Memorial Day

I don't know about everyone else, but we had some serious rain today. At first I was really glad that it was raining just so I had a pathetic reason for not going out for a long long run today. Yeah running didn't happen. What did happen was a lot of sleeping and I think my body wouldn't have made it beyond a quarter of a mile today. I haven't been ill for a while and it isn't a welcome thing. Oh well...it can't last forever.

In favor of Memorial Day I thought I'd put a little post for one of my grandpas. (given he is the only grandpa that is no longer living). My grandpa K., whom I have so graciously taken a self portrait from and posted in on my blog as my profile picture. I didn't know him very well because he died when I was really young. I now have a greater appreciation for how into art he was and his talent. He made every one of his family's Christmas cards, was an excellent artist and a photo nut (heheh.... I know where I get it from) I wish I could sit down and have some discussions about things and I know we would have been super close. These photos were taken by a friend (they worked for the church magazines) as he was trying to impersonate some other models. They crack me up and I love photos that do that. We did put flowers on he and his wife's grave...in addition to a few others. My mom and aunt outdid themselves by putting together some gorgeous flowers and doing super cleaning of the gravestones which I think is nice and a very respectful thing to do. As always I watched and attempted to help where I could. This means getting water for the flowers and picking up the clippings of the stems. Yeah me!

Happy Memorial Day.

p.s. I will put up some photos of my other grandparents but at the moment I have none on my computer....a goal to work on.

S.P.S.....Shia move over!

Ok, blogger is having some issues so this is the second time I'm typing this.

Why my nephew is awesome:

He can navigate in my room with out falling over and needless to say for anyone else who has seen my room during a project or at all knows that there are a bajillion things hanging, dangling, lying, sitting, tweeting, lost, found, sticking out, existing just to take up space, begging to anyone under the age of 14 to touch...and so forth. I nominate the little boy to take over in the next 'kid' sidekick role for Indiana Jones. And we thought Harrison was finished after the third one......well the two Fords need to awe the world some time before Harrison kicks the bucket. Because of this I am more than willing to share my S.P.S. with Jamison. Love you kid!

Congratulations David Cook

Yeah for David Cook. If I had voted I would have voted for him, even though I didn't see him smile often and that goes a LONG way in my books. Round of applause for him anyway...:D I totally called the crying.

Off on a tangent, I received my new phone in the mail today. Super speedy because I had ordered it the day before. Cool huh? I was ready for a new device to communicate with people through because my last phone was on its second battery and the reception was horrible. Not to mention my faithful two years of service was up, not to mention the prolonged time because of my overseas experience and verizon's lack of traveling well. It did serve its purpose and I'm thoroughly confident my new one will do better. (Crossing fingers). The size is about half as small as my old phone and it is now in color. I guess I felt the American Idol 'red' vibe because my sweet set up is a juicy ruby color.

Go American Idol! Go America! Go Patriotic Red and hurray for super 'sick' (as Colton would say) technology in such a small space.

glub

I must say that one of my favorite things found in nature are waterfalls. I don't care how small/large, loud, unnoticeable they are....I Love THEM.

Go figure it has taken me quite a few years past the age of ten before I had friends VOLUNTEERING for some hiking excursions with me. That is pretty amazing. So this one is for you Jess. Even though we didn't quite get to the destination we wanted that day....I came away with a waterfall photo and a guaranteed second session where we will be TREKKING through some water.

and I was......where while this was happening?????

Today I was reminiscing about Beijing. I have had so many people ask me if I miss it, or if I am just plain glad to be back home. The funny thing is I still feel like it is a second mini home for me.......I mean...I have family, friends, favorite chinese places, shopping and Starbucks at Christmas time (with Frankie and Ella serenading whoever stops by during the winter season).  So, I think I can honestly say that YES I do miss it, but not enough to drop everything from my first home and completely regroup back there. Perhaps one day I will spend  a summer there because that was the only season I missed out on. That way I could indulge myself with some of my favorite fruits in the heat, and perhaps get a water fight going with our hose...still the water situation is quite sketchy.  I desperately miss the fact that I MISSED my little cousin's walking bonanza. I just received a video today with Connor walking....so sweet. I was with him in China before he could even sit up.  There isn't a whole to say for me being their for my actual nephew either. Cute little Jamison was RUNNING on skype for me before I realized how good of a walker he was.  Apparently I have a knack for being in the right place at the wrong time:S Here's my ode in photos to the two little boys in my life.

S.P.S.

I had a realization today .....that SOOO SOON I will be one of two children at home. The older of my two younger brothers (very closely going to be taller younger brothers) will be going on a mission. This will leave my youngest brother and I at home. It will be a bit strange just having the two of us for two Christmas holidays. I can feel some great bonding time.......Can you guess which is my younger bro based on my S.P.S. picture? See the family love.

My Hero

I think I have had more problems with my password/security questions concerning my university homepage than anyone else on the planet. It is so annoying and I feel horrible every time they ask me those silly questions and I can't remember my answers. The last time this happened they asked me for my favorite superhero...of course being the narcissistic person that I am, I said myself and then voted my mom...and went down the line until the poor man on the other end told me that it was someone from X-Men. ......... That's how nice people are to me:D

HOWEVER, I do have a new superhero of choice and it would be my mom. Today she finished her 50TH marathon and I was super proud of her. Her fan club secretly planned a surprize showing (seriously how many people actually see their 'secret fan clubs' with as cool of t-shirts as we had???!!!). Anyhow, she was really thrilled when she saw us. We went to the 18 mile point and Matt/Konni rode their bikes up to find her in the canyon. She stopped running because she was so surprized. When she saw the rest of us she wanted to stop again and take pictures, but luckily for us we kept her goal in focus and made her run (how rude of us I know).

The L.P experience and my S.S.P.s

Yeah for Lake Powell. I spent the past week basking in the sunshine, swimming in the icy waters and braving the sand storms of the spring season. All summed up though, it was a really fun trip. I picked out quite a few of the highlights from the week....including my S.S.P.s.

Here's my sis showing off her amazing skills. I definitely like photographing more than doing....

Here is the infamous Matty strutting his stuff as well over the wake.

Matty also has serious skills when paddle boats and ski ropes come together....ha.

We camped on sand and two vehicles got stuck. Luckily they were freed from the depths of the sand dunes with the help of a smaller toyata, jeep-like vehicle. It was entertaining enough and a bunch of us helped dig out the Hummer. It was definitely a group effort.

These were the classic expressions of our boat's occupants as they witnessed the cars in their devasting positions on the beach....

I call it bubble diving, but I'm not sure what it's true technical name is. You jump off of the boat while it is going a few m.p.h. and the bubbles shoot you out really far.

Just for the record I can wakeboard.......but I am far from having skills.

Yeah ELEN!!! My dearest chum came with me and we traveled to sand dunes many times and explored the nooks and crannies of our camp site.

Raven-eye view of our campsite and some of our boats. We had a cool like bay to ourselves (well...and 40+ other people during the week.) 

We took a canyon excursion one day. It was my first and I found it fabulously cool to look at!!!

My S.S.P.s. We went into town one night for dinner and you have to excuse the name of the place. It was in honor of the Glen Canyon Dam. I found the shirt funny....You can't see the lettering but it says 'look our for lizard dropping' as a lizard falls off of his stool. Oh, and by the way check out the ponytail. I am making some progress and THANK you vegetables/fruits for my shiny hair follicles.

Buddha Power.
Our group was beyond everyone else especially in their spelling abilities. Here's to one of my favorite sayings.

Yeah for Matt's sweet skills! I wish I had the time and patience to do what he does....

Here's some more bubble diving..................the jumper's bottom will be remained nameless...;)

MISSING

one stiletto snakeskin shoe..aprox 3 inch heel

one silver kitten heel shoe..aprox .5 inch heel. GASP

if found, REWARD (cookies of your choice)

shoot 001# and S.P.Ss

This Saturday I thought I'd swing in a little splash memory from China. The knock-off market is unbelievable and so much fun to shop in. Here are just a few I purchased  (yes, all Dad wanted from China was a fake Rolex). I think it's a really funny notion to get in your head that anyone can create a designer name...and the power behind that name is non existant for me, because I know it's all made in China. Either by legal workers or scammers. Question is, which watch is really the real watch made in China, sold in China, but by the authorized seller????

1)Rolex 2) Louis Vuitton 3)Swatch 4)Dolce & Gabbana 5) Dolce & Gabbana trying to be Dr. Seuss...........................

I'm aiming for at least 100 good photos posted by the end of this year. Here's the first of many lovely to come. Thank you Maren, one of my many faithful models.....of course 'spiderman'ing it on to the wall.

I had been painting for most  of the afternoon and feeling about ready to pull my hair out because I needed something different to look at. Solution: take more photos.

I'm a believe in using props that I own, and have easy access to, so HA to the shoes. I must say the wicked sweet Nikes you only see the teal backs of were my favorite. They belong to Maren, go figure.  One of my favorite thing about getting friends to work with, is that they are totally goofy around me so they are always doing odd things that inspire another picture. Tragically more pictures from this shoot need to be worked on, but will get posted soon.

why I'm moving somewhere warm year round

because somewhere in the U.S.A this is what was seen May 2nd out of the window. Need I say more?  Apparently it was enough snow to close down the near bye airport. I guess I am making dinner tomorrow night because tonight the only people who would appreciate it are stuck in an airport.