Decorating, Playing, and Playing

I've been playing a lot, I'll try to remember the most significant events and record them here. We've continued to have rain, but we have also had some good weather too.

Decorating
I finally decided my room needed some decorations. My plant was dying in the front room because it wasn't getting enough light. So, I brought it back to my room but I needed to figure out what to do with it. Mom came up with this grand idea of a box, and i had this cute cloth from when Karrah and I lived together.

Also, the pictures came up. I usually just do random pictures everywhere with ticky tac, but this time I decided to do something different. Here it is. Thanks for having such beautiful faces to make my wall look good.

Teacher just moved out, so now I need to figure out what to do for decorations in the front room. I already did some furniture re-arranging and fixing. Teacher was the one with all the decorations everywhere so now it looks a little plain.

Playing by Myself
I determined that I needed some new running shoes, the ones I had were killing my feet. The Outlets on my way home from work seemed like a good option. I had never been there but it turned out to be a success. They actually had size 11.5 too, which is unheard of! I also treated myself to a yummy j-dawg. The prices have definitely gone up since I ate there last, but it was good!

And More Playing
We've had our fair share of kickball and Frisbee games. Every night it seems we have one or two games. Tournaments have started and finished. We made it to the final four for kickball, it was super intense! We were even in the upper division. I was amazed how intense people were. In one of our tournament games, I was playing first base. A big kid decided he would slide into first even though I had just caught the ball touching the base to get him out. As he slid, he knocked my legs out from under me and slid directly into my toe with his cleats! Owww! I crawled to the ball to try to throw it back into play so his other teammates would stop running. Here are some pics of the nasty injury. Needless to say, I won't have a normal toenail for a long time! And sandals are going to be worn for a while. This is a collage of what it looked like for the few days after it happened.

Because of this, I haven't been able to wear my cool new shoes!

Cousin Weekend
I actually hung out with my Bryce cousins, meaning they actually invited me! :) It was great to spend some time with them. It started Friday night after my game, Vance insisted I come join them at the rooftop concert downtown. I decided that sounded fun, so even though I was very late I went and found them. We decided to walk down and get gelato, it is cheap on concert nights. It was so yummy! As we were being served, it was funny to notice the server lady completely ignored me. She asked if we wanted samples, my handsome cousins said what they wanted and she served them. I said what I wanted to try and she ignored me. Once I finally got her attention, she gave me the tiniest sample you've ever seen. I pointed it out to the cousins and they were pretty appalled and at the same time thought it was funny. We didn't see much of the concert, but had a fun time chatting and catching up on life.

The next day, we went canoeing. We fit about twenty people in this canoe and had one little one for the troublemakers to ride in. We rode down the Provo River into Utah Lake and then back. The hardest part was avoiding the trees. Jeff's little girls at between me and Ian and we tried to protect her from the low hanging branches that seems to always be in the way of our huge canoe. We had a blast! Once we finished, we went to the Utah Lake Festival which was totally geared toward children, but we rocked it. We filled out our passports and got free sunglasses. :) Jeff took us all to dinner at The Great Steak, where we got yummy sandwiches. I was famished by then. A few of the cousins went to BBQ instead so Vance and I joined them after we had lunch. It was so wonderful to be outside and with family. I was grateful for the protection of sunscreen too!

Ian and I are towards the front. 

We had to visit a lot of booths to get these stamped!

Visit to Dr. Blacks

I went to visit Karrah and Brolaw the Tuesday after my injury. The pain was almost unbearable and I could barely walk. I had a game the next day...I was wondering if I would be able to play. Brolaw decided to look up in his First Aid book what to do for a smashed toe. He found out that you should burn a hole through the nail to relieve the pressure. Karrah determined we should do it there, she's doctored pretty much every wound I have had in my life. I was afraid she'd get queezy because of the little one but she was just as excited as normal. So, the doctoring began with fire, pliers, and a paperclip. We tried with a needle, but it wouldn't get hot enough. Eventually the paperclip worked. It was an immediate relief!

Before, During, After

Work Adventures

So, I have been working throughout the playing. And here's a little summary of what's been happening. 

It got hot one day in my car and I left this in my backpack inside the car for a few hours. I pulled it out at work and it looked like this! I have remelted it and it seems back to normal just a bit softer and full of air bubbles.

Oops.

One day at work I forgot my snacks and only had a small lunch. Luckily, they provide soup in a cup. It was actually pretty yummy! I was impressed and very grateful for something to pass the hunger.

We got month end lunch again. I ordered a special pasta that was so yummy, but look at the leftover grease! Crazy!

Yummm.

We had a quiz about which questions are legal to ask in an interview and which are not. I got 100%, I was pretty excited. An education does pay off....not that we turned in our scores.

Circled ones are legal...if you can read it.

Intern One had a birthday. Scanner made this card, I colored it, and we went to lunch to celebrate! It was a fun day!

Lookin' like I work for Coke.

I ended up playing in my game on Wednesday with my toe bandaged like crazy. I was very grateful it didn't get hurt again,,, I was concerned. It's been a fun couple weeks!

Peace out.

-the tall girl

Memorial Day Weekend and Other Adventures

I am almost to present time now. These past couple weeks have been full of adventures, so I hope you enjoy them.

Memorial Day Weekend
A little last minute, I decided to come to Virginia for the weekend. I am so glad I did. It was pretty good weather when I arrived, so we hopped back into the car and went to the cemetery. I saw Grandma’s headstone for the first time and it really is beautiful. Grandpa did a good job picking it out. We had a few flowers to put out and it was sweet to see Grandpa care for the headstones of his dear wife, mother, and grandmother. He was cleaning them off in this picture.

We went to the green house for dinner and had Brady Burgers. They were yummy! Grandma and Grandpa Studley were there eating the same time as us, so it was fun to catch up. Auntie K made a beautiful spread for Grandpa to be able to put there. Oma wanted me to pick out something to plant for her, but there were so many choices and I was grateful when Auntie K took pity and helped me. I think it turned out alright. We brought more water and a scrub brush and finished cleaning all the relative’s headstones. This took most of our afternoon. It was rainy and cold until we went to the cemetery so we have just enjoyed being home.

The beautiful greenhouse!

We played Chinese Checkers twice and Grandpa whooped me both times! Then, we played Sorry! I beat him that time. During the game when I had the chance to Sorry him, he looked up at me through those glasses, like don't you dare. It was the funniest look I have seen from him in a while. I just started laughing and couldn't stop for a while, and luckily he joined in the laughter so the game was on pause for a few minutes as we got our giggles out.

Sunday afternoon we went to Auntie K and Uncle J’s house for dinner after church. We ate beef that had never been frozen, and it was delicious! I wish I could eat meat like that everyday. The Vawdrey's came up to join us after they got through with their church meetings. We enjoyed dinner and then took another trip up to the cemetery. I was grateful I could watch as their little family put flowers on their brother's graves. It was a sweet experience and a flood of emotions. Grandpa insisted I bring my phone and take good pictures of the headstone with all the flowers to send out, so here they are.

Once we got back, I convinced a few more people to play Chinese Checkers, and Grandpa won again!!! He is so good at that game!

Grandpa’s cats are still around and two of them will let you pick them up. One is very fluffy and I loved holding them, they are still small. I don’t know why Grandpa’s cats are the only cats I like…any other cat comes near me and I don’t want to touch it. Matthew and I went out to play with them on Monday morning. They were pretty cuddly, but then one of them hopped out of my arms and gave me a good scratch on my hand. 

When I got home from Grandpa's I went directly to FHE. We were playing a game called Scoops, which sounded pretty fun. You use windshield wiper fluid containers with the bottoms cut off as scoops. Then, you have goals that are trashcans that you just have to hit. You pass the ball in your scoops, no out of bounds, and you go for the goal. Of course, me being me, I was on the first team to play and I was wondering why all the girls were sitting out...well, there were a few playing. About one minute into the game I was playing defense a couple feet away from a guy. As he passed the ball, it flew right at my eye. I was wearing my glasses, one of the lenses flying about ten feet away and the frame stayed on my face. I felt intense pain in my eye, but I was more worried about my glasses. Without vision insurance they would be very expensive to replace. My bishop graciously picked up the lens and brought me off the court. He worked until he got the lens back in. I was intently watching him ignoring my throbbing eye. His daughter asked how it was and then kind of freaked out when she saw it. Bishop called over his wife and other counselor. One went to get ice and the others took me to the bathroom to put a cold cloth on it. They were so sweet to me.

They wanted to take me to the ER or Urgent Care, but I insisted I was fine. I did a agree to go see an optometrist the next morning. Brother Sorensen was so sweet and took me to his doctor and got me an early morning emergency appointment. After quite a few tests, the doctor informed us it was only deeply bruised and I was lucky to have been wearing my glasses. If I had not been, the ball probably would have hit my eye directly and done damage to the cornea and other important things. He also said my glasses lens had not been scratched and the rest of the frame looked to be intact perfectly. I feel so blessed. I wasn't wearing my glasses when I was driving and almost didn't put them on before going into FHE. Right before going in, I decided to put them on. I am so glad I heeded. 

I must have looked pretty pitiful that night, I received a lot of charity. One guy brought me banana bread. Another girl texted me to see how I was doing. My visiting teacher brought me flowers. A couple girls made me cookies. Brother Sorensen even told me today that he was sorry that it happened to me, but he was grateful it did because he felt like he got to know me so much better and feels like he has gained another daughter. What love these good people have!

It's called a Take Out Bouquet. It comes in a plastic Chinese Take Out thing. 

Here is a snapshot of the eye healing process. It's almost completely gone now, only a small dark red spot by the green part of the eye. Brother Sorensen insists on seeing it every time I see him. 

It was a fun weekend at Grandpa's, even though it had to end with an injury. I always hate leaving Virginia. It is harder now that Grandpa is alone. But, he is always cheerful and grateful. I am amazed at his strength. I am so grateful we got to play and enjoy our time together. I look forward to my next trip up. 

More fun stories to come, that's enough for one post.

Peace Out.

-the tall girl

Food

I am still playing a little bit of catch up with my blogging, but I am almost there. And, this post may just be a result of it being fast Sunday...

FOOD
I realized my life kind of revolves around food. When I hear of an activity, I almost immediately wonder if there is food. Also, as I go back through my picture log on my phone, I have tons of pictures of food. I can’t very well take pictures of myself, so I guess I just settle for the food. I showed Grandpa some of my pictures today and he asked if some of them were selfies. I told him they kind of were, but it would be a true selfie if my phone wasn’t in the shot. He thought that was pretty funny. So, here are the pictures of my food and the stories to go with.

JJ: These little sandwiches were like four bites of deliciousness. I just thought they were adorable.

Mate de Coca: I work for Coke, so one of my coworkers gave me some mate de coca, needless to say, I didn’t drink it because I’m not sure exactly what’s in it.

Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookie: Probably the best sugar cookie I have ever had. I was skeptical, but wow it was delicious.

Cupcakes:  One was from Michelleigh to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and the other two were from random days at work.

Donuts: I love when people bring donuts to work, obviously it makes a special day because I felt the need to take a picture.

Kneaders’ leftovers:  This sandwich and brownie were divine. I caught the lady carrying the leftovers just at the right time and she gave them to me.

Month end lunch:  They bring yummy food in one day a month and I get to eat it.

Edible bouquet: You really get to eat the bouquet of fruit, we only got it because the person who it was for was out of town. Boy, it was yummy and that strawberry was huge!

Gummies: I got a great deal on these at the store, one package had 5 of the 8 blue…that never happens.

And, this was a while ago, but we cooked a lot of eggs for Break the Fast one Sunday and I just came upon the pictures. The pan that is on the stove was a wok, huge and deep...I had to use masterful skill to keep it from spilling everywhere.

Just about two weeks ago, as I was leaving Institute, BroWall insisted I take some bagels home. I tried to say that the three I had was enough, but he wouldn't take that for an answer.

This was a cake I made for Grandpa a while ago. It was sooooo yummy! I was grateful it turned out well for him. 

I think that is about everything I have about food for this post. Hopefully you enjoyed, all I know is now I am even more hungry. :)

Peace out.

-the tall girl