Official Redneck...

So I do believe that I am officially an official redneck :) YAY!!! Today two of the strapping young men from the local singles ward offered to ride to Spanish Fork with me to pick up an entertainment center that Jarod and Jamie donated to the Erin's College Experience Fund... (THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH!!!) Well, when we arrived in Spanish we discovered that, lo and behold, there was no way that we would be able to fit the entertainment center in the car. Have no fear though. My ever quick thinking brother produced straps and a blanket and the entertainment center was soon secured to the top of my car via the windows. As if that wasn't enough on my slight embarrasment scale... Coming through the beautiful town of Santaquin my blessed Alero managed to have a hot flash and decided that it needed a break. While sitting on the side of the road waiting for the engine to cool down some of the friendly, almost local polygamists stopped to offer a helping hand. (or two or three or ten) After they unloaded their 15 passenger van of mostly women all to come and ask what was wrong the boys with me joked about bartering me for antifreeze... (Thank you Luke for giving me two gallons of water and antifreeze :P) Other than that little hiccup and some funny looks we made it home with no issues. When we got home it was my turn to cook for the roommates and so I went to town cutting up peppers, til I cut my thumb off. Ok, Ok, Ok! It didn't come entirely off. Or even close to off but I did manage to slit the tip about a 1/4 inch in. After I made frustrated sounds my roommates took over the kitchen and gave me a dora the explorer band-aid. We decided as a house that we have some of the most interesting adventures of the whole complex. But they are the most awesome because "Kaitlyn made me do it" :) Well, I have to run the mile tomorrow and so I had better get to sleep. Much love to everyone.

No, I'm not a llama

So, as most of you probably know I do not speak spanish. One of the courses I'm taking for my associates of arts is Spanish 1010. Well, today in class we were doing an introduction exercise and the girl I was partnered with (while we were standing in front of the whole class) asked me como te llama... The double l is pronounced as a y but she had pronounced it as an l. I, before thinking, replied, "No, I'm not a llama." I'm pretty sure from now on I will be known as llama in that class. Joy of Joys.

College...

Well, I love most my roommates. I love most my classes. And I love most everything about Ephraim. Only problem is I really don't love how broke I am. Or how teachers change the books, or when I get the wrong book. Or that no matter how happy and peppy and cheerleadery I try to act there are still about half the people that see me as the loser trying to fit in. I guess high school really never ends. I'm not cool because I work at Wal-Mart and my family and Luke are the only people proud of me for working and going to school. I'm not cool because I don't have a lot of money or I'm being too friendly. I give up!!!! Whatever they want I obviously don't have so I'm just going to be myself and they can either be my friend and deal with it or they can hang it in their ear. I thought maybe I could make friends at college where no one knew me. I was wrong. So, I'm going to go to school. Get my degree and teach all their children when they hit high school. Who really wants friends anyway? My apartment room has a lot more to offer than anyone here.

School...

Well, I made it through the two days of orientation and have had about all the orientating I can stand. I'm ready to start school and get it done with. I hate my job, but there really isn't much I can do to change that. I miss Vernal. I have made friends and what not but this place will never be home. I miss my friends and family and everything. I want to go home but I have way too much stock put in this to leave. I'm about half miserable but no one knows that.

Lessons from Old Men

Back in the day when I worked at Naples Cafe, I made friends with the old men who came in daily to drink coffee. In my last week in Vernal I decided that I really needed to go in and visit with them. Its amazing how 70-80 year old men can be some of the best friends you'll ever had. One old man named Nord is headed down hill pretty quick and I will be a sad little girl when he is gone. Friday when I was down visiting he got really dizzy and had to take one of his nitroglycerin pills and it didn't help much. I don't think he will make it through the winter. So long as he makes it to the 23rd he says he can die happy. It will be his 70th birthday. For having such a huge age gap those old men have taught me little things that I will never forget. An example is even though I'm more than 50 years younger than most of them they still treat me as an equal and listen to my opinion the exact same way they listen to each other. Another old man named Thom gave me his number today so I could keep him posted on his "favorite grandkid" while I'm at school. They don't look at me as a little girl that doesn't have enough experience to know about life, they look at me as a young adult that can give them a different point of view. I hope as a teacher I can take that into my classroom. And they never look down on me if I disagree. They challenge me instead to back up my opinion and teach them why I think what I do. Even if they don't agree at all with each other they still respect that everyone has a different head to think with and maybe their point is more correct than their own. And as far as guys walking past and making crude comments to me, it doesn't happen. One boy thought he was funny and said something perverted about me and he had five old men ready to rip him to shreds. And they let him know in no uncertain terms that he was to apologize to me and learn not only manners but respect for women. On top of them respecting my opinion they call me ma'am as if I'd earned it and always open the door. It's all but a race to see who can pay first for the whole group. The little things that they do out of habit never cease to amaze me. Even though they sit out on the porch they all stand up to push a chair over for me when I get there. I hope that when I get out on my own I can give someone the same high opinion of me that I have of them. I hope I can take their ideals of respect and communication into a classroom and teach some teenagers the same things that these old men have taught me. I've written down a list of the things I have learned from them that I think that all teenagers should learn. If everyone could share ideas like they do the world would be a much better place. Here's to you Nord, Thom, Tim, Troy, Clint, and George.

Well...

Here I go... Less than two weeks from fly time. Luke and I broke up on Sunday so I could adjust to being without him for school. We agreed that since I'm "doing good" we can still hang out til I go, just not near as much. I was real confused and hurt, but its starting to make sense. I think it might be for the best. I don't want to get down there and sit in my dorm all the time wishing I was home with him. Growing up is getting old. On the up-side I think I'm getting 'er figured. :) I'm starting to almost get excited to get down there and find out just what I'm made of. The only part that scares me now is I don't know if I even remember how to make friends. Good old Wal-Mart approved my transfer and gave me a job offer (in Wal-Mart speak that means they have a position for me to fill). I have somewhere to live and my classes all lined out. I'm going to be a busy little goose. I'm taking Spanish, Math 1010, Public Speaking, P.E., History of England, and some freshman orientation thing. And on top of that I have to get a 3.5 this semester. EEK!!! I know I can do it though. I guess this is just the first day of the rest of my life... Wild how its going to happen all over again tomorrow :)

Once Upon A Time in Vernal

the Red Fleet

Split Mountain

On top of Pitt's Hill

Overlook from Pitt's

Doc's Beach

Oh the cowboy...

I snapped pictures for an hour when I got a smile :)

On the way home from the wedding

The poor guy was sicker than a dog but he was a trooper for me.

He even ASKED me to dance!!!

New Years Eve '09



For all the ups and downs and from the moments that I want to scream at him to the moments that I don't know how he could possibly make me any happier, this boy is something else. All you can say is he really is a cowboy...

Angry!!!

I've discovered a really, really, truly disturbing thing. When I'm so angry that I'm about to lose my temper, listening to the same christmas songs that we decorate our tree to every year calms me down. Its magic. So its not really disturbing, but I thought it was weird that I even tried it in July. I figured I would tell all of you just in case any of you wanted to try the Statler Brothers for anger management. They are surprisingly effective :)

Guts...

just so everyone knows my guts have knots in them so tight not even a scout could get them un-done. I just flat hurt. I know its not somethin I ate cuz I haven't ate today but whatever it is I sure wish it would go away already. ANYWAY!!! I transfered to the bakery a few weeks ago to get adjusted to sleeping at night and it sure got me sleeping. My normal shift is from 5 am to 2 pm. I heat the prefried donuts and decorate them. Its like every little kids dream job... All I do is play with frosting all day. Its great :) Ok... My guts hurt like... Nevermind... The ladies I work with are so dramatic that I look like an incredibly low key, laid back, unstrung person. And that is saying something. I seriously do not have any idea how they can live with so much drama constantly. Something as small as a hangnail requires major surgery and being ten minutes behind in their work is the equivalent to being ten weeks behind. Its REDONKULOUS!!! O well. I suppose I ought to get to bed. GOOD NIGHT!!!

Riding The Hide

Vanilla Coke

I am madly in love with Vanilla Coke. Its tasty and delicious and magical. Well the other day I was having less than the coolest day ever at work and as we headed to our last break my co-lead came over and handed me a 20 oz of Vanilla Coke and told me that I was a lot prettier when I was happy so drink up. I hadn't realized that the last time I had smiled was more than four hours earlier. I don't know if it was the coke or the smile, but after I cracked both I felt 125% better about my job and myself. I'd be willing to bet if we each gave out a figurative Vanilla Coke every day that there would be a lot more happy people and we could probably fix a few problems. Anyway, that was just my little thought of the day. :)

Growin' Up

Ya know there is an awful lot of stuff that nobody bothers to tell ya about growin up before it happens. Some of it isn't so bad, like you really don't keep your highschool friends. Other parts of it are just flat lame. Such as your first true love really does have to end with your first true heart break and in order to get where you want to be you have to let a lot of people walk on ya. I guess they don't tell ya because its a lot like the first time you touched a hot stove, everyone told ya it was going to hurt real bad but you still had to try it out for yourself. I guess its the only way people would go through some of it. If they knew just what would happen if they touched that stove magically on their own then chances are they would never touch it. But since they learned it through hear-say they had to figure it out for themselves. I guess its all to see what we will do when the situation happens. If we will stay stiff, bend, or break. I don't think that the people who stay stiff all the time really live. I think we need to do all three. I think there are a lot of things worth standing for and some things that just aren't worth acknowledging. And while there are a lot of things that could break ya, there are very few that should. Well now that I've tried my hand at a little philosophy and had a bit of a vent session I suppose I ought to get some shut eye :)

First Note

Most my siblings have blogs and since I'm heading off to college and starting this thing they call real life, I figured I would start one of my own. So, I guess here I go on my own :)