So Cute

Check out my sister Stephanie's blog today. This is my 5 year old nephew interviewing himself in the bathroom mirror. I've watched it three times already and it makes me laugh every time!

http://fairbankclan.blogspot.com/2008/07/kanes-interview.html

Team Sports - The Sequel

Tonight I played my final tennis game in the summer league. I had such a great time. I'd have to say that I didn't have the best season, I only won one match, but it was just what I wanted- good times and an opportunity to get better. Here's the season breakdown.

Match 1 - Lost big time. It was really fun though, and I felt like it was just breaking me in on what league play is all about.

Match 2 - Won. Really loved winning. Had fun, felt like I played well.

Match 3 - Lost, not by much, but was mad about it. This may have been the least fun I've ever had playing tennis. I just really wanted to win and was constantly disappointed in myself for missing shots. I just felt like I played bad. The only good thing was playing tennis with Will after the match was over.

Match 4 - Lost big time. Loved every second of it. I was only supposed to play three matches this season but I got called last minute to substitute for someone. At first I was determined to win so I could at least say I'd won as many matches as I'd lost this summer. Then I started thinking about why I didn't have fun in the previous game. Having won match 2, I was completely focused on winning. (I think previous to match 2 I didn't think I had much of a chance to win.) Putting so much emphasis on winning made it more stressful than enjoyable. So I decided to change my attitude and just go to have fun and not care if I won. It was actually kind of hard to change my mindset, but I think I had myself convinced by the time the match started. It was fun again. Instead of getting mad when I missed, I complimented the other team on the good hit. I feel like I played relatively well and the other team was just better than we were. Actually, the scores look like we were killed 0-6, 1-6, but almost every game made it to deuce and often it stayed there for a long time. We had some great rallies. I don't think my partner was as pleased as I was at the end of the match though. Sorry Stef. Ü

What I learned - I'm not a competitive person. Well maybe I didn't learn that, I've known it a long time. I did learn how to serve better, play a little strategy and mostly find a lot of areas I can improve on for next season. We talked with teammates this evening and I think we're all up for playing in the fall league. Good times!

My sister put a post on her blog about going to one of my matches. It has some photos- eek, look at my arm dropping early on that serve. What would Lani say! Here is the link http://balletsnob.blogspot.com/2008/07/love-means-nothing.html

Skirts

I've debated about this post. I don't want it to seem bratty. I mentioned in my 100 that I have problem with skirts- I can't seem to resist buying them. My sisters tease me and do their best to steer me away from the skirt section when we shop, because really, one person doesn't need more than a few skirts. I decided to wear skirts to work everyday until I've worn all my summer skirts. Here are the day-by-day shots.

Day 1


Day 2

Day 3

Day 4


Day 5


Day 6

Day 7

Day 8 This is one of the skirts I bought in Singapore. I had to include a photo of my shoes that I got in Thailand. This outfit is soooo comfy, like wearing pjs and slippers.

Double click to enlarge so you can see my cool glitter toes! (This pedicure has been one of my favorite parts of summer this year)


Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

So there you have it. My sisters and I are heading to Colorado for a shopping weekend next week. Let's see what kind of self control I can have. Quite honestly, I think this little exercise has made me skirt-saturated and I may be temporarily cured.

My New Favorite Post

I love this idea as reminiscing is one of my favorite things! Here's the deal:

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.

The Scariest Thing

I had the little boys come spend the night last night. They were all on the bed and started yelling for me because there was a spider in the canopy netting. I am totally afraid of spiders. My old roommate got a dollar off her rent for every spider she got rid of. It's not unheard of for me to put the longest attachment on the vacuum and suck up the spider and still have a hard time getting that close. Don't even get me started about spiders in my bathtub stories.

Here's one of my most embarrassing moments. Last year Steph and I took a road trip to Colorado (turning out to be an annual trip-yay). We had just returned to the car after going to dinner with Kat and Erica. I started the car and noticed Stephanie was looking at me in horror. She kept saying, "Open your door!" She finally told me there was a huge spider on the headrest behind me. I freaked and jumped out of the car forgetting that I had just put it in gear. The parking lot was pretty empty but the car started rolling toward the only car near us. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't get in the car because of the spider but didn't want my friends or my car to crash. So I was running along side of it completely perplexed. I finally jumped in about the time someone pulled the e-brake. We were laughing so hard, except Kat who was beside herself with the idiocy of someone jumping out of a moving car because of a spider. Her ranting made the rest of us just laugh harder. I'm sure I'll never live this down, but I'm sure some of you understand.

Back to last night. I went in the room and there was this enormous spider- the hairy, jaggedy kind that look like they could bite your finger off (OK, it was tiny, but ugly). I calmly (relatively speaking) got some tissue and disposed of the little guy. I just didn't want to freak the kids out. So, what did we learn from this? A house full of screaming children is more scary to me than a spider. I wonder if I can find something that freaks me out more than ferris wheels.

Here are some photos from the slumber party.

Asher spent most of his time at my house sorting superballs. He worked so hard, I felt bad having them clean them up. They didn't seem to care though.


The new children's museum is a huge upgrade from the old place. I highly recommend it. I didn't take too many photos, but it had a lot of cool things to do.





Here are the kids on the moon. :)

The Planetarium gift shop is by far the coolest toy store in town!

Destroying the Status Quo

The much anticipated Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog was released yesterday. We were quite frustrated as the site was overwhelmed and crashed. I did get it from itunes and watched it twice last night and have been singing about the freeze ray all morning. Looks like you can watch it online today. This is the first 1/3. I think they are doing an installment every other day. You can only watch it online through this week, then you have to buy it on itunes (very reasonable). How I love Joss Whedon. So funny.

http://www.drhorrible.com.nyud.net/act_I.html

hum... maybe that isn't working now. If you can't connect, try just www.drhorrible.com.
Enjoy!

Flashback Friday- Africa, Christmas 2002

I haven't done a Flashback Friday for a long time. I thought my next one would be my BYU days (going sort of chronologically) but I've been thinking a lot lately about my trip to Senegal so decided to post this instead. First, sorry about the poor quality (and large number) of photos. Instead of trying to find my CDs of photos I just snapped photos of some of the hard copies in my photos album.

I think Africa has been on my mind lately because I've been on a bit of a spending spree, buying things I "need" (new TV, etc) and feeling kind of guilty. When I came back from this trip I swore to change my view of what I "need". I'm such an sterotypical American living in excess. I was so impressed with how little everyone had and how happy everyone was. Not to mention most of them were living with malaria! It definitely made me reevaluate what brings happiness and how much I really don't need. It seems I need to be reminded of this quite often as I'm sucked into materialism over and over. We thought it would be fun to stop in NYC on our way home for New Years' Eve an hit some of the after Christmas sales. Big mistake! I was totally sick plus we didn't expect to have such culture shock which made shopping seem disgusting. At midnight we stood there (a couple of blocks from Times Square because we couldn't get any closer in the crowds) impatiently waiting for the ball to drop so we could leave. Not exactly the Dick Clark Rockin' New Year's Eve we'd anticipated. Anyway, here's some photos of the trip.



This is one of the "buses" we took from Dakar to Koussanar. It kept breaking down. It took us something like 14 hours to get there when it should have been 5-6.



I brought some bubbles to play with the kids. We'd walk outside our bunks and within minutes kids would be swarming. They loved the bubbles. We had poised cute for this photo (you can see me in the back) but then Allison went to take the photo and held up her fingers counting to three. Of course, these kids didn't understand English so they just mimicked her and held up their fingers for the photo.



This is one of the classes we taught. I love this photo because it looks like I'm superimposed in it.

They had numerous dances/celebrations for us. They'd pull you out of the crowd to perform. Then eventually everyone would join in.

We took some donkey carts to outlying smaller villages. These girls were grinding some kind of grain. This is one of the photos that didn't rephotograph too well. We had a former Peace Corps volunteer with us. She took us to these smaller communities where we showed them how to make ovens to cook on to conserve fuel. You make them out of clay you dig up and termite mounds. Apparently termite spit is really bonding and holds the ovens together well.

I have no idea why this uploaded upside down. This is one of our interpreters showing us how to use the bathroom (can you see the little hole right beneath him?) We actually had plumbing where we stayed so I never actually used one of these "facilities".

Me with some of the kids. Can you see me starting to look hammered? People in our group were starting to get really sick. I could tell my body was trying to fight it off for days and I was slowly losing the battle.

Someone in our group brought stars to give the kids at school. When we started giving them out the women also wanted them for accessories.

This was after the final day of school. This little girl stuck to me pretty close the whole time I was there. I had brought that little stuffed dog to use for games in class. She was cute and so patient with me and my attempts to speak to her in French. She asked us to come visit her home after the last day of school. It was a humble little place where she lived with extended family, but she proudly took us around to show us everything. She was especially proud of their mango tree in the yard and an Easter hat. Her grandfather took us into their prayer building and gave us a blessing. I think of this girl often. She was such an eager student. I would guess by now she is married with kids and working harder than any of us will ever have to.

Here's me completely out of it. We were trying to pack to leave and I could barely roll over in bed. I seriously have never been that sick before. Allison was so nice and took care of me, packed my bags and everything. I was actually starting to feel a little better by the time we started traveling back.

Here is the whole group the last day in Koussanar. I really didn't want to be out of bed for this photo, but also didn't want to miss saying good-bye to everyone. Hey-I'm wearing that same shirt right now (DHC). It's now my pajama's.

Another bad photo, but this is regular traffic in downtown Dakar (capital of Senegal) This is right by the market. It was insanity! We toured a little before coming home including visiting Goree Island where they took slaves before being transferred to Europe and America.

So there is it. Sorry this was way long. It's just been on my mind a lot lately.

Happy weekend everyone!

p.s. I just talked to Heidi and she suggested I post my Africa journal and pics. I just did a quick blog of the journal (see link on right). I'll dig up the CD of photos and get a slide show on there later.

Biking Photos

A couple people have asked for me to post some photos of a bike ride. I took my camera on the Elephant Rock/Mueller Park ride this evening. My batteried died- duh. I did get a few shots first....

That's elephant rock. No idea why it's called that


Here is some of the gang at the rock. Big group this time! The trail is not too steep or too technical but really fun, everyone comes out to do it.


This is a fun little boardwalk section. I know i should have gotten a rider on it, but I didn't want wait for someone and then make them stop. Not a lot of passing space on this trail. It's a really fun ride going downhill.


I think that is Jerry getting to the rock.


I'm bummed my camera died. It is an incredibly pretty trail. Nice and cool and out of the valley heat. BTW- mountain biking doesn't bother my hand like the road bike does. Bonus.

A Few Random Things

Random Thing #1: I love the show So You Think You Can Dance, but can't stand the way they film the dancing. It's more like a music video than showcasing amazing choreography. For a show created by dancers, I can't believe they'd do this. In Fred Astaire's movies, he insisted on full body shots and the camera have little/no angle changes so you could really see him dance. SYTYCD needs to take a lesson.

Random Thing #2: Microsoft 2007 stinks!! I hated it when I first got it but was willing to give it a try thinking it would grow on me-- it hasn't. It is a source of daily frustration.

Random Thing #3: I have a bee sting on my face. That's the thanks I get for tending to all those flowers in mom and dad's yard. I give it pollen, it gives me a huge welt on my face- fair trade I guess. :)

Random Thing #4: I had fun watching Wimbledon (just have to be sure all my random things aren't complaints). The Williams sisters rock!

Random Thing #5: I said good-bye to cute Milo and his family last night. Sad to see them go. Good luck in Texas guys!!

Random Thing #6: I think acupuncture is like magic. He fixed up my hand last week in just minutes. It's amazing. (It also doesn't hurt that my acupuncturist is about the most attractive man I know. Ü)

Random Thing #7: Conversation on the hiking trail yesterday.

I was startled by a huge rattlesnake on the side of the path, a minute later two girls were hiking the opposite direction (judging by their looks, I could tell they were not big hikers). I just warned them about the snake and kept hiking. I heard this conversation going on behind me.

Girl 1: What do you do if you see a rattlesnake?

Girl 2: Run!

Girl 1: Doesn't that make more come out to get you?

Girl 2: No, I think that is just in the movie, Tremors.

Girl 1: Oh, right. Are they poisonous?

Girl 2: I think they might kill you instantly.

Then I was out of earshot. I really wanted to turn around and stealthily follow them until they came to the snake to see what they did. I half expected them to be paralyzed in their tracks when I was coming back down an hour later. Alas, girls and snake were nowhere to be seen.

Weekend Update

Another fun and exhausting day. The 4th of July was one party after another. :) First, up at 6:30 to get breakfast going for the ward party. The party started with a flag ceremony courtesy of the Scouts at 8:00 a.m.

Then we did the annual triathlon. Twice around the block on a bike, once on foot, then slip and slide across the finish line. Here's a bike/run transition.

Megan and Joe Roth were the big winners. How cute are they! Here's Megan crossing the finish line and getting a hug from Joe. Then they did a unison victory slide! (nice form Megan!)

Then inside for a hearty breakfast. We had about twice as many people as we thought; it was a total fish and loaves situation. We had egg casseroles, Ikea cinnamon rolls, fruit, bacon and juice.

Next was the family reunion. It was great to see everyone, especially all of you fellowing blogging cousins IRL. I didn't take many photos and a lot were with Steph's camera. Here are a couple.

This is the cake I made. Lemon cake with whipped cream frosting, strawberries and blueberries.

A few of the kiddos

We did the big slip and slide down the hill. A few of "big kids" (adults) made it off the end.

Here's video of Asher going to down.


After the party we headed to the Stadium of Fire. Sorry, no pics of Miley. :) Actually, I had never heard any of her songs. It wasn't as teeny-bopper as I thought it would be. The kids really liked it. The fireworks were great.

One fun thing about it was where we parked. Kasey's friend came with us and her aunt offered to let us park in her driveway. The house ended up being right behind Grandma and Grandpa H's old house. It was so fun to walk by and see people there having dinner in the yard and doing fireworks in the circle just like we used to every year growing up. Then that walk from their house to the stadium is so familiar and reminiscent of 4th of July and football games. Steph and I were telling the kids about it, and they didn't really care, which reminded me of when we were kids and mom & dad would take us around Provo to show us their old houses and we thought it was boring. Ya dad, I get it now. :)

Saturday I slept in- it was fabulous. Then went for a bike ride - mistake. My hand was almost better and I thought if I kept changing my hand position and making sure my shoulders and neck were loose it would be OK. I realized at the TOP of City Creek Canyon that I didn't have the strength in my hand to use my brakes or shift. Not a good thing to discover as you're starting down. It was an adventure, and now my hand is all numb again. I guess I need to stay off my bike until it heals.

I FINALLY bought new mattress and TV (yay joined the HD world) yesterday afternoon. I know I think I've blogged three times that I bought them, but it just never quite worked out. They are actually paid for this time, although the mattress won't be delivered for a week and I could not figure out how to hook up the TV (I miss dad!). I ended the day with dinner and movie with a friend (Thai food and the Broadway theater). Not a bad holiday weekend.