A Summer Goal Accomplished...FINALLY!!

My friends, the time has come that I accomplished a goal that has been a long time coming. I finally returned my BYU rented computer!!!! I have had it for years, and have been graduated since the end of December! My computer is gone from my life. It's pretty funny because I haven't been using for quite some time, and now there is room on our desk for something! I feel great about it, and a summer goal is done! Check mark for me!

Arachnaphobia...Group Chaos!

I have discovered that my roommates all seem to have arachnaphobia. Not only are they afraid of spiders, but when they are afraid it spreads to the other roommates that are in the area. They freak out together and then I try to come and save the day by attempting to get rid of the spider. They are frightened for a bit and I have to laugh to myself. We all think it has gotten worse for them as they have lived together. I guess the mob mentality works for fear with spiders as well in this here apartment!

Cinco de Mayo comes but Once a Year...sadly!

As you may know, my roommates and I love to celebrate the most random holidays (sometimes not in the most PC ways...remember Crutchy?) in fun ways. We had originally planned on going out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant for the day, but because of circumstances, we decided to be a little more low key and just have chips and salsa, and invite some friends over for the fun. The party planned quickly expanded and grew to include virgin strawberry daiquiris (made by yours truly) and a pinata named Pepito and saying "OLE" as much as possible. We had quite the group of friends over and we all took a whack at poor Pepito. We had a blast! I only wish Cinco de Mayo came more than once a year so we could have this much fun every time! Oh, what joy fills my heart when more random holidays come around. Armed Forces Day is just around the corner...

For your viewing pleasure, I have included some pictures of the festivities, including me whacking Pepito, Heather showing off our fake sombrero, and Pepito's new home in our apartment.

Highlights of my Oregon Adventure

Here are just a few of the highlights of my weekend trip!
*The woman at Rancherito's saying "Tank-oo".
*The good smelling flowers outside Denny's in Pendleton.
*The tomato basil soup at Denny's.
*It taking Derek 10 million years to figure out that Bryan, Danielle, and I were there waiting to pick him up from school.
*Hearing that I am not the sister he talks about.
*Seeing my family!!!!!!
*Watching "The Wedding Dress" because my mom loves it! (I liked it too!)
*Going to a writer's workshop in Eugene
*Having the poet laureate of Oregon think I was 14, yes 14!
*After finding out I was a college graduate, he laughed about it for at least a minute!
*Library pamphlets
*Surprising Grandma and Wally at Mo's.
*Going to dinner at Mo's and expanding my dining from a cannonball bowl.
*Having Emalee invite me to her YOUTH dance, and telling me there were going to be "lots of cute boys there". Yes, Emalee...cute BOYS! I am not desperate enough to prowl the youth dances quite yet.
*Doing Emalee's hair for her dance.
*Driving Lora's car!
*Our whole family trying to squeeze onto one bench at church, and having to sit basically on one side of my body for a large portion of the meeting.
*Seeing Derek pass the sacrament for the first time.
*Eating mom's homecooking!
*Eating a TON of GOOD sourdough bread.
*Leaving at 5am
*Wearing the traveling pants, and tying them just below my knees. (my roommates told me later that I pull of the grunge look very well...I think that is a good thing. I think I looked quite cute!)
*Driving in a car, sitting in unique positions, causing Bryan to ask if I was ACTUALLY comfortable sitting like that.
*Almost crying when Bryan told us how far we really were from the Utah border.
*Rest Stops!
*Seeing the Boise and Portland temples
*Hanging out and talking with Bryan and Danielle. I LOVED IT!!!! They rock!
*Getting out of Utah!
*Getting back earlier than expected

*If anyone can think of any others, let me know!!! It was a great weekend!

Time FLIES!!!

Oh, I can't believe it! Derek is 12 today!!! Time flies so fast! I still remember the first time I saw him; it was a Saturday, and I was on my way to John Robert Powers, and grandma and I stopped by the hospital on the way out of town. He was so tiny and I instantly fell in love with him. Over the past 12 years, he has become one of my best friends. I am so proud of him and all of his accomplishments and the wonderful young man he is becoming. I am so amazed by him, and I am sure that people get sick of me talking about him, but I don't care! I want the world to know how great he is, and how lucky I am to be his big sister! I love Derek!