Family Beach Trip

Top row: Keith, Cherie, Lily, Mom, Dad

Bottom Row: Kent, Jenessa, Me, Jon

This is my lovely family. We had to take a new family photo due to the addition of two wonderful people. My Brother-in-law Keith and baby Lily. We had a family reunion of sorts this weekend. It was the first time we had all been together since my sister's wedding like 2 and a half years ago. I am the second to the youngest. My oldest sibling is Jon, who I call by his real name Jonathan... but am the only one who still does that. Then comes Cherie, Kent, Me and Jenessa.

We decided to visit Long Beach, WA because it was having a kite festival. We got yelled at by some kid for stepping on his kite string. WELL EXCUSE US FOR WALKING UNDER THE RESTRICTIVE ROPE! Haha. It was unusually sunny for a Northwest Beach trip and I enjoyed wading in the water. I love the feeling as the water pulls back and it feels like you are being rushed into the ocean... but in reality you are just standing in the same place.

The Board walk. You can kinda see all the kites in the background.

The Obama Kite! I pretty much have decided to vote for Obama this year. It's still up in the air though. Which I think a lot of people might find funny given I am still a strong Bush supporter. I guess I like Obama's ideas of change. I think this country needs some positive thinking and Obama gives me the optimistic jive that everything is going to work out. I vote republican the majority of the time, but feel McCain isn't for me. I got pretty upset during the preliminaries how my religion was treated by the party and press. It was mocked, defamed and cruelly criticized by the American population and more directly in the south. It was sad to read how so many still believe that we practice polygomy and believe we worship Joseph Smith. The Republican party and the south pretty much said we weren't welcome. Um, Hello, some of your strongest support comes in the Mountain States which have a huge Mormon population. I don't see how so many members are willing to support the party as strongly as they do. I saw the door they slammed in our face.

I will be voting for Dino Rossi (R) for govenor. His ideas are what I think the state of Washington needs. He should have won four years ago, and did (before three recounts where ballots started disappearing), governor of Washington State. I thought slimy politics won the current gov. power.

Lily

So I finally met my little niece Lily this past week. She is so precious! My sister Cherie came last Wednesday and my Brother-in-Law Keith came on Friday along with my Grandpa Miles. We are having a family reunion of sorts and it's been fun relaxing with the family. Jon and Kent come on Wednesday. My Grandpa Miles came for the weekend and it was great to see him again. He took us out to Rose's Deli for lunch yesterday. It was delicious. If you are ever in Vancouver you have to stop there for lunch or dinner, the food is great and the desserts are to die for.

Lily started scooting for the first time the other day and I was there to watch, it was beyond cool to watch her make such a huge step.

The Olympics have been so fun to watch. I don't think I'll spend much more time watching now that the Gymnastics and swimming are done. None of the other sports are really intriguing to me. That Michael Phelps was unbelievable. Jenessa and I were debating if we like him or not. There is a hint of possible cockiness that holds me back.

Oh. I beat everyone at the families favorite game. Flarkle.

New Beginnings

So, I should have introduced my roommates while I still lived with them. These are my buddies from La Jolla 213. Natalie, Megan, and Meagan! We also had two other roommates... but they hated us so they didn't get to be in the picture. My first semester back at school was tough for me. I am an underachieving overachiever which means I am pretty dang tough on myself. I spent most of the semester, like usual in my bedroom working on my computer or wasting my time on facebook. I took some classes that I liked, and some that I hated. I've gotten so picky about my teachers since I got back from the mission. I guess all the interaction with humans on my mission made it so I find qualities that I like or drive me mad!

I did well grade wise this last semester which was comforting. I am going to push through this last year and hope for the best. I finally landed an internship for this fall.

I am interning for a guy in my parents' ward (church congregation) named Ben. He owns a small baby company that specializes in fancy baby stuff. It's called pujbaby. They have a website at www.pujbaby.com. The stuff for pujbaby is super cute. It has a hip modern feel and reminds me of the stuff I would see in the baby boutiques in Norway. He is going to have me do the package design for some of their new and old products. I am so excited for that. They are going to look so fresh in my portfolio. Ben and his wife are industrial designers who come up with some really cool things. His style and mine match well and I think I'll be able to add to his business. I'll also being doing some design work for other projects he has.

I am looking forward to these next few months. Moving isn't on my list of things I want to do, but it will be fun to experience it.

You are living in the Monkey House

I was watching Project Runway the other day with Kent marveling at how Tim Gunn reminded me of my teacher Brother Burgener. It was weird how the use almost all the same phrases like... "(insert name), I am worried about this. Are you going to have time to finish?"

Well Tim said something that made me laugh and think. He was like, "You know when you enter the Monkey house, it smells really bad and you're like, "What's that smell?" Then after 10 minutes you don't really notice it anymore... then after an hour you are wondering why the people coming in are making such weird faces and gagging? Well, for the past month you've been living in the Monkey House..." He was referring to the weird outfits made of Human Hair collection, but I think we can apply that to ourselves.

How often do we sit and watch or do something, that we don't feel good about or know we shouldn't be doing... then after it starts to be a habit, those feelings don't really come anymore, and we live in the Monkey House and see nothing wrong. Complacency is a dangerous thing.

Pippi

I dedicate this posting to my favorite Scandinavian book character Pippi Longstocking. Hun er saa nydelig! I fell in love with Pippi on my mission. Pippi is just so dang cool. She is the epitomy of everything fantastic in the world. She doesn't care what others think, she is a super strong and independant women. She can take care of a small family, a horse and monkey. She cooks and cleans! She also is very considerate of others. She uses her gold coins to buy candy for her friends Tommy and Annika all the time.
Pippi is like the female Peter Pan. But instead of flying she can lift stuff over her head. Peter lives in Neverland,somewhere out in space. She lives in a little Swedish Village! Her dad is a Pirate, and a African King. So She pretty much has it made. FY FABIAN!

Wall-E Review

Wow, I think this is the first Animated Disney Movie aimed to discuss social problems. It was a mix of 2001 Space Odyssey, Soylent Green, and 1984. I was waiting for the robot on the ship to start singing, "Daisy!"

Definitely a man vs. the machine movie, and what will happen if we entertain ourselves to death.

I am not a fan of animated movies. Not in the least. So I was super hesitant to see this one. I had no idea what it was going to be about. I was actually impressed. And no talking animals. I loved how all Wall-e wanted to do was hold hands. SO CUTE!

The most interesting part of the movie was the end how they showed the progression of man through Art. I thought it was so cool from cave drawings, to Abstract (Van Gogh-like) they showed the development of man. Or chubby man.

HEY CUPCAKE GIRL!

So this morning I did Jenessa a favor and helped her roommate distribute cupcakes to people in the annual Rexburg Freedom Parade. I got a really cute t-shirt out of it. It says I *Heart* Cupcakes. I'll have to wear it when I get home and make some cupcakes with my Mom and sisters. We could have a really fun FHE! Jenessa's roommate Megan works for a place called Cupcake Cafe, the obviously sell cupcakes. They also sell Coffee like drinks without the coffee made from chocolate or milk.

We were walking around giving cupcakes out and some angry man yelled at me and was like "Hey Cupcake Girl, you missed me!" Well there were no more cupcakes so, sad for him.

I think this could be called the year of the cupcakes for me. My birthday was cupcakeriffic! I got tons of stuff to make cupcakes from my Mom.

I went to Idaho falls today for the fireworks show. It was a lot of fun. My companion from the mission Dorthy and her roommates went to the movie Wall-e first, stopped by Ross to get some clothes for Dorthy and then had a little picnic and played a game called Bohnaenza or something. It had to do with gold coins and bean cards.

The fireworks were great. Some little kids in front of us cried the whole time and spoiled it a little. But I was impressed with the show.