Llama Fest!

Every year, in Spanish Fork at the Hare Krishna Hindu temple, they have a Llama fest (I have yet to discover why they combine a Hindu temple with a Peruvian animal festival - can anyone enlighten me?). We (Nate, Trav, Rachel, Natalya, Damien, Brett, a friend of Rachel's and me) decided to go, since none of us had ever been and we were all a little curious what the hulabaloo was all about.

And I brought my camera :D

This is the Hare Krishna Temple. Pretty huh?

Brett, Nate, me, Travis, Rachel, Natalya and Damien
Inside the temple
Also inside the temple. We decided it would be easy to be a vocalist in this religion, as all we ever heard them sing was "Hare Krishna" over and over.
This was the 2nd picture I took of Nate next to the Llama - he wasn't smiling in the first one. :)
Nate pretended that he wasn't having much fun, but he didn't even know I took this picture. :D h

This Llama, according to Nate, looks like his mom (just the hair) - sorry Kippy - he insisted and thought it was just so funny....

One more with Nate and a Llama - he probably shouldn't have touched it since his hands smelled like Llama for the rest of the day. Yuck!

There was also dancing going on in a Pavilion down the hill - we only watched for a few minutes and I wish we could have watched more, but by that time, everyone was ready to GO!

Breaking Dawn

I just went to the library and put my name on the waiting list for Breaking Dawn.

I'm number 75.

Good Luck - this is RANDOM


So, I have these great pictures to upload from this really fun thing we did last weekend, but I keep forgetting to get the pictures off the camera. Nate also has some pictures he needs to post, but we're slackers and I feel bad not posting.

SO

Last Friday Nate, Trav, Damien and Brett went to The Dark Knight (Natalya and Rachel didn't want to see it and I didn't want to spend so much on a movie I only sort of wanted to see). So we girls had a "girl's night in." Aside from nights spent with AJ when Josh was working, this was probably the most girly night I've had. :) All three of us have curly hair so we did this cool hair treatment, painted our toenails, made cookies and watched The Other Boleyn Girl.










This is probably not a movie you want to watch with kids or even teenagers, but it was a very well made movie. While much of the plot centers around mistresses and what people will do to gain power, it definitely didn't portray it as a good thing and showed what can happen to a family and a country when that becomes acceptable. It was a historical movie that made me realize I knew nothing about the time period, except that Henry VIII got married like 8 times and started the Church of England so he could divorce his wife (I actually got on Wikipedia after I watched the movie to figure out who went where and when certain things happened).
This movie is very much a story about a family, though. As a person who is very close to her family, I could relate to the emotions they were feeling as they did what they could for each other, even while sacrificing things for themselves. Anyway, it is a very enjoyable movie that really plays on your emotions. If you watch it, let me know what you think.

So that was our girl's night in. I have to say, while I love spending time with Nate and the fun things we do together, I think it is VERY important to have time apart - time to do your own things or just be with other girls/guys. In my opinion, it's not good to spend all of your time just with your spouse (and that could just be my personality - I need more space than lots of people I know) - you each need to have your own interests. It makes the time you spend together that much better because you don't feel like it's forced. I think we felt that way when we were first married - that we always needed to be together, but we've learned that it's better to have some time apart.

Anyway, this was the MOST random post of my life. I hope you enjoyed it (and kept up - I'm not sure I did....).

Is it already the middle of July?!?!

I was planning on posting these pictures (yes, I actually took pictures...) right after the 4th, but kept forgetting to take the pictures off my camera and I didn't take the time to update my blog. So I'm finally doing so.

1. Rock climbing:

Nate and Jord hooking up the top rope.

Damien climbing with Nate belaying and Jord & Trav getting read to climb.

This picture was taken for what is BEHIND Paige and Natalya...Yikes...I wish I had gotten his hair. It was longer (and greasier) than most girls I know.

Here we are, blocking the ONLY entrance to Rock Canyon park. We were lazy and it was the only place there was shade. I probably should feel bad, but it was HOT!

My attempt at good photography.

4th of July:

We went to a picnic with Grandma Dewey's sister and her family in American Fork Canyon. Here's a picture of Rachel, Travis, Paige, grandma, Kippy, Kim, great-granma, Don (great-grandma's husband), Kurt (Kippy's cousin) and one of Kurt's daughters.
Aren't we cute? If you look closer to the picture, Paige and Nate have INSANELY blue eyes. Wow. Doesn't Kim look thrilled? What can you say, she's 17 :D All we're missing is grandma Dewey and it's a 4 generation picture!

Rachel showing off her ring to grandma.

Waiting to watch the fireworks (Miley Cyrus was at Stadium of Fire - blah - though I do like that one song on the radio...). And yes, we sat RIGHT in front of a police car. We were there first! :)

So there you go! More to come shortly.....

I want comments!



Nate and I were talking about something that I want to hear other people's opinions:

Nate works with a guy who was talking about what he wants to do when he gets married, relating to the girl's ring. He said one option he thought of was just buying a ring from Wal-Mart while they're young, poor married college students. Then, in like 5 years when they have more money, he would buy a really nice ring. Nate said he didn't think the girl would go along with something like that.

I told Nate I wouldn't have minded something like that and he said I was lying! He said he didn't think there was a single girl who would be okay with something like that. I told him I thought there are plenty of girls who would be. Of course there are girls who wouldn't be okay with that, and that's fine. I don't think that's a bad thing to want a beautiful diamond right away. I LOVE my ring, but the point is if Nate had said he couldn't afford a nice one right now and would I be okay with wearing a cubic zirconia ring until he could afford a real one? I would have been fine with that. The guy would, of course, have to talk to the girl about it beforehand - make sure she was okay with that.

Nate says that's just something guys should do. If they're planning on getting married, they should be saving for a ring because it's an important token of the relationship and to get a Wal-Mart ring makes it seem like the guy doesn't care as much. Plus, he thinks almost any girl would be at least a little disappointed in not having a real diamond to show off. He said "what's the first thing a girl does after she gets engaged? She shows off her ring!" and most girls wouldn't like having to show a "fake" ring.

I actually have a friend who, when she got engaged, showed me her ring and I had no idea it wasn't a real diamond, so I think many people wouldn't know unless you told them. Plus, you could get a different ring every year if you wanted!

I may not have given Nate's side of this as well as he would want (I guess he'll just have to comment about it if he has more to say :D ) but now it's YOUR turn.

I want to hear your opinions. Neither Nate or I will be offended if you don't agree with us. I'm mostly just curious.

What could it hurt?

My friend Adam posted a link to a petition to Congress about drilling for oil here, in the US. While I realize some of you may be against drilling in ANWR, for those of you who aren't, click here.

After you've signed the petition, you'll get a couple of e-mails from them asking you to register , but you just have to unsubscribe and you'll have added your name to the list of over a million people who thing gas prices are sucking the life out of us and that we can do something about it! :)

I say again, what could it hurt to sign it?

"I've got you"

















Last night, we watched Vantage Point with Jordan, Paige and Travis. I had heard a few people say they didn't like it that much, so I wasn't expecting anything great.

I was pleasantly surprised that is was a VERY good movie. It had a bit of a "24" feel to it and I love "24" so I think that helped. I thought it had a good plot and kept you guessing the whole time (though, it seems like our guesses were often right).

Whenever I watch movies, in my mind I kind of predict what will happen. More often than not, I'm right. But I never voice my prediction and when I try to claim that I thought that would happen, no one believes me. So last night, early in the movie, I gave my prediction so I wouldn't have to say later "I knew that was going to happen!" I was SO wrong. I think I'll just keep my predictions to myself from now on.

Anyway, it's a good movie, lots of action, zero romance, a little confusing at times, but overall worth watching (Plus it has Matthew Fox - aka Jack Shepherd if you watch Lost - which makes it SO worth it :).

HOWEVER, beware of the final scene. There is a line that could potentially ruin the movie for you. SO CHEESY/CLICHE/ACTED BADLY. I think it completely ruined the movie for Trav. :)

BABY MAMA
(no, this is not a pregnancy announcement...)










This past weekend, we went to the movie Baby Mama. For those who haven't seen this, you need to. It's HILARIOUS!

While, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, its affect on my subconscious produced QUITE the dream. That night, I had a dream that I was pregnant. But the dream didn't end at pregnancy.

Oh no.

In my dream, I actually went into labor (I vividly remember the pain, even from a dream) and had the baby. Since I know you're all curious, it was a boy.

And he was beautiful.

It was SUCH a powerfully moving dream that I woke up depressed that is wasn't real. He was so amazing and I connected with him instantly. Weird how wanting a baby can do that, huh?

So, I say "Go watch Baby Mama" but I also warned you of the potential results of seeing it (which could be awkward if you're a boy).

BABY MAMA
(no, this is not a pregnancy announcement...)

This past weekend, we went to the movie Baby Mama. For those who haven't seen this, you need to. It's HILARIOUS!

While, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, its affect on my subconscious produced QUITE the dream. That night, I had a dream that I was pregnant. But the dream didn't end at pregnancy.

Oh no.
In my dream, I actually went into labor (I vividly remember the pain, even from a dream) and had the baby. Since I know you're all curious, it was a boy.

And he was beautiful.

It was SUCH a powerfully moving dream that I woke up depressed that is wasn't real. He was so amazing and I connected with him instantly. Weird how wanting a baby so much can do that, huh?

So, I say "Go watch Baby Mama" but I also warned you of the potential results of seeing it (which could be awkward if you're a boy).

Bridal Veil Falls

I promised I would post something unrelated to Twilight, but since I'm a dunce who doesn't take her camera anywhere (and even if I did, I wouldn't take pictures...), anything I post becomes sort of worthless (I have a friend who can pull off a post with no pictures, but she's really funny, so it's okay).

Last Saturday, Nate decided we needed to do something active, since we spent all of Friday night watching Friends and Gilmore Girls (well, I watched Gilmore Girls - he refused to watch with me). So we decided to go with Damien, Natalya, Brandon & Travis to Bridal Veil Falls.

We packed a picnic, which included Salt and Vinegar chips (which, in my opinion, made the whole picnic worth it) and headed to the Falls.

I have to explain here that when I was little, we lived in Roosevelt Utah and anytime we drove to Provo, we drove past Bridal Veil Falls. I think I spent the entire 2 hours with my head turned to the left, looking for the Falls. I just couldn't believe how pretty they were.

Anyway, we ate our picnic, then hiked to the bottom of the Falls. It was a rather hot evening, so it was nice to get the spray of the water to cool off.

I'm pretty sure I ruined my shoes, but it was fun and definitely good to be exercising. :)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Nate pointed this out to me in the Daily Universe (or Daily Uni"farce" as my dad affectionately calls the BYU newspaper). This was a letter to the editor today:



I thought I might die laughing. Sometimes I think people write letters to the editor, just to see how much controversy they can stir up.

I just laugh.

P.S. Eventually I will post something unrelated to Twilight. I promise.

Further UPDATE:

*Caveat for those who haven't read the Twilight series and are still planning on it: this may contain more information than you want to know before you read. I tried not to give away too much, but I'm not sure I would have wanted to know this stuff before I read. DON'T read this if you don't want, at the least, an idea of what happens.



I'm finished. I actually finished the night of my last post (two days ago), but haven't had time to say so.

So, now that I've finished I'll say just a little bit of what I think (like I said, I don't want to give away too much):







1. I think Bella is a moron and probably doesn't deserve to be with anyone mentioned in these books. I have really been wondering what Stephanie Meyer has in store for the next book and if she intentionally wants us to not like Bella (because everyone I've talked to agrees with me).

2. I'm still an Edward fan, for sure. I've talked to a couple of people who say they became Jacob fans later on (either after they read it again or after more time had passed) so maybe I'll change my mind, but for now, I'm still an Edward fan. I think that was solidified by the quote Bella reads from Wuthering Heights at the end of Eclipse ""If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger" I have LOVED that quote since I read this book in high school. I memorized it back then. I love that Stephanie used quotes like that to tie these stories to other novels we could relate to (Romeo and Juliet as well).

3. I definitely think Twilight is the best of the three, hands down. It kept me entertained the most, just wanting to know what was happening. New Moon and Eclipse didn't quite as much. But I still loved them.

4. This is actually something I've just realized of myself through reading these: I am a total romantic when it comes to novels and movies. I got butterflies and a big grin on my face for so many parts of the books. But I'm not like that in real life. If someone talked to me like Edward and Jacob talk to Bella, I would probably roll my eyes and laugh at how cheesy it is. But I like it in books and movies.

So that's about it for now. I suppose I could make more comments, but you'll just have to call or e-mail me to talk more! :)

Update:

I have finished New Moon and have less than 200 pages left of Eclipse.

I must say, I agree with mom. Bella is not my favorite character. Sometimes I want to slap her across the face (I don't want to say too much because I know some people haven't read it yet and I don't want to give too much info...) I can say, though, that I keep hearing people say "Are you a Jacob fan or an Edward fan?" Like I said, I still have about 200 pages, but I'm an Edward fan, all the way. Just so you all know. :)

Anyway, I'd love to hear thoughts, but only say as much as you can without giving spoilers for those who haven't read. If you want to discuss in more detail, you'll have to call me! :)

Sucked in...


I've been hearing for months about "The Twlight Series" and "The Mormon vampire books" (so called because the author is LDS) and other names. I was intrigued and thought it was kind of funny that so many people "couldn't put it down." I watched a preview for the movie that's coming out and thought it sounded alright, but nothing to stop everything in life to read. My mom, who likes having deep discussions and reading deep, thought-provoking books even read all three books in FIVE days! I decided to put Twilight on hold at the library and try it out.

I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!!!

I started reading on Monday at 4:30 PM and finished on Tuesday at 9:30 PM (now, take out the 8 hours at work that I didn't read and the 7 hours I slept).

I read the back cover before I started and thought "Oh, boy," because it said "Of three things I was sure: 1. Edward was a vampire. 2. Some part of him, [can't remember exactly] wanted to drink my blood. 3. I was completely and irrevocably in love with him."

If you haven't read this book, don't let that turn you off. That part was, I admit, rather cheezy. :)

So that's it. I'm hooked.

And I'm going to the library tonight to get the next one.

Rock your Junk!
The first weekend in May, we went with a bunch of Nate's friend's from Colorado to MOAB!!! It's pretty much our favorite place in the world and it was SO fun to have so many friends there with us! So here are some (very random) pictures of our trip. I'll try to explain them. For some of them, you just have to understand that this is a strange bunch.

We're all a little off our rockers.

These first two are just group pictures. All but one person on this trip has some connection to Denver (lived there or married someone who did).






















This second group picture was taken at this arch: Corona Arch. Travis (Nate's brother, see below) and Brett climbed to the top of this arch. Nate and I started to and decided we didn't want to risk death.

One thing I love about Moab is that I get to CLIMB! Next to Landscape Arch, there's a rockface that's pretty easy to climb (getting down is the hard part...). This is me on top with Ryan, Damien and Brandon.









Nate also likes to climb...and swing.






This is Ryan - I won't put his last name so he doesn't get in trouble for...relieving himself on government land. :)
Remember the brother I said you would see below? This is Trav. You would not believe the amount of "babes" he picked up with this stellar...uh...hat...Okay, I warned you that this is an unusual bunch. We handle difficult situations...unusually. While we were getting ready to hike to Delicate Arch, Becki and Adam (who had to leave right after the hike to get back home to catch a flight) locked their keys in the car (if you want the full, very funny story, see Becki's blog). Luckily the trunk was open, so Nate pushed out part of the seats. However it wasn't nearly big enough for anyone to fit into. So Becki (who is extremely tall - very longs limbs) tried to reach her hand to the lock. She couldn't quite reach, so she turned around and tried her foot. Click. She got the lock. I, of course, was very helpful through this whole scenario. I took pictures.
























As I have mentioned before, I am trying to get into photography a little more, so I laboriously carried my camera everywhere in hopes of getting some good shots. I got a couple that I liked - nothing spectacular. The one on the right is my favorite. We were at the Indiana Jones Arch (which I think is actually called Double Arch) near sunset and it just worked so perfectly.























Um...They've been working on the railroad? (in case you can't tell, they're "carrying" picks and shovels...)
And finally, the boy whose joy is MOAB!

Before....



During....
AFTER!!!!

I Gragitated!

So, it's been almost two weeks since this blessed event and I'm just now posting about it.

Actually it was kind of an insane week, to be honest. My parents were here, Nate's parents were here, our friends Adam and Becki were staying at our house, Nate's brother Trav, who just got home from a mission was at our house, my brother, his wife and their little boy came for my graduation. All of these people were around while we re-tiled our kitchen (more on that later) so we basically had no kitchen. My uncle also passed away that week and another sister and her husband and four kids came (they didn't stay with us - there wasn't room!) for the funeral. Then, the following week we went to Moab (more on that as well) and I'm just NOW recovering from all of that!

So here are a few pictures from the day: This was before the ceremony - we took some pictures at the Hinckley Alumni House. I'm pretty sure these two are the reason I made it through college! Thanks for everything!
Here's a picture with Nate and his parents right after the ceremony. Thanks for coming mom and dad! I know it was a crazy week to be away from home!
There is actually an almost identical picture to this one from later in the day, after the ceremony. Very silly. He's a good guy to have around - keeps me from getting stressed out. Love you babe!
This is Nate's grandpa Dewey, who is a picture-taking-home-fixing-knows-everything kind of guy! We sure love having him and grandma Dewey nearby. Thanks for coming Grandpa and Grandma!

This is totally weird, but Nate wanted me to post it. If you have small children, don't let them look at this. :)

Nate was goofing around with the aperture on the camera and took this picture (for those of you who don't know, that's my stuffed animal Johnny that I've had since I was a year old. I still sleep with it.)

Creepy, huh?

So come home to North Dakota....

Nate's little brother Travis got home from his mission to Raleigh North Carolina last week and Dan & Kippy were nice enough to fly us home for the weekend! I took my camera with good intentions to take lots of pictures...and it sat in Kim's car until Sunday afternoon...

I really wanted a family picture with the whole family, but some were a little resistant, so we made it quick...and not that great. Mel took about 5 pictures for me and this was the only one where everyone was at least sort of smiling/not blinking/looking at the camera. Good looking bunch huh? For the past several months, every time I see a picture of Mel I think "that looks like a mix of mom and me when we were in high school." I thought I'd get a cute picture of us to prove my point. Though Mel is WAY cuter/skinnier/good at posing. :)
The Newlyweds! Nate's sister Lindsey got married in December and she's going to kill me if she finds out I posted this picture. :)
Jakey Wakey! This big guy is the reason I am totally okay with having a big dog. If you notice, he's in the family picture too. He's just part of the gang. (This was also an attempt at an action shot for my photography-ness. Not the greatest, but whatever).
And here's the papa. Anyone who knows him well knows he has a mean face that could almost kill you.

This is not it.
Overall, it was a very fun, relaxing weekend. Trav is surprisingly normal (well, by normal I mean not a dorky missionary - he's still a freak) and it was really fun to have everyone together for the first time EVER!