Umm, what am I getting into

Okay this little post has been going around and I love the concept so here it goes...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

To Hell with the Pamph

So I had heard the rumors, but last night the rumors were removed as I witnessed Kirby Heyborne's part in a Miller Lite commercial. My opinion is that he has sold out his values. He has built himself as a representative of LDS values. Being in a public spotlight position he is accountable for the way he represents himself. By acting in that commercial he has destroyed himself as a representative of those values.

watch the commercial here

The Likely End of Singles Wards

Well, I got released from my calling as Sunday School first counselor today. It made the whole leaving thing a little more real. I will be going to the Ashford, CT ward. It all just feels so bizarre. I have those mixed emotions. It is time to get on with my life, but at the same time I am sad to be leaving so much family and so many friends. I will also be sad to be leaving the desert. The summer hikes and trips I have gone on are certainly going to be missed. I will miss going out water skiing with family. Hiking Mount Timpanogos. Really I will miss mountains in general as well as wide open spaces. There are things about the Utah culture I won't miss.

Certainly my least favorite day will be fast sunday because I will be missing the family parties. Thursdays will also be awful because I will be missing family lunch and ultimate frisbee. I know there will be frisbee in CT, but it's not the group I have been playing with for 3 years.

The nicest part about going is the advancement of my life. It definitely feels like my life is getting stale and it is time to go. I know I got into the right school for the right degree. I often wonder what I will become in 3 years. Where will I go? That is an answer I will have to discover with time.

I am grateful that Aimee always reminds me to write in the blog. No pictures this time, but just some scattered thoughts.

so enjoy and I will let the world know how Nauvoo goes. It will be a couple weeks before I have time, but I will.

A Whole Life in a Few Months

Wow, where to start. As Aimee rightly pointed out: a lot has happened since my last post. I returned from my New York trip to interview with schools. I did accept an offer from the University of Connecticut. I can not express how excited I am to go. They were only accepting two students and I got one. Lots to do, definitely need to spend more time getting ready. School starts August 25th, so I should get going. The position comes with an assistantship which includes a full tuition waiver (which accounts to about $13,000 per semester) and a stipend of about $9,500 a year. I am especially happy not to accrue a lot of debt while finishing school. A couple of weeks ago I did get a call from NYU asking me to attend school there. It felt really good to get accepted, but it didn't feel quite right. Probably because I can still get a good education without being forever in debt.

In a couple of months I will be heading to Nauvoo for 7 weeks to assist the lighting designer with the pageant there. I am really glad they asked me as I have wanted to do this for the past three years and this may be my last chance. It feels good that they want me and the disappointments they have expressed about me going off to school. It will certainly be a job to be missed.

Austin got home from his mission. Much to my mom's dismay we kidnapped him and forced him to carry a 45 pound pack through the desert. We had a great hike in Slickhorn Canyon. The ruins were spectacular. They were harder to find than the ones in Grand Gulch that Darren and I experienced last year. I think Aimee was also sad to lose Corbin for the weekend. My poor sister, too. We took Chad along and it was the first time since before they were married that they have been separated, and the first time in even longer that they haven't been able to talk or text for more than a few hours. Fortunately I didn't have anyone at home to be sick with loss over me. It was such a good time, we got hail and rain and waterfalls and just an amazing trip.





Austin, Chad, and I also messed around one night with painting with light. It turned out really better than I expected considering the conditions we were working with.

I am really at an odd spot in my life right now. I can feel that it is time to move on, but I just have to burn the time until that happens. I know I am going to the right school and that it will put me somewhere great, but what all that means I really don't know.

The Legend of Chin Lee (Bruce Lee's Cousin)

Recently I enjoyed an excellent backpacking trip in the Needles Overlook area of South Eastern Utah. It was great to get away and live in the desert again. We hiked in a canyon along Indian Creek. The joy of being in a class was spending a week with strangers and getting tight and having the learning atmosphere to really appreciate the wonders around me.

Near the beginning of the trip I stated how cool it would be to wake up with snow one morning. It wouldn't be cool when it happened, but in like two weeks when we talked about it. Well, I became cursed and got my wish. I guess I never knew my power.

The next day we went on a day hike to a bend in the Colorado River. Even though the trip was cold (my water bottle froze two of the nights), I decided that an adventurous swim was well worth it. To avoid chickening out I decided to just run in as fast as I can and dive in when it got deep enough. After I took off my shirt and shoes I started my sprint. I got about twenty feet into the water, got stuck in the mud and promptly face planted. I tried to wade out to a swim able distance, but at about 30 feet the water was still only 3 inches deep, however I was nearly up to my waist in mud. I posed for a couple of pictures in the freezing water then struggled back to shore. After a very entertaining struggle to clean the mud off my feet so I could get my socks back on we began the hike back to camp (and my pants weighed like 20 extra pounds because of the mud and water coating my pants).


Next we stopped at a waterfall, it was a little warmer, but quite exhilarating. It was nice to clean off all the camping grime and feel at least a little fresh again. Nearly everyone took the chance to wash off.

We had a fun foreign exchange student from China named Lin. He is from Shanghai and had never been camping before. He was fun to hang with on the trip because of how foreign the whole experience was for him. He fell asleep just as we left Salt Lake. He woke up somewhere near Green River and his eyes were wide with the amazement of how the environment had change. It may have crossed his mind that we had taken him to another planet. I don't think he quite knew what to expect. He survived the trip off of a loaf of bread and several packages of oreos. He said he would camp again. I sure hope so.


Overall the trip was just amazing. Here are some more pictures to wrap it up.

Our last Camp

Some Mining Remains

Petrified Wood



Hieroglyphics



So here is the Legend of Chin Lee, it was a way we could remember all the formations (layers) of rock in the area. We came up with it as a class.

It was a Paradox because one Hanukkah (Hannaker) an elephant (Elephant Canyon)was hit by a cedar (Cedar Mesa) and his Organs gushed out. All that was left was White Rim tusks and he could no longer moan copiously (Moenkopi). Then Bruce Lee's Cousin, Chin Lee (Chinli) came along and made a samurai sword from the tusks, went through the Wingate, ate the magical Cayenne Pepper (Kayenta) and defeated the mighty Navajo. He then celebrated by eating Carmel.