- Obama Bumper Sticker Removal Kit -

My favorite part=

"It's just that easy! ..Even works on a Prius!"

- America The Beautiful -

I've decided I really like July.

Not so much a fan of the heat.. But I love the celebration, the freedom, the celebration of freedom, the fireworks, the parades, the rodeos, the remembrance of those who came before us- like early America's great leaders [.. I wish we still had some of those, great leaders I mean], and the brave pioneers! You know, they paved the way for everything I am grateful for. ..Like rodeos! Just kidding. Like FREEDOM [which sadly we're losing] and the Gospel!

I do truly, truly love rodeos though. We went to the Pioneer Days Rodeo on the 24th, for the millionth year in a row, and it was wonderful- like always. And guess what.. remember Isaac Johnson? Well.. A piece his dad drew of him was on the cover of every Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo agenda. You know, the pamphlet they hand you upon entering the event? Yeah, that. His dad, Steve Johnson, is an amazing artist and his work made Isaac the icon of Pioneer Days Rodeo 2010. Ha ha. Who would have thought? I'm kinda sad I didn't grab one so I could post it up here.

Yeehaw!

- Medicine For A Mediocre Day -

Listening to Pretty Girl From San Diego
While knocking down a Pomegranate Pick-Me-Up

=

Medicine for a mediocre day

- Living Of Love -

I'm such a grudge holder and there's so much I need to let go of. I told my sister the other day that yesterday doesn't matter, only today. I think I believe that. People change right? So, I should forgive and forget.

"There’s only one thing here worth hoping for
With Lucifer beneath you and God above
If either one of them asks you what your living of
Say love, say for me love" - The Avett Brothers

As hard as it is to blog without wifi.. It seems even harder to write in a journal. So I have a blog instead of a journal. It's like a time line of the insignificant hang outs of my life. I don't truly express feelings onto this blog as much as I'd like to. About alls I can get out is how I don't know what to do with my life. I feel like if I did more, someone would misinterpret who I am. My painting of life. My attitude.

So I think I'll start a journal. Beginning.. Sunday. I've already got 5+ written in, but I'm pretty sure they're the same as my blog.

"Today I spent time with so-and-so. Tired."

If I ever have kids, and they read my journal, I want them to know how I felt about everything, how I feel about everything. About every day starting a little after age 20 [since I can't turn back time].

I wish I lived anytime before the 1960's.. 1920's.. 1900's.. 1850's even. I would enjoy simple life with no power lines through the trees and sky. No construction on the roads. Not even pavement on the roads! No car problems or employment issues. No such thing as PETA.

For heavens sake-- get rid of PETA.

Deals made by handshakes, not contracts. No such thing as a lawyer. Or a law suit. Live music, and a memory charm that will help me forget that ipods and macbooks ever existed. Trust. Common sense. Loyalty. Patriotism. College for $.20 a semester would be nice too. Or better yet, no college.

Also.. I just really really wish I lived when citizens waved to each other everywhere they went. Not because they knew each other, but because they were friendly people and that's just what they did.



Did anyone else see the sunset tonight? Beautiful! It's lucky I didn't crash 15 times while driving home because I couldn't help but stare at it.

- Frank -

There are so many times that I've wanted my camera and not had it near. A few times being the Mates of State concert and the Modest Mouse concert, but never more did I wish I had my camera handy than when I walked into my grandparents house on Monday to see grandpa lolling around the kitchen with only 1 boot on. I guess he had been about to go water the garden when I walked in and there wasn't enough reason to put the other boot on before greeting me.

I'd gone over to see if I could make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which is something I had never done before but I was in the area working so I decided I'd give it a try.

Within moments of asking if I could make a sandwich, grandpa had pulled out two pieces of home made bread from the freezer, apricot jam, elderberry jam, black raspberry jam, lemonade, and milk from the fridge, butter from the cupboard, and pointed to the already open peanut butter on the counter. All while wearing 1 boot.

I decided on black raspberry jam, and milk to go along with my peanut butter bread. The milk, which had expired a few days prior to my visit, made me want to cringe upon my first sip but I didn't want to cause a fit, so I put my cup down, pretended I didn't just drink rotten milk and began to eat my sandwich. Grandpa talked to me about the surface area of salt and ice while making home made ice cream until I had 2 bites left, then he went to the back hall to finish putting on his shoes and headed off to the backyard.

Guess what happened next.

Yup, poured my glass of milk down the drain, emptied the last drops from the gallon jug, rinsed it out, put it on the counter, and filled my cup with lemonade. Mmm.. So much better.

A few minutes later, grandpa was back and out to the garden we went. We speed walked past the sprinkler and over to the berry bushes. Apparently, grandma and grandpa had gone to St. George for the weekend and when they came back the whole patch was loaded. Together, grandpa and I probably picked and ate 30 berries within only a few minutes.

Before leaving, grandpa gave me a taste of some home made black raspberry ice cream while we talked about school. Well, it all started with me telling him how I wasn't sure what I wanted to study and it kind of turned into this..

When grandpa was younger, boys went on LDS missions when they were 20 years old, so grandpa had 2 years of school at Utah State University done before he left. Those first few years were filled with classes from 4 general areas. [One of the classes he mentioned was Economics. He said he'd hated it and advised me never to take it. (: ] He didn't know what he wanted to go into. Then he got his mission call.

In that time, Grandpa, turning 20 a few years before the start of the Korean War, had to ask and receive federal permission to leave the United States to serve his mission in Norway. Permission was given.

Near the end of his mission, he received a letter from his father that said something like, "I hope you make it all the way home safely." Apparently notices were being sent home to his family in Utah about his lack of response to any of their requests concerning .. the draft, I think? Something like that, and people were upset.

When grandpa was on his way home, he rode a train from ? [New York, maybe] to Chicago. There were officers policing the trains and one of them grabbed him and said "Are you the one we're looking for!!!" and grandpa was so scared because he thought "how could they be looking for me here?" but then the officer said "Nope, not him." and moved on.

When grandpa arrived home he was supposed to get drafted but he asked his draft date to be postponed so he could help his father finish with the cattle early that fall. He was supposed to leave in October but his request was granted so he was going to leave in November and.. I don't remember what happened after that..

But then, because he had lived in Europe and studied Germany, they called him to be part of Intelligence instead of having him go over seas. They chose between sending him over to fight and sending a professional stenographer over and guess what! They sent the professional stenographer over and kept grandpa, put him through 5 months of stenography training, and turned him into their stenographer. What a blessing! No way would that happen without the help of Heavenly Father.

Anyways, he fulfilled his two years of duty and returned, finally, to Utah State University. Where he decided to go into Chemistry. Later, becoming a chemist for the army, testing warfare gases and chemicals.

Whoa! There's my attempted recap. That last sentence was told to me by my mother. Some of my facts might be a little jumbled up, but I tried my best to remember all that he told me.

When my ice cream was done, I washed my dish, thanked grandpa for everything, and headed out.

I love my grandpa. He's so kind. There is nothing warmer than a prayer or welcoming word given by him. He sings in the morning and hums the whole day through. He's smart. He's productive, hard working, even before the sun's up. He's careful and caring. He remembers when I was little and loved his berry patches, weaving in and out carefully without getting a scratch. Because of that, he always saves me a bottle of black raspberry jelly whenever it is made. He slurps milk off the table, teaching us not to waste. He's loving, selfless, always giving. Ice cream. Cider. Apples. Corn. Peaches. Berries. Grapes. He's humble. He stops mid boot application to greet me, and doesn't put the other boot on until I'm well taken care of. He would probably treat a stranger the same way. He's a wonderful man.

- Maybe You Had To Be There -

So I've been looking through Megan's blog posts from last summer trying to find a certain experience they had, one in which they went to a complete strangers wedding brunch. And although, I couldn't find it.. I did, once again, realize how ridiculous [in every way possible] last summer had been. Just read down Megan's May/June/July 2009 [she blogged better than me while we were out there] and you'll see what I mean.

Anyways, the reason I was trying to find her story of the uncomfortable get together was because I had, in my opinion, a quite similar experience on Sunday.

When I was in elementary school, we spent one summer at my great aunt's empty rock house in Huntsville, Ut. While staying there- we ran around in the fields, slept in the hay barn, went to the cabin, rode our bikes, etc.. and also became friends with the Johnson's.

The Johnson's:
Levi, 2 years older than me.
Isaac, 1 year older than me.
Annie, my age.
And Cooper, 4ish years younger than me.

Long story short, I had a rather embarrassing school girl crush on Isaac. And to this day, I remember it well enough. Which means... He probably does too. That's normal, right? Happens to every girl. Usually they lose touch, grow up and never seen each other again.

Well, Isaac got home from his mission last Tuesday. So, my dad and I went to his homecoming. It seemed like an okay idea when we were still a 45 minute drive away from the reunion but, upon arriving at his church, I did not want to go anymore. Not only is that just.. so awkward.. but, Isaac is ambitious, intimidating.. attractive, and me? What have I done with my life?.. Exactly.

We sat in the hall because there were no remaining seats in the chapel. As soon as the meeting was over, I suggested we go visit an aunt nearby and/or go up to the farm to move sprinkler pipes. So.. I was basically screaming "Let's not go to his house! Anything but that!" And where do we end up? Waiting in front of Isaac's house, before anyone else has arrived.

This happens because A) we left the meeting early, during the song instead of after the prayer, so we could 'beat the traffic', B) dad wanted to get to the Johnson's before grandma and grandpa left, since they are why our families even know each other exists, and C) because my brother, Jake, had borrowed a few horse training manuals from the Johnson's and never gave them back- therefore leaving them to us to return.

You know that feeling you get when you go to something you shouldn't have gone to because A) you were invited by someone who didn't have the right to invite you or B) you weren't invited at all? Yeaaaahh..

Keep that feeling in mind:

We walked over to the gathering of strangers, dad talked to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and we ate food [like party crashers usually do]. At some point while we were there, I was re-introduced to Isaac's little brother, currently 16, who had forgotten my name, and to Isaac. Why I asked the question "Do you remember who I am?", I'll never know. Because I just really really don't want him to remember who I am. AHH.

I should have never gone. The experience is a 10 on the scale of miserable, uncomfortable, summer experiences.

- Tis The Season To Be Jolly -

The Twilight Concert Series is finally upon us. As the 2 of you that read my blog already know, I've been waiting for these Thursday night free-bee's ever since last years events ended.


Modest Mouse was last night's joy. I was hoping they'd play Paper Thin Walls, and Satin in a Coffin. And they did. .. . ... (:



I listened to a sampler of the opening band before the show, and Kerri lead me to their funky music video ^. So good. And even better live. Avi Buffalo, you came into my life, and stay you will.

- Flapper -

This past week, I did two things I have never done before:

1 - I fixed a toilet.

2 - I hit a bird with my car.

[Funny how the word 'flapper' ties both events together.]

I know, I know.. It's pretty exciting. I'm hoping to have material half this good for my next post.

- Ever Unproductive -

I get depressed thinking about the adventures of last years 4th of July weekend, and how this summer I've been so ever-unproductive.

I was supposed to be doing a job down in SLC today- but they ended up filling my spot. So.. I'm just idly wasting away..