Bloggers Unite.

My friend's little sister has a new blog. It highlights awesomely distasteful occurences that run rampant in our society. Enjoy.


www.misscrusty.com

Powell Power, The Continuing story.

We walked around the villages until my little heart was ready to explode with happiness. At certain points we had to shimmy up a SCARY LADDER and then held on to a chain whilst scaling a rock face to access / exit the cave.

The ladder:






Nbd. Just you know, the height of a 3 story building. If Mama Booth had been there, she would not have allowed it. Here's why:




I just love how no camera is able to capture the entire thing within the frame. DO YOU PEOPLE KNOW ME? I can't even help my dad put up christmas lights because heights kind of freakkkkk me out. But I just wanted to play in the village that much I guess. My legs and arms were shaky for oh, I don't know, the entirety of the tour. Worth it? Yes.



Notable occurrences: At one point, I climbed down into a pit house at one of the cliff dwellings to just, you know.... see what I could see. There was no one down there. And then, there was a funny asian mother / daughter combo who came down the ladder to make some model poses and take pictures. And then, out of NO WHERE, there was a very large, very frightening native american man in front of me. He reached out his hands in a very menacing gesture toward my person and said:



"Ha! Now I've got you!!" ...... Maniacal Laughter



And I flew out of that pit house like a bat out of native american hell.

Aside from being haunted by the ghosts of past residents disguised in modern day clothing, I am not kidding when I say that I would be perfectly content to find my own little cliff dwelling and move in. There are over 600 in the greater Mesa Verde area. I'm sure I could find one that would suit me just fine.

Also... I contracted some semi-wicked poison ivy from frolicking in the wilderness.

That is the price you have to pay to be one with nature I guess.

Powell Power!

Once upon a time, my cute friend Cali said: "Hey, I want to go on a road trip this weekend. Do you want to come?"

And I said: Maybe, where are you going?"

And she said: "I don't know. Lets figure it out."

And the rest is history. And by history, I mean we sat down for a substantial amount of time every day for the next week in preparation for our journey. And oh what a journey it was.

Cali, myself, and 5 boys + 1 girl decided to go to Lake Powell for Memorial Day Weekend, 2010. With 8 people and two very determined drivers we made a pretty impressive loop around the great state of Utah in 3 days. Check out our route:

We departed Provo around 4:45 pm on friday and drove ourselves alllll the way down to lake powell. We camped on the beach. It was already dark by the time we got there, and we were cranky and sandy and windblown by the time we went to bed.

But then, we woke up to this:

And the angels were singing. We had a glorious day filled with sun and sand and water and wonder. And happiness.

Then, the boys tried to cliff jump off of a rock that jutted out about 20 feet at the bottom from where they were standing, and I literally had to talk them down from the edge. I used my best mom voice to try to convince them that if they jumped, their final resting place would be in the Lake Powell chapter of Davy Jones' Locker. It was exhausting. They surrendered after a 10 minute showdown and jumped off a smaller cliff instead.

I also brought a plethora of sunscreen to share, and encouraged everyone to re-apply to avoid ultra-violet radiation burnage. I'm such a vacation asset. Oh did you want to see another random picture of the beauty that is Lake Powell? Okay:

We had a jolly good time camping on the beach again that night. It looked like this:

The next morning, we woke up with the sun to drive to Mesa Verde. We stopped at four corners, which was closed for construction (which isn't even geographically placed correctly) and I bought a turquoise necklace from a nice Navajo lady. A couple hours later, we stopped for sacrament meeting in Cortez, Colorado. We made a quick change into church clothes in the bathroom and continued on the the chapel where we listened to an old lady talk about diabetes and illicit drug use, followed by a Guatemalan man who didn't know English. He spoke for a half hour. It was just great.

Finally, we traveled on to Mesa Verde and played (respectfully) in the crazy ancient native american villages.

It was there that I felt most at home, running and climbing and crawling around some bomb.com cliff dwellings. I felt one with Pocahontas once again.

To Be Continued.

Curse this Mystery

Dear Voodoo Gypsie Woman,

I don't know who you are or where you are, but I have a request. Please quit poking the eye ball on your voodoo doll of me with a wicked needle. It is shocking and painful. And its starting to freak me out. What do I need to do? Carry a dead chicken foot? I heard that has something to do with combatting voodoo. Or maybe that attracts evil spirits. I don't know. But stop it. My eye hurts. K bye.

Love,
Kristin

P.s. Your teeth are black.

Quotes of the Day

"The ball is in your court. And you need to take your ball and go home." -Mama Booth, reposted from Jackie's blog.

"Give and forget... receive and remember." -Some wedding thing.

S: "Have a good drive!"
N to S: "Have babies!"

Quote of the Day

"Dont cry. Just be patient. Every boy you date (or don't date) will either piss you off or make you cry until you get married. and then... he'll most likely do both but you'll still be glad you married him."

- Anonymous Sister

This made me laugh harder than I thought was possible.

Yesterday, work was long. And kind of boring. But also annoying. And never-ending. I had read through my usual cycle of blogs, giggled a few times at MLIA, but mostly I was just wishing I could disapperate to a sunny land far far away with my hammock.

Then, one of my work BFFs told me to go look at a blog she had just discovered randomly.

I read, I laughed, I cried.

Literally. I was laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe. The blog post I read was about random annoying things that cause the author to spiral into a vortex of hatred when they all add up, one annoyance after the other. Each annoying occurence was depicted with a scene created in some sort of paint program. Genius. Tears not only welled up in my eyes, but spilled out profusely. I don't think I have ever cried so hard out of laughter in my entire life. Seriously. I couldn't breathe for like 10 minutes. This picture is what pushed me over the edge:

To read it, go HERE!!!!!!!!

And, you are welcome.

A Mile a Morning (love handles take warning)

Can I just say, that I am giving myself a pat on the back right now? Really. I just patted myself on the back. Why? Because I run. Almost every day. Lets pretend this is a huge accomplishment for me (because it IS) shall we? I'll honor you with a Q and A session. I will be both the interviewer and the celebrity interviewee.

Q: How far do I run?

A: Typically, 1 mile.

Q: How much of that is spent actually running, not walking?

A: At least 80%

Q: Have I yet to run 1 whole mile in my life without walking?

A: It's possible that it occurred once or twice in my high school "fit for life" class, but no such occasion has ever been documented.

Q: What are my current exercise goals?

A: I want to be able to run a mile without stopping. Or crying. Or dying.

Q: Do I time myself?

A: No. But I think I'll start once I can make it the whole mile. I'm working toward eventually beating my fastest time ever. Which was 9 minutes flat. In the 8th grade.

Q: How sexy do I look when I am running?

A: Zero sexiness achieved.

Q: How awesome do I feel when I go running?

A: Pretttttty awesome.

Q: Man, how do I do it?

A: With the enormous power contained in a little thing I like to call Bojangles (the iPod).

Q: What's on your jogging playlist?

A:

Candyman..............................Christina Aguilera

Armada Latina.......................Cypress Hill

S.O.S........................................Rihana

Pretty Woman........................Roy Orbison

Suzie Q.....................................CCR

Crazy Love...............................Michael Buble

(I don't know why. But this song inspires me to run. Perhaps on the wings of love.)

Money......................................Barrett Strong

Songs Like This.......................Carrie Underwood

Replay.......................................Iyaz

Q: Interesting. Do I run during bouts of inclement weather?

A: You bet your buns.

Q: Do I enjoy running in the rain?

A: Yes. Except for the sensation on my forehead that I imagine feels quite similar to Chinese water torture.

Q: Have I ever biffed it big time?

A: Not yet. My shoes are glorious and springy and quite grippy.

Q: Have I started drinking water like a crazy woman?

A: Why yes, yes I do. And I don't save any for the whales.

Thank you. Those are all the questions I have time for. Good day.

Blog Soup

There are just too many things to write about and too little time. Therefore, I will post a series of pictures with short explanations in an attempt to catch up on my blogging.

I saw this box of tissues at Smith's. And I immediately stopped in my tracks and just stared at it. I wanted it. I picked it up. I almost put it in my cart, and then I remembered that I don't really have a need for kleenex. Ever. In fact, I don't think I have ever bought or used a box of tissues in my whole entire college career. I'm not too proud to blow my nose in toilet paper. But man, packaging just GETS me.

One of my spring classes brings me a huge amount of entertainment and happiness. One of them does not. It's boring. And so, I find myself putting several tiny "Sulley" braids in my hair throughout the hour and a half lecture. And then I take pictures. And text them to friends.

Okay, so mine isn't nearly as majestic as Sully's. His is down to his waist. And beaded.

Also, it is duckling season. This mama duck put its head down, wings out, and tried to ram me. I wasn't going to steal one of her babies. I just thought about it for a second, okay?!

When I wear these shoes, it looks like I have cloven hooves. All you can see are my two biggest toes poking out of the "peep" toe. It makes me giggle when I walk. And I said giggle, not jiggle.

Look closely. That is the heard of moms crossing the street during women's conference. They are like a plague. They fill the streets and cause reckless mayhem all over BYU's campus. A pox upon your houses, women's conference!

Oh Dinner Group... How I love you.

So. I'm in a dinner group with some friends in my ward. There are 8 of us, and we rotate who cooks dinner for the other 7 from Monday - Thursday. That way. You only make one big dinner every 2 weeks, and you can enjoy everyone else's big dinner on the other days. I eat sooooo much better than I did before!

Dinner group is also an excellent time to socialize. We discuss a wide variety of topics and they are usually hilarious. A couple days ago, one of our conversations went like this:

Me: "Where did you go on your mission?"

Boy : "Argentina."

Me: "I know so many people who went to Argentina and South America."

Girl: "All my friends went to Brazil."

Boy: "Have you guys ever seen a capybara?"

Girl: "I tried to go see one at the zoo one time, but it wouldn't come out."

Me: "They are so crazy. They look like giant guinnea pigs. I watched Krat's Creatures. I know."

Other Girl: "Aren't they like, a Rous? Rodent of unusual size?"

Other Boy: "Ya they are like, giant and cat-like."

Boy: "Ya. I ate one."

Everyone: " ..... "

Sick. But also kind of funny.