thoughts on a sunny saturday afternoon

A. My BFF Jamie got her mission call! She's going to Jackson, Mississippi and she goes into the MTC September 15. I'm so excited for her. She's going to be a stellar missionary.


B. I am in love with Salt Lake City. On Friday evening I went up to Salt Lake for a friend's wedding reception that was located up in the Avenues. I'd never been up there before and it was gorgeous. It had a beautiful view of the Salt Lake Valley and the houses were so cute! I could totally picture myself living there and taking evening walks. Maybe one day . . . But if definitely reaffirmed my desire to live in a city.

C. I am quite sad that the US is no longer in the World Cup. But I have loved watching them play, and am now in love with Landon Donovan. I don't really like watching soccer all that much, (what kind of sport can end in a tie?!) but every 4 years I think I can get into and cheer Team USA on.

D. I've read some really interesting articles in the NYT lately and I wanted to share.
This one is about the French soccer team and their debacle.
This one is about the dismissal of General McChrystal and I thought it was a very interesting perspective and I quite liked it.
If you have some spare time you should read them.

E. I get to go see Paul in t-minus 23 days. It's going to be epic.

F. I got an A in my senior English course (495) and an A on my senior English paper. I'm quite thrilled to be honest. My paper was a comparison of Walt Whitman and Mark Twain and I specifically argued that both were feminists for their time, and I specifically looked at Whitman's "Song of Myself" and Twains The Diaries of Adam and Eve. It was a fun paper to write and research and I worked harder on that paper than any paper to date so it's nice to see my hard work pay off.

G. I'm currently reading Founding Brothers and struggling to get into it. I think it's because of the lack of a plot. I'm thinking about simultaneously reading The Hiding Place because my mother recently read it and loved it and is now making my (soon to be) 17 year old brother Parker read it.

H. Wimbledon is currently happening in London and I'm wishing I was there to watch it. Roger Federer is one of the classiest athletes and I think Murray and Roddick are cuties. It's amazing to watch the world's best tennis players- they serve the ball over 100 mph! That's insane to wrap my mind around, especially considering how awful I am at tennis. I live vicariously through others via watching sports instead of playing.

that is all for today folks!

maybe?

are these cute? or are they just tacky? i'm looking for cute, comfortable shoes for when I have to start my practicum and student teaching, and i think i kinda like these. i found them here

just call me marilyn

Lesson learned. A skirt+ a windy day= bad choice.

I have vowed to listen to the weather man- when he says it's going to be windy I should believe him. It was no fun to walk around campus all day holding my skirt down.

one year older, and wiser too

Marshall is officially 20 years old! CRAZY! The family (minus John and Angela) went to dinner at Red Robin and then to Comedy Sportz.

Joseph insisted on wearing sunglasses all night- I have no idea why.Then we went to comedy sportz! It was so funny. Joseph wouldn't make a normal face

So we took 3 pictures- hence my fake smile.

Happy birthday Bud! It was fun to spend time with the family- it was just a bummer Angela couldn't be there.

a thousand words

I thought I'd let the pictures do the talking...

We hit up Bruges in Salt Lake on Thursday for some frites and waffles

I got mine with strawberries and cream- so delicious!

Then on the way back we stopped at IKEA!

The beds look really comfy- so I got a running start...

Friday I took work off and Candace, Kristen, Jamie and I went to Gourmandise Bakery and then hit up the Gateway for some serious shopping. It was such a fun afternoon- I love these girls!

Showing off my delicious croissant pudding. We all got our desserts to go but decided we couldn't wait and ate them in the car in the parking lot!

Jamie's pastry was a masterpiece- it was called a peach and was filled with cream and peach syrup. Delicious!

On Memorial Day I went home and spent the afternoon with my family at the park playing tennis, then we went home and had a BBQ and watched The Incredibles.

Joseph is such a hoot. I just loved that kid. And Marshall and Babs are pretty cool too.

It was a completely wonderful long weekend. Filled with lots of good food, fun, friends and family. Just what a girl needs to be happy. A few other unpictured highlights- Saturday Jamie and I went and got frozen yogurt and went to the local elementary school and went swinging and read our books on the grass- perfection. Sunday was my cousin Issac's farewell so we all went up to Kaysville. It was really fun to see my Hess relatives. Issac is going to Melbourne, Australia Mandarin Chinese speaking! Monday I got my trash kicked in tennis- I think the only person I'm capable of beating is Joseph. Angela- we missed you girl. Over and out.