June 30... What is that stench??

It's definitely not me.

I have used the same deodorant since I was 12, Dove original clean. Today, after smelling my 10-hour-working pits and determining that they stink, I bought a new kind. Flavor, maybe? Secret's vanilla chai. And it smells delightful! I keep asking my friends and family members to smell my pits. It's a bit disturbing.

June 29... X Marks The Spot

Thank goodness for Jenelle and a GPS. Otherwise, today's new thing would not have been GeoCaching.

It's true. There is a secret society outside of our little world. They hide containers full of treasure around the world, for us to find :) All you need is a GPS and the coordinates, found on the website, and you can find aswesome treasure beyond your wildest dreams. By the park we were hanging out, there were four different containers, hiding in the bushes and in the roundabouts. It made me feel like a real live pirate! You can also take whatever gifts are inside, as long as you leave something else to replace it, and you sign a little log with your name and what you did. It's super fun. I took this little pig keychain. Awesome!

June 28... Lantelope.

There were so many AWESOME things that happened today. I spent the day with Cailie and her family, and I went to my first Lehi Parade. I know I'm supposed to be all patriotic about my own city, but I have cousins in Lehi, so I guess it counts. Well, Highland. Close enough. Anyways. Here is a sweet picture of us. My favorite was the Spanish Club car, complete with Del Taco cups dragging behind it. Or the huge throng of kid and teen cheerleaders. They are taking over the world! It's a bit scary.

Cailie and I also went to the Dollar Tree, where we tried on King Arthur outfits. This is also where I purchased my first pair of incognito glasses (complete with moustache and furry eyebrows.) We enjoyed wearing these to the park later that day, where we got Pirate facepaints, and her little sister Aubree fed me grapes like a queen.

Afterwords, her and I drove to see the great Beardly (Bradley, from Logan piano major days.) He is still doing awesome, it was really nice catchin up with him. Cailie and I knocked three other things off our list tonight-

We went to a pirate pool party.

We saw the mentos/diet coke trick.

And we made dry ice bombs.

For some reason, Bradley likes to blow things up. And it was really really suspenseful. And loud. And illegal. My favorite things! There is nothing more fun that stuffing 5 pounds of dry ice in old pop bottles and exploding them. Except maybe acquiring 6 pounds of dry ice. However, I wouldn't recommend making your own bombs unless you are a trained professional. Or if you can find a non-piano major to screw on the lid. (Haha!!!)

June 27... C'mon baby, do the locomotion!

When there's something in your way, you gotta take charge and conquer it. That's why today's new thing was climbing over a train. I had to make a delivery down an industrial road, and there was a train parked in the way, blocking all in and out traffic. Yes, I said a train. Who abandons these trains in the middle of the tracks? They must be caught and punished for their actions. Anyways, we all waited around for a while, and I realized that it would probably be a very long time before anything happened.

So, I ventured out of my car to assess the situation. Also there was a very pleasant hobo with missing teeth, and a bike with a giant garbage can strapped to the back. I had a little chat with him about the situation of the train, and decided to go for it. I was originally going to climb underneath, but as I had a large toner box in my hand and the gap was low, I thought it best to try an alternate way. Plus, I didn't want to get smooshed, in case the train started rolling forward. Though it proved a difficult task, I managed to hop over the bars in between two carts. It was a bit dirty, but sometimes a girl's gotta get a bit dirty to get the job done. Know what I'm sayin? They should feature me on "Dirty Jobs" for sure.

June 26... Just Another Day In Paradise.

Today was full-jam-packed full of new stuff-a-ma-jiggers.

Like buying insulin for the first time. (For my co-worker. The guy behind the counter was flirting with me!)

And goin to a double-decker Wal*Mart in Salt Lake. (I just had to park on the top level...)

And filling my first toner laser cartridge. (You guys don't really understand what a big deal this is! Only the big strong men are allowed to fill these... this means I'm moving up in the world! Or, at least, the Cartridge World. Ahaha.) It was a Brother TN350. Woot! And I did it right. I got a lot of toner all over myself though.

Oh, and let's not forget that I ran for the longest run thus far. 4 miles straight! My knee joints are a bit sore. I'll be feelin that tomorrow...
And when I came home, I had the pleasure of sitting down with my dear friend Mike and watching a new flick: Roman Holiday! Oh how I love sitting down to a good Audrey Hepburn movie. Love just isn't the same in real life as it is in the movies. Especially when you're a runaway princess touring with a handsome man in Rome! Ahhh... c'est l'amore. Or whatever it is in Italian.

June 25... I love ink.

Today I worked the longest workday of my life... open to close. It was only from 9:00-7:00, but that's still 10 hours. I was pretty stoked about it. It was a busy day, and I didn't have much time to relax. We wear these awesome gloves at my work, to protect our fragile hands from the ink, and I thought it would be super awesome to

NOT WEAR GLOVES ALL DAY AT WORK

for my new thing of the day.

This is what happened. I think I might have scared away a few customers, but I sure felt neat. Brought me back to the old Logan Tie-Dye days.

Also, I tried the new Mt. Dew flavor with James. (The one on the left!) It was pretty delicious.

June 24... And the 10K continues...

...and thanks to today's new thing, so does my awesome fashion wardrobe. As many of you might recall, I have never been one for, well.... exercising. I have always been out of shape and lazy. I hated running. I hated sweating. All that changed this summer when I registered for my first 10k. It has been going well thus far- I've lost 20 pounds and run an average of an hour a day if I can. However, I have been running out in my tie-dye shirt and cheetah girls headband, with old basketball shorts to complete the outfit. Today I went over to Target to buy my first real sportswear. Can you believe it? 19 years later, and I finally own my OWN sports bra. It's a miracle. And of course, you know I bought a lot of it in green! Green is the best color ever. I will be lookin so good for my 10k! The only thing I have left to find is a pedometer... anyone know where I can find a cheap one?

June 23... On a Monday night...

Today's adventures began after I came home from work. Madeline was in the awesome 3rd grade theatrical production of "1001 Arabian Nights", and she was one of the sultan's wives. While we were waiting for it to start, my other sister Makenzie was making her own scarves. I have always wanted to know how to do it, so I asked. She taught me the beginning steps, and apparently you just do that over and over again. One day when I have the free time I will make my own... awesome!

Also, I just got done with another new thing: I chatted on my webcam with Keegan and Andy! I don't know how they pulled it off, but apparently my laptop has it. It was fun! For a while it was hard to hear them because my family is so loud around me, but after a while I got the hang of it. Oh the possibilities....

June 22... Mingling

... Well, sort of. Ashley, Cailie and I ventured out to another ward's "linger longer" for our new thing of the day. We felt a bit guilty, but free cake and fresh fruit was much too tempting to pass up. And boy was it delicious! Also done today: we picked weeds at the institute building. Cailie got one out with the roots still attached! It was insaine. And a very laid back, relaxing sunday.

June 21... What is this squishy stuff...?

Today Cailie AwesomeErcanbrackiNator came to visit me! But first I did something stupid. I went for a run at noon outside for the first time. It was probably the dumbest thing I've ever done. Yeeeah, not so awesome.

But we move on. I gave away Capriccio, my fish, which was sad times. But we got two new frogs! And me, Kate and Cailie went to my friend Brad's party that night. It was pretty interesting, because at the food table there was a box of 100 condoms. We didn't realize this, and we picked them up and began to squish them... we thought they were some sort of condiment to put on our food... haha how embarassing! It was definitely a bit of a freaky new thing for the day. Why they had a box out by the doritos, I'll never know.

June 20.... Save Ink, Print Happy

Cartridge World Sugarhouse owns a bodysuit. Not just any bodysuit. A printer bodysuit. Fantastic, right? Today I tried it on. It was huge! But really awesome. I have a picture on my phone, but if you want to see what it looks like, go here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oCGqTAIGkA

This is what it looks like. Golden.

June 19... A quick shave?

Today's new thing was watching Sweeney Todd. I don't really know why, because it's Rated R for graphic violence, which I am not a fan of. The movie itself was, shall we say, horrifying. Killing customers and serving them in meat pies is not my cup of tea. But I liked the movie, in a sick and twisted way. And I absolutely loved the music. Might have to find the soundtrack for this one.

June 18... Bee-utiful!

As I was perusing the library after work, I approached a craft table.

Uh oh.

You know me and crafts. However, I decided that if the kids could do this one, so could I. And it had the instructions, crystal-clear, ready to go. It was the art of making

Bee Bookmarks

My bookmark turned out. I couldn't believe it! I simple ribbon with a few pipe cleaners twisted together, and I was in business. This book is about to be marked, my friend. By a creation completely my own. I felt very accomplished.

June 17... Still poor Fred.

Since Fred (my Beretta, for those of you who don't know) is currently still a bit low on antifreeze and courage, I had to drive the Expedition for work. This was only OK because it was a new thing. And it seemed to take forever long to get there. And I can't park it in the parking spaces. And it doesn't have a dock for my ipod. So it pretty much sucks. The only cool thing about it was that I drove over a median to bypass a long turning lane. Haha!

Check out the car above. Now the car below. Yeah.

June 16... Ultimate Ping Pong

Somehow, today I ended up in Provo. Since I was on my way back with some free time, I decided to quickly stop by Spencer's dorm. While there, we kinda went crazy and did some interesting things. First of all, I threw my first bark chip at someone's window. It was a lot less climactic than I imagined it being. Then, we went to his common area to play some ping pong. For some reason, there were Eight (yes, eight) ping pong paddles sitting there. So naturally, we decided that the more paddles you held, the more surface area for the ball to hit. This was true. So, I played my first game of 4-paddle ping pong.

It was pretty freakin' hilarious. After we did that, we went over to the vending machines, where I had my first can of sliced peaches from the vending machine. Quite delicious, if I may add.

A random night, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, we decided to drive for a quick trip to the river where Josh and I first tagged our love, but we ended up at the top of a canyon instead with my car overheating and leaking antifreeze everywhere. But it was still a fun night. A big apology to Jason... because of this I was unable to see him on his birthday. And Fred is still a bit injured. Poor poor Fred.

June 15... Ringer

Today was fathers day, as we all know, and it was actually quite boring. I did go on my first excursion with my family into Provo Canyon, where we went fishing for a bit. We brought an aerobie along for the trip, and were all throwing it back and forth in a meadow. This is where the new thing comes in... I caught it around my head! Ever since I was a little girl and would watch my dad do it, I have always wanted to be coordinated to do it too. And I finally did it! It took some practice and just the right throw, but I did it. Yay for aerobies!

June 14... Hiking!

Since I don't currently work Saturdays, and woke up earlier than usual, I decided to call up my good friend Spencer to see what he was up to. As it ended up, he drove me up to American Fork canyon, for my first hike to the waterfall. I have not been on very many hikes... I think the longest I have been is a little over 2 miles. This one was a bit longer, and awesome! It was a beautiful day- a bit hot for my liking, but sunny is always good. We hiked past the lake and through a bunch of silkworms. (They were hanging by threads from the branches! And sticking to our shirts! Gross!) The last 15 minutes of the hike were death for me, because it was all uphill, but I made it! And it was beautiful... the waterfall was a lot bigger than I imagined.

I watched as Spencer put his head in the water to cool off, and I thought to myself, now that just isn't fair! So, I decided to do the same. I leaned over and stuck my hair right in the path of the rushing water... It felt like it was pulling the hair off of my head, but other than that, it was fun. And my head was a lot cooler! An interesting new thing to do, at any rate. It was a fun hike, even if it did slightly kick my butt.

June 13... Tra la la

I didn't have a good title for today's blog, as you can see.

I remember waking up to my father yelling at me to get stuff done. So I was running around everywhere trying to collect money, make deposits, and find rentors... it was very hectic. I kind of went on strike, and took a break for a few hours at the gym to relax. I ran on the treadmill, and did a freaky new thing: I showered in the gym. Usually I get creeped out by this, but the place was so nice I had to try it. Tons of showers, towels, and hairdryers. I got to get all clean and re-do my hair for the day! It was actually really nice.

Oh, and since my razor is broken, I went to the store and had them put my card in my old middle school phone. That was a new thing.. Very interesting. When people call me, a picture of Tony pops up. Freaks me out! Memory lane. Anyways.

June 12... Goodbye Mexico!

Ever since I saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I have wanted to be Bridget. She has that long beautiful hair, spunky personality, and she gets to run on the beach. Since I started my 10k training and was in Mexico, I saw it as a good opportunity to step into her shoes. I woke up early, before anyone else was up, and just walked out there. There was hardly anyone around. I started to run, and found it a lot harder than it seems. The sand was squishing in my toes and keeping me off balance, but I kept going. It felt so good to do run with the waves alongside me, pushing me to keep going. I felt like I could run from everything, like nothing could touch me. When I couldn't go anymore, I sat in the sand and put my toes in, and just let the waves wash over them. I am always in awe at the ocean, and I can't ever seem to get enough of it. This morning I just breathed it in and let it soak through me to the core. The only thing that was missing was my love next to me, sharing the moment! But I loved that moment just the same. It was a fantastic moment to top off the end of my vacation in Mexico. I saw so many great things on this trip, learned so much as usual, and really had a good time. I am going to miss Mexico!!

June 11... 5th Avenue and Orientals.

Today we didn't quite know what to do, because the rain hadn't let off. We decided to try 5th Avenue, the local flea market in Playa del Carmen. We took a taxi there, and shopped around. It was pretty awesome. I tried on my first Mexican poncho, tried Mexican chocolate, got all my gift shopping done, and got an awesome chili pepper shirt. Kate and I had to leave early, because we had made reservations at another restraunt, this time the Oriental.

Can i just say. Wow. It was craziness. We barely made it back in time, couldn't find it, and had to take a golf cart through the rain to get to the restraunt. But my oh my, was it delicious. We're talkin sushi, soup, egg rolls, and Pad Thai. The real deal. It was so delicious. My Pad Thai was smoking hot spicy, but too delicious to stop eating. We couldn't believe just how nice these restraunts were, and how much we'd been missing out on, eating at the buffet. It was just craziness. Absolute delicious goodness. And we had a good laugh and a good time together, Kate found over 6 gramatical errors in our menu and chopstick wrappers. And I just laughed a lot. It was a good bonding moment.

Oh, and our family met in the common area outside after we were done, and we took about 2 million pictures of our eyes. These were a few of the classics. Sometimes my family really really really freaks me out.

June 10... More fun in the sun... well, sort of.

After spending monumental amounts of money to swim with the dolphins, and snorkel, my family decided to take this day and relax at the resort again. My dad had to leave today to go back home, so for the rest of the time it was just us girls.

Some new things I did: held a capuchin monkey (it was so cute!), and sat through an entire Mexican rainstorm (this thing hit out of nowhere, hit hard, and then went the rest of the day.) It was a fun laid back day, and it was crazy to see all that rain!

Luckily, the rain makes the flowers beautiful.

June 9... Nemo!! Where are you???

Today was also a very fun-filled day in Mexico. Our family got to ride a taxi to Xel-Ha. It's a pretty awesome place where you can scuba, snuba, and snorkel. Our family did a lot of snorkeling, and it was really fun! My favorite moment was swimming underneath a school of about 300 fish, and just watching them disappear in front of my eyes. Those little buggers are fast! Oh, and we saw a stingray, but I was a bit wary to stay for too long. Snorkeling is awesome. I also held a toucan for the first time (It totally made my day!) and caught a good 2 hour nap in a hammock. We had to buy eco-friendly sunscreen there, and it didn't rub in too well, so we all looked like white ghosts. And it was too hot to really care...

Oh, and on our way back to the resort, we stumbled upon this creature. They look like huge gophers, and apparently the locals say they are hard to catch, but delicious to eat. This one was really quick, and Katelyn named it the "Lightning Hog". Good times.

When we got back, we headed off to one of the resort restraunts... free with a reservations. Today I got to eat at my first real Gourmet Restraunt... which was absolutely crazy incredible. Ever since I'd seen those movies where they served gourmet food, I've always wanted to try it. But of course, being middle class, I could never afford a place like that. This was an awesome experience to try gourmet without the guilt.

And the food was so crazy. You could tell a lot of preparation went into each flavor, each taste, and each course. I ordered stuffed crab, onion soup, duck in honey sauce, and real creme brulle! Ever since me and Andrus' attempt to cook this dessert, I have always wondered what it would taste like. And I was surprised, it wasn't too far off from what we had... only less fruit and more rum flavor. I was surprised how much I liked the crab and duck, too... both were delicious. It was so awesome to eat at this fancy pants restraunt. Our family certainly didn't fit in though, we were all spinning our heads in circles and laughing abnoxiously loud. But it was such a awesome time. Definitely better than the buffet

June 8... Kich and Diana

Ever since I was little, I always had the dream that I wanted to be a dolphin trainer when I grew up. I was discouraged when I went to SeaWorld and saw that they had to swim in the water, because I was terrified. I gave up that dream, but I never stopped loving those cute little creatures. Today I got the opportunity to come face-to-face with them. That's right, today's new thing was swimming with dolphins. (Kich and Diana) It was so amazing! They are so intelligent, and so strong. We got to kiss them, hug them, let them carry us, and let them push us out of the water in the air by our feet! Then we got free time to just pet them and see them close up. It was so amazing. Not to mention, the trainer we had was totally hot.

After that, we retired to our resort to eat at the buffet, and I got to cross another thing off my list... I ordered Mexican Coffee. (I know, right? My sins are piling up...) Nah, but seriously, it was so cool. They pour the coffee in the cup, and then in a seperate cup they pour in a tiny bit of alcohol. I guess that stuff is pure, because they light it on fire, and pour it back and forth. It looks pretty radical... liquid fire! Then they drain what's left into the coffee and serve it. I had just a sip, and it wasn't half bad. He put in a lot of cream, and it was pretty sweet. But I don't like the smell or taste of coffee, and I still didn't like the alcohol taste either. But it was definitely cool to watch!!

And here is a cute pic of me and my dad. While we were at the buffet, I had a chance to try one other new thing: I ate a prawn. It resembled a lobster, and I didn't really know how to eat it, but it was still pretty yummy. Yay for prawns!

June 7... I wish I was in Tijuana eatin fried Iguana...

Just kidding! Although today we did see some pretty huge iguanas. They lived in a hole by the lobby. Check it out! I picked this picture because Maddie was trying to squint into the sun and she looks totally asian!! Haha.

Anyways. Good times. Today our family just checked out the resort and hung out all day. We got to swim in the ocean and the pools, and that night, we got all dressed up to go to my first Mexican Disco! This was a bit of a stumbling block, because you had to be an adult with an adult wristband to get in. Kate is almost 16, and didn't make the cut. So, we put my mom's bracelet on her, and dolled her up with tons of makeup and a fancy dress to try and sneak her in. And it worked! She looked way too hot for her own good.... We got in, no questions asked. Unfortunately, the disco was lame. There was a bar and it smelled like smoke. Hardly anyone was there in the first place, and no one was dancing. I was sad, because I wanted to dance the Merengue and Bachata with a real Mexican boy, but no such luck. However, I did teach Kate, and my dad... He didn't do so hot, but he got the beat down a bit better. It was just fun to hang out.



Oh yeah, and I saw my first Mexican Cockroach today! Totally nasty, that thing was HUGE.

Random picture: Look! Another person with a bent nose like me! How exciting!!!

June 6... Cancun

You read that right, today our family took an hour long taxi ride for $50.00 to

Cancun

Kate had a friend and his family/other friends that were staying in Cancun the same time, so we decided to go visit them and hang out for the day. And it was a blast! Their hotel was right on the beach too, and we were all excited to get out there and get some sun! We put on our spray-on sunscreen (I know, right? Bad idea.) and all got completely fried. My mom got the worst of it- she wasn't really able to even stay out in the sun the whole trip because of her 3rd degree sunburn on her legs and shoulders. But it was a pretty awesome beach... the waves would pound us pretty hard, and I had to leave a few times to attempt to get the salt out from my contacts. But we had a bomb time, we buried this kid CJ in the sand, and I shopped for sunglasses on the beach (the man said I was sexy... great.) Oh, and we got in a mud fight, and had some lady yell "Hey! Go away!" It was pretty epic.

Aren't we cute????

The whole time we were there, the families were raving about "Happy Hour", when all the drinks were half price (Their hotel wasn't all inclusive), and they were so nice to order us all Miami Vices. Don't worry, no more alcohol- it was a mix between Pina Colada and a Strawberry Daquiri, and it was positively delicious. Here is a picture to prove how excited I was. Maybe a little too excited. Talk about creepo points to the max.

Woo!

After our fun in the sun, we decided to get our stuff together and all go to downtown Cancun to do some shopping at the flea markets. It was pretty cool there... very busy and a tad bit crazy. It would be fun to go there if you were a couple or you wanted to do some serious clubbing I bet... anyways....

Kate and I really wanted to get real henna tattoos (Refer to my first week of new things), so we got them for reals this time. We got lower back "tramp stamps" of a sun and flares coming out, I totally dig it. And my dad even jumped on the bandwagon and got himself a Tat on his upper back. We are pretty hard cooore, I don't care what anyone else says. It was fun getting a real one.

After we'd had our fill of the city, we came back and relaxed on the beach for a while more. It was so beautiful there at night, with the stars above us and the warm wind... I felt so calm. We led the kids in a short walk down the sand, and ended up teaching them a bit of yoga. So there's a new interesting thing: Yoga on the beach. Harder than you'd think... it was hard to keep balance. But very relaxing! Then we headed back for the hotel and home, and I had my first real contact with a crab! It was wandering around... those things are FAST! It was a fun night.