2nd Niece Married & 2nd Bouquet Caught

So if the first bride's bouquet I've ever caught was a "throw" bouquet, does that mean it was jinxed since that was 6 years ago and I'm still not married? And then does that mean that if I catch the bride's real bouquet, then will the old saying actually hold true? I hope that is the case considering the crowd I had to beat down to catch my niece's bouquet. The "crowd" consisted of one other single female from the wedding guests: my 17-year-old niece. Good thing I caught it! I would hope that I would be the next to marry if my competition is my 17-year-old niece that is still in high school! :o)

My niece that is closest to my age (6 months younger than me to be exact), Traci, got married this weekend. She was married in her parent's backyard - which is beautiful. My sister and her mom, Teri, does a phenomenal job with her yard and garden. Some day I aspire to have a yard and garden like hers - or maybe close to being like hers. I digress.

We were soooo lucky that the rain held for the ceremony. And then for most of dinner. Most of the guests were able to eat their main course before the rain started! After that we went inside for dessert - which, get this, was the actual wedding cake. I love it! That's what the dessert should be right?

And then I must say I am most impressed with my sister and her husband's ability to outfit every cold wedding guest with fleece vests and jackets! It was almost akin to the miracle of the loaves and fishes! After all, the high for Saturday in Logan was 63 or so. We were cold!

I loooove the photo of their kiss. Her veil was blowing in the wind! Is that not romantic for your first kiss as husband and wife?

Can I just tell you how much I love my family? I looooooove my family. Adore them. So glad to be part of them. Looooove it when we can get together.

Mundane Monday - Culture Lunches

One of my favorite things about working for Brigham Young University is my access to so many cool things, like the Museum of Art, exhibits at the Library, lunch time lectures by visiting dignitaries, and even the cool hands-on science stations in the Eyring Science Center! About a year ago, my co-workers and I were talking about all of these cool exhibits and how we don't take advantage of them! So I've started doing just that on my lunch hours. A couple weeks ago I went to the Museum of Art on campus and toured the Minerva Teichert: Pageants in Paint exhibition. It was amazing. I wish she had more of her work on-line so I could show you my favorite pieces but this one will have to suffice.

Then just today, I visited the exhibition on Masterworks of Victorian Art from the Collection of John H. Schaeffer - again at the Museum of Art. I think I now understand why my fellow London study abroaders loved Victorian Art! I loved how wistful each piece was and how I felt like the paintings brought my fantastical dreams to real life! Although the most famous piece they had in the collection probably is not my dreamiest piece - Mariamne by John William Waterhouse.

The piece that was the epitome of my dreams was Chivalry by Sir Frank Francis Bernard Dicksee. What girl has not dreamed of her knight in shining armor coming to save her life and virtue? I am no exception. Look how fair she is. Does that not symbolize her virtue? And look at the sun setting behind her knight as he stands over her captor. It's like a vision of courage, honor, and selflessness. True love - right there. You can see it in her eyes.

But I must say, my all-time favorite Victorian piece is The Lady of Shallot by John William Waterhouse. I just have to mention it even thought it is not in the collection at the MOA.

This piece is immortalized in my memory forever... because of the movie Anne of Green Gables. And then I saw the original painting in London. Sigh. Remember when Anne acts out the scene of the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson? Reciting the poem?

There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say A curse is on her if she stay To look down on Camelot. And at the closing of the day The broad stream bore her far away, And as the boat-head wound along They heard her singing her last song, The Lady of Shalott.

Dating Advice - Hilarious!!

So my friend, Linda, put a link to a YouTube video on her blog for a Harry Enfield video which was hilarious and then I found this one:

My Favorite Prank Played on Me

A couple of years ago my friend, Paul, pulled off one of the most extensive pranks on me and my roommates and therefore my most favorite prank - in response to our comparatively pathetic Pilates flyer.

He put together an entire website about the 3 of us! www.celestialdating.com
Here are some screen shots from the website:

The welcome pageThe homepage
When you click on my face from the homepage you get my page
And then when you click on the images at the right of my page you get some of the following pictures and captions! Paul actually contacted our parents to get some of these photos!! And obviously some of the photos have been doctored.And then there is the dating application - if you click on the image you should be able to see some of the hilarious entry fields!
And then there is the Mr. Right quiz (again, click on it to see a larger image).
And then the following Mr. Right Quiz results reveal which of three girls you are most compatible with (again, click on it to see a larger image):
And then last but not least is the Instant Proposal feature where you could propose any one of us.
This website is a prank that just keeps on giving! We've had a reporter from the Washington Post propose to us as a way to get in contact with the creator of the website - he wanted to do an article on it!! And then the worst of all: one of my roommates had a actual polygamist use the instant proposal feature to invite her to join his family as one of his wives!! After that last one, Paul took the site down for a while. But then put it back up. Those were good memories - all the pranking we had going on between us during those years (2003 - 2005?).

My Memorable Moab Memorial Day Weekend

How about that for some alliteration?! Ha!

A small group of us went down to Moab for Memorial Day weekend and we had a great time!! The group was a little off kilter in numbers, but fun all the same - it was me, Lindsey, Rob, Lizzy, Jana, Heather, Nate and Jon. And we did the unthinkable: we took road bikes down to Moab - the mountain biking mecca of the nation! I know. I know. It was pure blasphemy with all that slick rock around.

We drove down there Friday night and totally got stuck in some awful traffic in the canyon, but! We had a blast because I brought some radios that I got a work! We were daring people in the other cars to do crazy things - like I did a cartwheel out on the side of the road!


The memorable moments-

The official competition between my JetBoil backpacking stove and Nate's (well, technically Jon's) nameless stove. Ever since I bought my JetBoil, Nate and I have been bantering over whose is better. Sadly, his stove boiled water long before mine did. BUT!!! I couldn't get my gas to turn on so I am going to demand a rematch! :o)

Riding our bikes in Arches National Park and have two "mother figures" (poor Lindsey and Lizzy) follow us in the cars so when we (actually me) got tired we could ride in the car to the top of the hill and then ride down.

Nate riding on my tail and making me nervous - because I was going so slow up the hills on my bike. I begged him to pass me but he refused. And then having the joy of Jon behind me - he gave me some space but he also refused to pass me. Hence his new nickname: Mr. C*. (The C does stand for a word, but I've promised not to reveal it . . . to too many people.) :o)

The Dutch Oven Lasagna that Lindsey made for dinner Saturday night! And the second bantering that Nate and I had: over whose method of starting charcoal is better. Stay tuned for the official competition results later this summer (hopefully).

Impersonating how Nate sits in his camp chair - see the video. Sorry if it is sideways - I don't know how to rotate it. I had no idea that Lindsey was taking a video - I thought she was just taking a picture!! So that is what makes the video so funny.


Lindsey and Rob's competition over who popped the better popcorn over the fire. Sadly, Rob won that one.

I DID WIN A COMPETITION WITH NATE THOUGH!! I won the smallest sleeping bag. Smoked him in fact. When we were cleaning up Sunday morning I packed up my sleeping bag and the conversation went as thus:
Nate: "Is that your sleeping bag?"
Me: "Yes."
Nate: "Really?"
Me: "Yup. Do I win?"
Nate: "Yes."
That was the whole competition. See? I smoked him in that one. :o)

Sunday morning breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, sausage and pancakes!!

Being called a "hussy" after flirting with the ranger at the entrance station to Dead Horse State Park. But I was dared to ask him how the horse died and I had to make conversation with him before asking him. I couldn't help that he used the most obvious pick up line on me from the get go: "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

Squishing all 8 of us in Lindsey's XTerra on the dirt road that everyone convinced me to take my car down. We started out taking both cars on a dirt road we figured would be a shortcut to the trailhead for some hikes. We got a third of the way when Lindsey radioed to me and said to park my car and the 4 of us would walk down to them and then pile in her XTerra. Heh - yeah. My car would have had to learn how to fly to get over those rocks that were sticking out of the road. Whoa Nelly! So everyone except me, Lindsey (who was driving) and Jana stood on the running boards and bumper of her XTerra to drive down the canyon - so we didn't have to squish inside for the whole time.

Next banter with Rob but also with Nate - how arches are formed. This one actually had a wager of a dozen of Rob's famous cookies or two bags of Oreos if I lost. I said they were formed by wind and he said they were formed by water. I lost and have already paid up. Ugh.

Hike to Paul Bunyon's Potty and Corona Arch.

Next banter with Nate - how many petals an Aster has. We didn't get the answer to this one until after we got home and looked in a wildflower book. He said they only had five and I said they had more. To just look at the flower you would agree with me - that they have more than five. But technically, by description, Nate was right. Double ugh.

Driving back up the dirt road and getting stuck on those rocks!! We were there for a couple hours trying to get out! And then the pressure to get out really built when we had other cars stacked on either side of us wanting to get by. But we eventually made it over the rocks.

Racing home on the highway. Passing cars. Getting passed by their car, passing them plus 2 other cars. All in safety of course. :o)

Having a prank pulled on us that they were out of gas as soon as we arrived in Price. Then having our own retaliation prank flop on us!

Overall, the weekend was very fun. Very laid-back and leisurely. Little excitement with getting stuck on the rocks. Very annoying that the boys were right every time!! But all in good fun.

Wordless Wednesday - One of My Favorite Pranks!

Home & Sick

These past few days have been terrible! I haven't been sick in ages and especially this sick. Each night it gets worse. It started Saturday night with a complete and utter drain of my energy and a pretty bad sore throat. Then Sunday I felt pretty good and Monday too. Then Monday night, my cough developed and worsened. So I stayed home from work on Tuesday even though I felt like it was just a bad head-cold. I figured if I stayed home one day, then I could kick it and be back to work by Wednesday. Wrongo-bongo. Last night I developed an ear infection in BOTH ears and .... get this.... pink-eye! Yuck! The pink-eye woke me up in the middle of the night.

So I determined, "That's it! I am going to the doctor to get some drugs and really kick this!" So I did go to the doctor. He pretty much told me my entire head is an infection. With my sore throat, cough, two ear infections, sinus pressure and pink-eye - I feel like quite the case! He prescribed an antibiotic for my ear infections, Advil Cold & Sinus for my sinus pressure, antibiotic drops for my eye, and gargling with salt-water for my throat. I never get sick, but I guess when I do, I do it with a vengeance!