be running, swimming and whatever i want i guess. and i made the decision that i don't care quite so much about my iron levels if i am still feeling good. and i am feeling good so i am going to stay active and enjoy the outdoors. and i am going to leave things here so i can get ready for body jam. it is so much fun! everyone should come at least three times to it.

updates of the past week

thursday; went to work. then came home and went to a 10 stake activity at Toads. i car pooled with mary, lis, sarah, and jonathon in mary's sexy car (sooki sooki). we played mini golf...i won with a score of 70!!! ha ha ha i really suck... oh well. then jonathon, sarah, and i went and did the go-carts. we made a wager. if i won, jonathon would take sarah and i out for ice cream. if he won, i would take him out for ice cream. i totally had the lead until one stupid corner. i took it a little wide so i wouldn't loose control, and jonathon sneaked around me and took the lead. i almost had him when we lapped the slower drivers and he had to brake so as not to collide, but i couldn't turn quite slick enough and he still kept the lead....and then won. BLAST! so now i owed him ice cream. well, mary and lis were wanting to be done, but mary was hungry and i owed ice cream. so we; jonathon, mary, lis, and i, went to ma & pa ice cream parlor in north ogden. we had fun.and here is mary, jonathon, me, sarah, and lis. and that was thursday.

friday; i went to work. got my laundry done. went to body jam. and then lis & i decided to do an all night movie night. everyone could bring a few favorite movies and snacks if they wanted, or just come and watch movies. momma & daddy arrington just got a new computer and a projector came with it so we were going to set it up and try it out. well, you all know how not tech smart i am, and we couldn't figure out the projector to my laptop. :( but we still had fun. we had a robert downy jr. night and watched "heart & souls" and "iron man" and that was friday.

saturday; i woke up early. couldn't sleep past 7am. sad. oh well. anyways, i got my apartment cleaned. went shopping for jess' bridal shower. went to mike & debbie's for a bit before the shower since i had a date that afternoon and couldn't make it to the actual shower. had some good laughs with them. then came back to my place and ryan came over. we went to "night at the museum; battle of the smithsonian" it was pretty funny. i still think i like the first one better. then we came back to my place and i cut chicken and vegetables and ryan cooked them since i was still chopping. we made sweet & sour vegetables with a taste of chicken. i didn't realize i would need more chicken even though it was just for two people. oh well. it still tasted really good. then ryan and i made my famous triple chocolate fudge cream cheese brownies. they ended up being a lot richer than i had planned, so we only ate one each with a tall glass of milk each. and then the night was done and that was saturday.

sunday; went to church. went and watched lis, mary, sarah, and lisa sing in sarah's parent's ward. then hung out with the arringtons. justin (lis' bro-in-law) was kind enough to tell me what i needed to do on my laptop to make the projector work for next time. hopefully i will be able to get it working.

monday; went to work. found out that there is an air show this weekend. invited ryan to go with me. :) he is coming! wahoo! went to body combat. went to mel's suprise birthday party. took lis home, and watched the amazing lightening/thunder/rain storm while i drove back to my place. when i got home, it really started raining. so being me, i had to go outside and twirl in the rain for a bit. it was so much fun. it would have been better with company, but it was still fun. i laughed out loud at myself twirling in the middle of the street with the rain pouring down. it was a warm summer rain. the kind i really love. and that was monday.

today; i got up for work and my hair still smelled like the rain from last night. yummy! work was not too bad. i came home and went for a short run. now i am blogging and need to get in the shower so i can go meet with my bishop. he does yearly meetings with everyone and i guess it's my turn since my birthday is this month. he does it by birthday. then i am going over to lisa's to say hi and watch everyone else in the hot tub. i can't stay so i don't think i'll get in. i can't stay because tomorrow is ad day and i have to be to work at 3am. and i am not working this friday because my boss needs me to work this saturday. hopefully i can be fast and get in and out so i can go to the air show with ryan on saturday. i am so excited!!! for a few reasons. first being; i get to see ryan again. second being; i have never been to an air show. and third; it is just going to be another great weekend. oh, because i am not working friday, i have a friend who wants me to go out with his friend. i am going out with him on friday because he asked and i have a rule that if the guy is brave enough to ask, and i don't get creepy feelings, i say yes for one date. after that, i don't have to say yes. and i said yes because ryan and i aren't an official couple or anything, so i think it would still be healthy and ok to date other people...even though i just want to date him.