Weddings, Rainbows and Weird Sculptures

So far the weekends in October have been intense in a good way.  Lots of stuff to do and people to see.  This Saturday we went to Salt Lake for my friend Kim's wedding.  I met Kim in Buffalo when she was investigating the church.  I was in the right place at the right time, I guess.

The happy couple leaving the temple

I don't know what was happening with my camera phone.  Oh wait, it's a camera phone...

 It's starting to cool down in Logan.  It's been rainy and overcast.  This past week we had not one but TWO rainbows by the canyon.

I joked with James that we should go to the water lab to pick up the pot of gold.  He didn't laugh.  The water lab is where James does his research and it's located near the mouth of the canyon.

The actual sign for the Chuck-A-Rama on 4th South.  Awesome.

 As we were walking in to Chuck-A-Rama I noticed a gigantic bird house but I didn't think much of it (probably because I was hungry.)  Afterwards I saw a sign on the fence in the parking lot that almost made me gasp.  GILGAL GARDEN.  It's one of those local placed I've wanted to visit but never got around to it.  Lucky for me, James is really obliging so we drove around the corner (we didn't realize it was so close) and spent a few minutes in the garden.

James and the Joseph Smith Sphinx.  I don't think James was excited.

Me and the statue of Child

 It was a weird place but sort of cool.  I'm glad I was able to finally visit it.  Thanks James!




One more thing: I handed in my final draft of my Plan B Report (thesis) on Friday.  It was 85 pages long!  Granted, there are a lot of pictures.

I attended my mission reunion last night. I was so excited to see President and Sister Layton again, it had been a year and a half. I missed last October's reunion because I wanted to visit my sister and her husband in Las Vegas. I missed April's reunion because of car problems. I was NOT going to miss this one! As usual, I brought my camera but took only two pictures. I should have taken a picture with the Laytons. Ah, regret.

I was really excited to see my trainer, Katie George VanValkenburg. She and her husband have an adorable little boy, it's kind of hard to believe. Here is a picture from our mission:

Between us is Janet Williams, whose grandson is married to my sister! I really enjoyed getting to know the Williams during my time in New York.

And here is a shot we took as we talked at a table. We probably should have had someone else take the picture.

Oh well!

How I spent my summer vacation

I would be lying if I said I wasn't ready for summer to be over and I could handle another three months of it. There was a mixture of happy and sad times, boredom and busyness...you get the idea. I did a couple of things I have never done previously. Things like ventilating wigs and speaking at a funeral for a friend. Here are some of my favorite moments from the past three months:
Spending quality time with these two fine looking people:
Going on a fun hike to Timanogos cave, primarily with these two:
Spending oodles of time with this cutie:
And watching my Grandpa pass on traditions, like horsey rides:This last picture is courtesy of the Deseret News. I haven't seen these two wonderful people in almost a year and I'm hoping we have a mission reunion. Especially now that their assignment is local as opposed to, say, Peru.

Basically, this summer was great because I was able to hang out with some of my favorite people. I'm hoping that the trend will continue into the fall and I'll be able to spend time with some of my favorites, like school friends, and mission friends...you get the picture.

It's not quite homesickness but...

I got feeling sort of "Mission-Sick" today at church as I sat in almost every meeting. It may have been the fact that I was fasting and that tends to make me feel a little more...I don't know...something along the lines of more emotional without being actually hysterical (far from it actually.) Anyway, it seemed that in every meeting someone mentioned something about Western New York. There were a couple of mentions of the Historic Sites and then there was one about Perry's Ice Cream (oh wait, that one was me. We were talking about our favorite ice cream: Lemon Meringue Pie.) Anyway, I have been missing Western New York. I've been home for just over three years now and I think that is plenty of time to feel __________sick. I don't feel like I can fill in the blank with "home" and using "mission" makes it sound like a disease of some sort.

Anyways, here is a list of things that I miss:

#1 My friends: companions, members, investigators...

#2 Wegmans. Yeah, I miss a grocery store. I'll have you know that grocery shopping is the high light of my Saturdays. I love grocery shopping.Especially when the produce department looks like this:

#3 Perry's Ice Cream

Fantastically delicious! It's probably a good thing that we have Perry's here in Utah because I think the thirty pounds I gained on my mission was divided between these three flavors.

I want to go back and I want my family to come and see everything. I might not make it back until after grad school but it's only 2 1/2 more years.

Whoa.

That's a long time. We'll see what happens. The way my life seems to go it could happen sooner or it could happen later. I make tentative plans rather than defined plans.

I fell today on the sidewalk

It was a generally overcast day in Logan today, cold and wet. I was on my way to school when I slid on the icy sidewalk. At first I thought, "Whoa! I totally dodged that--" I didn't get to finish that thought because next thing I knew I was on my back. Rather than spring to my feet, I laid on the ground, assessing the situation. While I was contemplating the wet ground I heard a little voice say, "Are you okay?" It was one of the elementary school kids that was walking to school at the same time I was headed to the university. I told him I was okay and I then I thanked him for asking if I was okay. It was a vaguely embarrassing situation and slightly painful as well. It reminded me of the time I fell on my mission (okay, one of the times I fell.)
Sister Jorgensen and I had been serving together in Medina for a week or two when I fell. The road in front of our apartment was being repaired and as a result there was a good 24" drop off. This was no problem for Jorgensen because she was about 5'10" and had the legs to prove it. I'm 5'3" or so and I also have the legs to prove it although not in the same way. Jorgensen was able to easily step up onto the pre-existing curb due to her long legs. I was not as lucky. I lost my footing and almost face planted into the gravel. As if on cue a driver slammed on his breaks and said, "Jinkies! That looked like it hurt!"
I'm not sure if that is how you spell it but that guy in Medina actually said it.

Dinner with Friends

I went to dinner with some friends from Buffalo last night. What I mean by "friends from Buffalo" is they are all friends that I met while I was serving on my mission in Buffalo. From left to right in the picture below: Jess Piwko, Kim Allen, Natalie Lund, Me, Lexy Hjelm, and Amber Ackerson. I met Kim and Jess when I was serving with Lexy. Kim was investigating the church and Jess was her fellowshipper and roommate (convienent!) Amber lived in the Buffalo ward and is friends with Kim and Jess. Natalie took Lexy's place after transfers. It was really great to have everyone together for the last time. Not to worry, we'll probably all get back together when Kim gets back from her mission to Canada. It was a fantastic night!

Lexy, Me, Amber

Jess, Kim, Natalie

Jess, Kim, Natalie, Lexy, me, AmberJess, Me, Kim

I forgot to mention that we were only going to have 5 people at dinner. Right after we were seated Jess walked up, a massive surprise for everyone but Amber. Not only was the company great but the food was fantastic too (thank Buca!)