Mariko & Dj Hesterman

My 24th birthday celebration!

2012-01-26T18:59:00.003-07:00

I'm 24.

I am 24.

I. am. twenty. FOUR!

It was a great day. One of my best birthdays by far, unexpectedly so. It was a Wednesday--smack dab in the middle of the week, so I wasn't planning on too much. I was scheduled to manage the restaurant that night, but I decided to give myself a gift and have someone else cover for me so I could just relax. So instead, I used my birthday as a completely relaxed/no schedule/no to-do list/ take it easy kind of a day.

January 25th, 2012

7:55 am: Deej woke me up, and instead of a breakfast-in-bed...I woke up to something a million times better--a Kelly Moore bag in bed!! Holy hannah, I was NOT expecting that. Deej knew that I've wanted a nice bag for my gear for a while now. I'm sure he saw me a couple months ago when I was on her website religiously, browsing through all the cute bags and whimpering at the same time because I knew it was a little out of the budget...So this was a fantastic gift! I may or may not have shed a few tears...

8:20 am: Drove Deej to school.

8:30 am: Sat in my car while reading The Help and waited for Deej to finish his class. I got through like 3 chapters! If you know me, you know this is a HUGE accomplishment. I know, its sad. I've never been great at reading, and I've never really liked it. So I'm trying to get better!

11:50 am: Mom took me out to lunch to Gourmandise Cafe--Sooooo delicious. Afterwards, she let me pick out a couple cakes to take home for me and Dj. Chocolate decadence cake and Strawberry Napoleon cake. As you can see I couldn't get a decent picture of the two because they were too good to wait.

I came home after lunch and realized...dang, I should have planned something to do because now, I really have nothing to do...I didn't realize that I was taking the day off to be all alone! Deej had classes, and then I forgot that he was going straight to work until 7:00! He called me and told me this, and I was kinda bummed. ...Then he mentioned he had a cello lesson to teach until 8:00!! Now I was really bummed. I was going to be all alone until 9:00 on my birthday...dang it.

And then the door to my apartment started opening...it was DEEEJAAAYYY!! That trickster got work off and rescheduled his lesson for later in the week. So we ended up doing exactly what I had planned for--we spent the day watching TV, playing on the iPad, enjoying each other's company, having a completely relaxed/no schedule/no to-do list/ take it easy kind of a day.

Deej spoiled me and took me to Royal India for dinner. This is one of our favorite restaurants. Its not a place we can go to regularly because of the prices, and its about a half hour away, but the times we do go, we cherish them!

All in all, this was the best birthday I could have asked for.

Osterloh Family: 2012 Edition

2012-01-18T23:53:00.000-07:00

Go meet my new and improved family of 2012 here!

It's going to be a fun year!

Selling my Nikon D80 and 2 lenses!

2011-12-06T23:02:00.001-07:00

I'm movin' on to bigger and better things. This is it D80--you've been good to me! Now it's time for you to find a new home.

Thanks!

We'll be laughing soon enough...

2011-12-01T22:01:00.001-07:00

Deej just took his cuff links off and can't find one. He can't find his iPad. I'm sitting on a very broken chair and just noticed my ring is broken, too. I got up to help Deej look. He sat down on the broken chair and it gave way. I found Deej on the floor.

This has been a very interesting 5 minutes.

More from Japan!

2011-11-21T20:30:00.001-07:00

So I never really explained our trip. It was pretty interesting. We had been planning on going to Japan for a while, but riding stand by can change your plans in an instant. We originally were going to fly straight there on Thursday. We looked at the flight Wednesday morning and saw it was iffy, so we decided to pack our bags and leave that evening to JFK. We had about a 7 hour layover, so we met up with Sachi (who currently is stationed out of JFK) and walked around NYC. ...Going through these photos makes me want to go back. SO BAD!

Brooklyn Bridge!

Teddy Grahams kept us going.

WE MADE IT ACROSS!

Technology overload. 3 iPads. 2 phones. 1 Nikon. And a partridge in a pair tree.

DJ's and Sachi's first time in Business Elite. Oh that orange juice was divine.

Grandma and Grandpa's house! (What am I doing?...saving Deej from getting hit?)

Grandpa's laundry rack...and peanut rack (one of the many things he gardens).

Left: Yes, those keychains are very common and are attached to cell phones. Sometimes girls even have little stuffed animals attached.

Right: My obaachan and Sachi getting ready to go into the mall. Obaachan is always so happy, it makes me happy!

This. This is Purikura. Just before these pictures, we were around the corner in another photo booth posing for the camera. Now, WE EDIT!

Ta-Da!

These are so delicious! Little fishies made of sweet bread and filled with sweet beans or custard. So good!

...I'm all tuckered out...more from the Japanese wedding dinner soon...

This one is for Michael.

2011-11-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

I know this is a little late, but I totally spaced posting these photos...they kind of got lost in my ridiculously long "To-do" list called LIFE. So Michael, since you were so kind to remind me, I dedicate these pumpkins to you.

So, without further ado, I bring to you our 2011 Halloween Pumpkin Carving!

Above: by Yours Truly...

Above: by Gallia and Michael

And last but definitely not least, my husband's pumpkin carving that he created all by himself.

That's a pretty good lookin' crew if I say so myself!

i.Love.movie.Quotes!

2011-10-28T20:33:00.000-06:00

So, funny thing, as I was typing the title of this post, I totally thought of the quote: "Our. family. ALBUM!" off of How to lose a guy in 10 days. Seriously. This movie has too many amazing movie quotes. Anyway, that's not what I was going to post about, but movie quotes are in my head 24/7 and I just wanted to share that one. Moving on.

Deej was getting ready for his show tonight, and instead of the usual bow tie and cummerbund ensemble, for the Halloween show the musicians all dress up in their costumes. So he was looking around for his one piece jumpsuit and couldn't find it (surprise surprise) and he shouted to me, "Where is my super suit, woman!?!"

Yup, my movie quote addiction is slowly rubbing off onto Dj.

Purikura Time!

2011-10-22T16:40:00.000-06:00

We will never get enough of Japan.

Check out more photos here!

Sucky immune system...

2011-10-05T12:55:00.000-06:00

Yes, I am sick. It is that season again. Such a bitter sweet season for me. I absolutely LOVE the fall--all the beautiful colors and starting to layer up my wardrobe with scarves and jackets. But my immune system gets its butt kicked almost every year. Normally I wouldn't be in such a rush to get better, but I really need to heal fast because I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow (or TONIGHT! Just got a call from dad saying we might need to red-eye it to JFK...)! I do NOT want to be sick in Japan, especially because the humidity will already be enough discomfort. I am so congested, I feel like my entire head is being squished inside one of those air tight vacuum bags you see on infomercials at 2 in the morning...My nose can't handle any more blowing--Its starting to get so red from the irritation! I could be recruited for the next Rudolph right about now...

So for the past 4 days I've been taking Dayquil & Nyquil every 4 hours hoping to get rid of these awful symptoms that have been stopping me from getting things done. I only wish the medicine would work as fast as it does on TV. Seriously. First you see images of someone sneezing and coughing with this exhausted look on their face and its always in black and white, then right after they take the medicine they are jogging in central park and the world is colorful again. What is that about?! Has that ever worked for anyone?? Well, if it has, I am very jealous.

Guess I'm just gonna have to suck it up for now..."Be a man! Rub some dirt in it!" (Name that movie...)

P.S.
I thought I'd post a photo of a before and after of the husband. As some of you know, Deej has grown quite the beard. We were thinking to grow it out and use it as part of his Halloween costume--One we were thinking was the tall Abe Lincoln and I could be his short and stubby wife...haha! However, since we're introducing him to my Japanese side of the family for the very first time, we figured we needed to look our best, so we both decided to go in for hair cuts yesterday. Mine wasn't drastic, as always, just a little trim. But man oh man, Deej is one stud muffin!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Thank you for solidifying your bad reputation.

2011-09-27T10:28:00.001-06:00

Why are all office ladies/secretaries witches? Is that a requirement on their resume when they apply? Is it part of their training when they get hired? or is it simply that they are just rude people who hate their job? Seriously.

Oh, hey Miss Trunchbull, you're job is to answer our questions/lead us to someone smarter than you, so don't stare at me like I'm stupid when I ask you a simple question and give me the "oh, too bad, I don't want to help you" look. Of course, I refused to stoop down to your level so I remembered my manners and said 'please' and 'thank you', but that had little, if not zero, affect on you. If your job requires you to work with people almost the entire time, you should probably have better people skills. ...Have a good day!

...ugh...

Un.Believable.

2011-09-06T22:47:00.001-06:00

Where do I begin. I'm so upset right now that I just want to get to the point of the story.

No. Scratch that--not upset...IRATE! But maybe it'll be best to tell the entire story so that I can build the intensity for you--that way I'm not alone in my madness. I'll try my best not to break the keys on this keyboard...

So I got to work this morning in a pretty good mood. I was hoping for a busy day because I was pumped and ready to serve! But of course, my day begins with a one top. Lovely. And another. Lovely-er. And so the day went on with a really slow service and my section never filled up completely. Darn it all to heck.

And I had the long shift.

Awesome...

My very last table was a mother and daughter. I almost knew they were going to be toughies right from the get-go due to their "just get me seated and fed" attitudes. They came in just after 3 parties had come in literally right before them, all at the same time. I usually panic at this point when I'm the only server on and I get a lot of tables at once. I got them seated and chipped (Su Casa lingo...chipped=served them chips and salsa). Even with 4 tables all at once, after I get all their orders in, I was pretty proud of myself for how fast I got all of them taken care of.

The 3 parties that had come in before the mother and daughter had all paid and left pretty average tips, so I was content. Pretty good ending to a long shift. Or so I thought.

I went to drop off the credit card slip to the mother and went through my whole routine of, "Here ya go, if you could just sign the top copy, everything else is yours. Is there anything else I can do for you? Alrighty, have a good day, thanks for comin' in!" ...and then I had this gut feeling that this lady was blatantly going to stiff me (more server lingo...stiff=No tip.Zero.Zilch.Nada.) because the entire time serving her and being kind to her, she would hardly acknowledge me when I would do what she had asked. In my head, I kept thinking about the man from my previous shift (I promise I'm not trying to make this post longer--this is relevant).

I was being just as kind to this man as I would to any other customer. However, he was in a bad mood the entire time. Long story short, he got upset at the manager and another server for no reason at all, and I finally got him all paid and ready to go. And lo and behold, no tip. This of course got me upset because I didn't understand why, and I regretted not confronting the man and asking if I had done something to upset him that caused him to not leave any tip. This made me decide that next time I would ask if I had done something wrong. And yes, I did realized this could lead to the customer getting upset, but then I thought again--if they don't come back, that is totally fine with me because who wants to serve a table, work their best, and get nothing in return. HELLO PEOPLE! Do you know we only make $2.20 an hour?!

So back to the grumpy mother and daughter.

Realizing I could be in the same situation as before, tippless, I waited near the cash register to watch out of the corner of my eye what would happen. I see she is finished signing the bill. I go to grab it and with a forced smile, I say, "Thanks again." I look at the bill and see a big fat ZERO. In case that wasn't enough to catch my attention, it had a big slash going through it as if it wasn't a hard enough slap in the face. Just had to emphasize she was not leaving me a cent! I see as she gets up to leave there is no cash on the table. She's about to pass me and she says "Thanks" with hardly any smile at all. I'm thinking, no no no no no, you are NOT leaving me a verbal tip (Yeah, some people count that as a tip. Guess what. ITS NOT!) So I quickly get up my guts (I hate confrontation) and ask her in the politest way possible, "I'm sorry, can I ask you a question--was there something wrong with my service today?" A little nervous of how she would react, she simply says, "No." Shocked from her calm reaction, I timidly ask, "Oh...well, you know its customary to tip servers, right?"

"Yeah, but I just don't tip."

...?!?!

I was seriously taken back by her honest and RUDE answer. To be honest, I can't remember exactly what I said after that, I was so mad at this woman! Who doesn't tip, on purpose?! Who walks into a restaurant, sits down and has a nice meal for about 45 minutes, and doesn't plan on tipping their server?! I think I said something like, "You know servers work for tips, so it is customary to leave tips for them."

"Yeah, but its not the law."

...THE LAW?! By this time, my blood was boiling and it took everything to hold back my anger. I calmly persisted and told her, "I'm sorry to say this, but I know for a fact that servers do not appreciate serving without receiving tips." She then decided she DID in fact want to blame it on my service and said "Well, I told you about the flies." (There were a few flies around the front of the restaurant due to opening the door all day with the patio out front, and she complained about them during my service. I told her kind of laughing thinking she was saying it in a 'ha-ha' mood, "Oh I know we're trying to get that taken care of." She says, "No you're not. If you were I'd see you swatting at flies." Not knowing how else to reply, I told her that the manager has been swatting at flies in back trying to get rid of what he could.) So after her snide comment about my ignorance to the flies, I told her, "I'm sorry about the flies, I couldn't really do anything about that, and I couldn't really be swatting at the flies while you're eating and have the possibility of swatting one into your food, and I didn't want to bother you while you were eating." She just ignored what I had just said and cowardly left with a simple, "Okay, thanks."

I have NEVER in my entire 8 years of working as a server been so livid, irritated, furious, etc towards a customer. Its one thing to forget to tip. Its one thing to not tip if you have a crappy server. Its one thing to be confronted about not tipping and fake you forgot and then proceed to leave a little cash. But it is a COMPLETELY different thing when a server specifically asks about her service and gets an honest reply how 'because it isn't the law' they simply do not leave tips. Well ya know WHAT lady?! Its definitely not the law for me to have to serve you. So next time, please be so kind and do all us servers a favor and go to a fast food joint. Unbelievable.

I'm experiencing film withdrawals.

2011-08-29T18:49:00.000-06:00

Not gonna lie. I kinda miss school. Seeing DJ off to school has made me a bit jealous...Don't get me wrong, I am SO glad to be done with crazy projects, but I kinda miss the challenge...what I really miss is shooting film. Oh MAN. Nothin' like shooting good ol' raw film. Now that I'm out of school, I'll have to take it to get developed rather than develop it myself...BORING! Takes the fun out of everything! And yeah, you can get the same effect with digital+post processing with LR, PS, etc...but seriously. There is nothing.like.raw.film.

I don't want to lose my grip with film. I loved the anticipation build up of not knowing what exactly would come out of the camera. Going into a pitch dark room (more of a nook--kinda creepy when you start thinking scary thoughts) to roll the film into the canister, measuring out all the chemicals, developing the film and watching the clock to make sure I do it just right, getting stinky fix all over my pants, waiting for the film to dry in the dryer, and pulling them out onto the light table to see the outcome.

I miss it dearly.

I still need to scan the rest of my negatives in...actually, maybe not the rest...that could take a while. But here are a few of what I had shot from previous semesters:

I shot this one of Tera for my cyanotypes process. They actually turned out really cool!

(Unfortunately the cyanotype is definitely not the same feel unless you're seeing the actual print, thus no image of the final process.)

I had an obsession with how abstract the water can look with reflections of light and such.

I loved all the geometric lines in this shot with the bike.

Not a fan of still lifes. I suck at them. Especially when it had to be conceptual...I really suck at conceptual. So, this is all you're gonna get!

My old man's cameras. My favorite is the Speedex 120 film, SO fun!

Me and the Minolta 7000 MAXXUM baby!

I gotta get back into this...soon.

Story behind my Kleinfeld's purchase.

2011-08-25T11:51:00.002-06:00

My sisters and I took a simple trip to New York for the weekend thinking it would be fun to go shopping on Canal Street since its in our price range.

So we hit up shopping, went to the Top of the Rock (I think DJ would appreciate the sign before entering...)

walked down Broadway, caught a show to Mary Poppins, and walked around Time Square.

...but then Sachi suggested we go to Kleinfeld's--where they film the TLC show "Say Yes To The Dress".

We only went hoping we'd see Randy or any of the other crazy employees there. We got there and immediately thought, we should try on some dresses! So we made an appointment for the next day, 5 hours before our flight back to SLC.

I told the sales lady that I wanted something NOT POOFY. That was the only thing I did not want in my dress. I tried on my first dress--it was what I was kind of imagining and thought, meh. Its okay. NEXT.

While we were getting the second dress on I kept thinking, holy cow am I really doing this?! Mind you, I wasn't even ENGAGED! So I had NO intention of buying one. We were just so giddy about being there and just wanted to say we tried on dresses there...but then I tried on the second...GASP!!

(...my face looks so dull and bored mainly because I was so flustered about wanting to buy this, but it was $800 above my budget...I really was jumping up and down inside that I found this dress!)

So the sales lady kept saying, "You HAVE to get this dress. I saw the look on your face when you put it on, and I've been doing this for years--this is the one." But I wasn't looking at my facial expression, I was looking at the price tag...So I told her my dilemma. I told her we were only here on a whim because it was my last free flight on my mom's benefits with Delta, and also my birthday was coming up in a few days, and also that we were leavin' on a jet plane in a few hours.

She left the room and I had a couple minutes to talk to my sisters. She came back in and told me, "Okay, because its your birthday and because you're leaving today, I got you a special price. I will take it down $800."

PERRRRFECT!!! So I thought, okay I potentially can buy this now! My parents were unreachable because they were headed on an airplane to France. I really wanted to talk to them first before I make this huge purchase... definitely the biggest purchase I've ever made up until then (soon to be one of the cheaper things out of my whole wedding haha).

We called Aunt Denice to get her advise and asked what Meg and Melissa did. Sachi and Kumi helped me make a huge list of Pros and Cons. Sachi kept asking, "You ARE getting married, right??" Duh Sach...:) but I seriously needed all the moral support I could get. After sitting in my dream dress for about 10 minutes, we decided this was too good of an opportunity to pass up--She took it down a TON. And who the heck can say they flew out to NYC on a whim and came back with a big white POOFY wedding dress! And it will be such a fun memory to have with me. So taking that all into consideration, I thought, if I leave here without it, its gone forever and I will regret it.

So I went outside, transfered some of my savings over into my checkings, and KA-CHING!

I signed the papers and had it shipped to good ol' SLC, Utah! (The sales person kept telling me I could take it as carry on...are you kidding--there was no way I was going to carry that POOF BALL on the plane with me...however, it would have made for a very nice pillow/blanket...)

It was such a bitter sweet moment. It was such a spontaneous, hilarious, and nerve racking experience. I wish my mom was there with me. Later when we boarded our flight I finally got a hold of my mom, we chatted for a bit. She asked how NY was. I said it was fun!...and that I had bought a really pretty dress as a souvenir. I kept describing it as poofy and flowy. She wasn't catching on. Then I hear my dad in the background, "She bought a wedding dress..." And she says, "...YOU BOUGHT A WEDDING DRESS?" I was kinda nervous so I hesitated a bit..."uhhh...mayyybee...hehe". And then my mom broke out laughing--and if you know my mom, when she thinks something is funny, she doesn't stop giggling for a while. So she laughed for a bit longer and then we chatted some more and I told her my whole experience. I'm glad I got to talk to her that same day so it still felt like she was there.

So that's it! That's the crazy story behind my Kleinfeld's experience.

I SAID YES TO THE DRESS!

Ice packs will do the trick!

2011-08-23T18:53:00.000-06:00

A couple nights ago, Deej and I had the hardest time falling asleep because it was so insanely hot! I kept complaining to him about how uncomfortable I was, and it seriously got me so ornery. He got up and just left the room--I thought he was so bugged by me whining that he decided to go sleep on the couch or something. About 3 minutes later, he comes back in the room and I hear lots of plastic crinkling. He came over to the bed and started laying about 6 or 7 freezing cold ice packs on me. Holy cow, it felt so nice! So we took turns rubbing each others feet with them to help cool us down...now that I think about it, we probably should have sanitized those ones in case they need to be used in the future...oops.

So the whole time we were just giggling at how ridiculous this situation was. We must have looked so funny. Deej is such a sweetheart--I've never had someone cover me in ice packs before when I complained about heat! I always thought how cliche it is when people say they fall more and more in love with their spouse as time goes on, but its so true. Its the little things he does that show me how much he loves me. Finally we ended up just laying the ice packs between us for the rest of the night to keep us nice and comfortable. So if you ever get too hot that it keeps you from getting a good nights rest, get your old lunch box ice packs out! Who knew, right?

Ooh, Hunny hunny!

2011-08-21T02:28:00.001-06:00

We've been married for a little over 3 wonderful months. And what a crazy ride it has been already. I wish I had blogged this when it was fresh in my mind, but I'll do my best!

So we left straight from the unbelievably perfect reception to the hotel and the next morning to the airport to head out to Cabo. Cabo was so fantastic! We got there, picked up the rental car, and drove to the hotel. Directions to the hotel were ridiculous so it took us a while driving in circles to find it. We finally saw this dinky little sign off the side of the freeway saying "small hotel". The Riu Palace is kinda a big...but we figured we'd check it out. We drove over this bumpy dirt road that wasn't looking too promising. Finally we turn the corner and see the Palace!! We made it! So we drive in, park the car and start walking. The parking lot was a couple levels below the entrance so we looked for signs for an elevator or escalator. Instead, we found a sign pointing to where the doctor's room was. You know, just in case we needed a check up before hiking with 80 pounds of luggage! So we had to lug our heavy suitcases up the flights of stairs in the hot, humid sun. Finally we got all settled in. And this is a little of what we got to enjoy for 5 short days:

Usually I can handle fancy food...but this is where I draw the line--when I see poop on my plate. So of course, I pass my left overs along to Deej.

Sooooo pretty! The water is so BLUE!

The second day we we're there we decided to go snorkeling at Lover's Beach.

Lover's Beach has sand under the bridge every 4 years only for a short few months. So we got lucky!

We got lucky again because our "group" or snorkelers was only Deej and me. So we got our personal tour guide for the entire afternoon. He showed us so many cool things in the ocean. He dove down and brought up things like a blow fish, lots of star fish, a sea cucumber, jelly fish...and he had this bottle full of bread that he would squeeze out while we were under water and all the fish would come swarming! I got a little grossed out at first, but it was definitely a fun swim. He took us across to a beach where the only way you could get to it was by counting the waves and running for your life across the path. If you got caught in the wave, you were done for. It was pretty intense!

Something attacked me while snorkeling...looks like nothing, but it stung like heck!

Some weird Iguana with a sombrero that I paid this man to hold for about 5 seconds...I couldn't handle it--creepy crawlies are just too much for me.

Goin' para-sailing!

So we were looking for the church on Sunday, but got lost...so we decided to just head to the airport. On our way we stopped by the gas station to fill up the rental and bought ourselves a...Bubu Lubu...? haha

When Deej gets into a game, he doesn't stop till he beats the entire thing. Talk about determined!

...I want to go back so bad! It was so nice not having to worry about a schedule or paying for things. All inclusive was pretty sweet. Ordering drinks by the pool or at the bar was a little funny though. We'd have to emphasize non-alcoholic so many times when ordering just to make sure they got it in their heads...I have a feeling sometimes it was lost in translation because a couple times it tasted...uh...yeah...

I need to start a money jar for another vacation like this one.

My New & Improved Life.

2011-08-21T00:55:00.006-06:00

I have had such a busy life this year. One of the craziest, but definitely the best year so far! And it all happened so fast all right in a row that I had no time to blog about any of it. I thought, its probably a little late to be blogging about this stuff, but then I realized how I love reading my old posts and getting all nostalgic. So lets rewind to this past spring...I GRADUATED! It is so great to be finished and feel so accomplished. I definitely miss being around my photo friends, developing in the darkroom hours on end, editing one too many projects on the computer...yes, I miss it for sure. But I am so excited for this new chapter in my life and for the chapters to come.

Its so nice to be on my own and starting my own new projects. The biggest one definitely is my new married life!

So mister DJ and I tied the knot May 10th, 2011.

So our sealer thought our sealing was a half hour after the actual time, plus he did talk for quite some time, so it took us a bit longer to get through the temple than expected. But my family and best friends were so awesome to stick around and cheer us on as we came out the temple.

Megan, Sachi, and I have been the Three Musketeers since we can remember.

This was one of the funniest moments of the day. So these two cute Asian ladies on the left were asking Heather(my photographer) if they could step into the picture. Knowing that I have Asian relatives, she assumed they were family, so they jumped right in! I was so confused...and Heather picked up on this and then realized, they weren't family, but total strangers! However, the situation was too good to pass up this photo-op, so laughing hysterically, Heather caught this great candid shot I will never forget.

The Osterloh Cousins! Seriously the funniest group I know.

These handsome men just happen to be my brothers from another mothers...fo real. Mike Van Boogenheimer, Colliflower, and Spencie, Love you guys!

My sisters...I don't even know where to begin. All I can say is, we have such a strong bond between all of us...And if anyone, anyone tries to hurt one of my sisters, I would take them out. I would make them suffer so much that they'd wish they were never born. And if they ran, I would hunt them down...Thank you, Kathy. (Name that movie!)

It was so fun to just walk around the temple with my husband. Such a perfect day! I know the trend is to be kinda serious in some photos, but seriously, I had the hardest time with that. I was too happy/smiley/laughy the whole day! So...that is why you will not be seeing any serious photos--I look like a clown in all of them...

This boy is just too cute. And he's all mine baby!

The photo below on the right is as close to serious as you'll get...

I absolutely LOVED my dress. This dress is by far the most spontaneous thing I've done in my life. But that's a story for another day...

It was so twirly and flowy--I couldn't help but spin around every now and then.

And my beautiful flowers were put together by my florist/neighbor/dear family friend, Phyillis Parrish. She and her husband were so wonderful helping us with everything from doing our flowers to providing the amazing ballroom in their home for our reception.

I miss and think about my wedding all the time. It couldn't have been more perfect. I am so grateful for my wonderful photographer, Heather of Heather Nan Photography. Thanks to her fabulous work, I will never forget my perfect day :)

I dedicate this one to my handsome husband, DJ!

2011-08-16T16:59:00.000-06:00

People say when you get married you find things that you didn't know about your spouse that might drive you nuts. Well. I have come to find some things about my husband. But rather than driving me nuts, these are things that just make me happier that I married him.

It's fun being married and being able to have sleep overs, but I never knew that I would find comic relief in the middle of the night. DJ laughs histerically in his sleep. This is a common occurrence. Sometimes he says funny things and I try to have a conversation with him, but then he either shuts down again or he realizes how funny he sounds and kinda giggles and then falls asleep again. So The thing that made me want to blog this is something that happened last night. This time, it was me. I remember having a dream about a fly that would not stop leaving me alone! So of course I took action in my dream and swung hard at the pest. But it wasn't only in my dream...I swung in real life as well. And hard. And I accidentally hit DJs back. We both woke up, and after realizing I back-slapped DJ's back, and he turns around and just says, "Why?!", but I was so lethargic that I simply said sorry and went to sleep again. We woke up this morning and remembered what happened and couldn't stop laughing. I think I remember wanting to quickly fall asleep again after it happened because I didn't want DJ to get mad at me.

DJ laughs in his sleep, I slap him in my sleep. ...something is wrong with this picture...but still, pretty funny.

I love you DJ!

Girls vs. Boys

2011-08-15T15:39:00.002-06:00

So we had a fun date night with Dave and Ash. We went to Pizza Factory to watch Dave play--speaking of, if I may, I'd like to advertise for a second...EVERYONE COME TO PIZZA FACTORY ON FRIDAY NIGHTS TO HEAR THE AMAZING DAVE CROSBY! His music is seriously cool. Seriously.

He's so good, this brave girl went up to get his number, and then they got married!

On to the next activity, we decided to get our sugar craving in with some delicious cupcakes! Here's where the girls vs boys comes to play...Me and Ash start baking...

...and the boys went straight for the iPads to play games.

No way...

2011-08-14T04:58:00.002-06:00

It's really 4:58AM?!?! ...I better go to sleep...

I think I might have an extra 3 minutes to spare.

2011-04-08T19:26:00.000-06:00

K, I better write quick!! Whenever I have found leisure time in the past couple weeks, something or someone comes a knockin' and I have to keep going with more wedding plans. I never imagined there were so many things to do to plan a wedding. Seriously, I'm getting dizzy!! But things are falling into place. Slowly but surely. I just have to keep my blinders on and focus on the goal line.

...but oh my goodness, whenever I think of how fun it will be to start a completely new life with the cutest boy in the world, I get butterflies in my tummy! I've always been one to love big changes in life. I loved moving to Japan and being on my own for a while. Moving out with one of my best friends Leslie was such an exciting time. I'm graduating this semester and will be finished with classes FOREVER in a little over two weeks! And now, I have all these new plans in my future, some unknown, that will be such an adventure! I'm getting married to the most wonderful man I know. I love my fiancé so much and I cannot wait to start our lives together. After our honeymoon, we're packing up and driving to Texas for DJ to start his summer sales, which he absolutely rocks at! And I'll be working as a Field Office Manager and also starting up my new Mary Kay business, along with continuing my photography. ...This is getting me so antsy, I just want May 10th to come!!!

...4 more weeks!!!!!!

Guess what...

2011-02-16T18:23:00.003-07:00

...February 14, 2011, the scavenger hunt began and led me to...

My Fiancé!!

He proposed on the roof where DJ made me a little picnic on one of our previous dates.

The lovely ring that DJ picked out.

Me and my Fiancé!

The climb to the proposal. DJ was already on the roof. Once he helped pulled me up, I stood up, brushed off the pebbles on my clothes, and he stayed kneeling...!!!

I couldn't stop looking at it!

I love this guy!

Something NEW!

2011-01-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

Our first assignment in my advanced photo class was a writing one. My initial thought was, dang I haven't written anything for years!! I was really nervous to come up with something. Joe gave us this random 2 page article having nothing to do with photography. To be honest, I was a little bugged that this was a totally irrelevent assignment. We had to pick 50 words from the article and make up something completely new. I sat down and started writing a few words I wanted to use and, to my surprise, it was really easy! And I have to admit, it was kind of fun. I've never written anything like this before--english was never my forte in school.

I'm really proud of myself! And to some, my poem might be really silly and looks to be written by an amateur...Well. I am an amateur! But I still wanted to share it with my fellow bloggers.

The Airport

No resemblance to the Eden a girl once knew.

Sitting alone under a direct light,

a wild blizzard of intoxicating past events will not allow her to understand.

Whispering words somewhere from her past chill her body;

words of love lost by bladed good-byes,

never to see her treasures again.

TA-DA~!

Yoo~hoo~!

2011-01-12T00:20:00.002-07:00

Today was a good day.

It started out hitting the snooze button around 10 times...I did not want to get up today! I think I was having a pretty intense dream and just didn't want the adventure to end.

Tangent:I use to have these dreams that seemed totally normal to me but absolutely and utterly ridiculous when I tell them out loud, so my mom would always ask me about my dreams the next morning solely for her entertainment. Like with Donny Osmond came on a date with me. Totally normal!...haha I've definitely got my mother's blood running through my veins.

I got my most-important-meal-of-the-day in with a delicious egg english muffin I made for myself. I got my photo equipment ready for a shoot later that evening. I got my gym bag all packed up and ready to go so I could go burn some cals after class. I got a load of laundry done. I was having a pretty productive morning!
On my way to class, Jessica and I decided to take baby blue in for a wash. I don't know how it is for everyone else, but car washes are kinda therapeutic! Something about it is so fun and relaxing. And the bubbles smell good, too.
Class was awesome today. I am really excited for this semester. I have a feeling it's gonna be a good one!

I'm graduating!
I'm working at Busath Photography after having interned there.
I'm working on a huge project for Deer Valley that'll be an awesome addition to my portfolio.
and last but not least, I'm gonna be back working at the Su! Oh, how I've missed serving!

So, to top off my entire day, I was walking on the crosswalk on campus today and I hear this sweet lady's voice say, "Yoo~hoo~!". I looked up and I see Sister Oaks rolling her window down to say hi! It was a little funny because I was mid-crosswalk and stopped for a few seconds to greet her, but it was definitely great seeing her. I get the opportunity to see them come in almost every Monday, and her and Elder Oaks just light up the room when they walk in. It made my day that she hello, let alone recognized me without my totally cute, aka ew gross, Su Casa get up!

Today was a good day!

A little preview of Castle Valley with the Hesterman's.

2011-01-06T01:08:00.002-07:00

Ok.

I can't even begin to describe how hilarious these few seconds were. The Deer Valley guy was braggin' about how this gun shot about 8 rounds one right after another, so I thought I'd do him one better and shoot more shots with my Nikon.

DJ went up to bat.

Gun smoke and shell casings start flying!

But the best part was DJ's face. He is way too happy, don't you think? Seems like some mad man who is too happy killing some innocent animal. Kinda reminds me of the crazy guy on Home Alone..."Merry Christmas, yuh filthy animal."

Can I do it?

2010-11-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

Its ALMOST the end of 2010 ("almost" is in caps for DJ because mister peekie mcpeek face peeked over my shoulder and corrected me). Its so crazy how this year just flew by. I feel like so much has happened with hardly any time passing by! I'm 3 classes away from graduating with a BFA in photography...HOLY CRAP!! I'm going to be graduating from COLLEGE! ...Is that weird??...I never really thought about it until recently. I have so much to think about. What am I doing after graduation? After high school, that's an easy question to answer--go to college, of course! But after graduating from college...what now?? I have so many options ahead of me, but no real set course.

...The way I figure it, I'm going to take it one step at a time. Try not to overload my life if I can avoid it. So for now, I have a few goals set that I want to at least get up and running before the year ends. My friend Ashley and I were talking today after class and we really got motivated to set goals! I just have to dedicate myself to it, remind myself every day what they are, and just do it...nike...

I need a 'studying for dummies' book ASAP!

2010-10-03T23:02:00.000-06:00

I DON'T WANT TO STUDY! I think this is the first time I've really had to buckle down to actually STUDY something in the last couple years. I'm usually never studying for tests--mostly working on projects and such. I know, most of you think photography is a cop out, but honestly, I've never been more stressed in my life! It really is so insanely time consuming and you have to be so dedicated and self disciplined. Anyhow...my point of this random post is just to say that...I don't remember how to study haha AH! And I don't wanna get back into it, gosh dang it all!

Once again...

2010-08-25T22:29:00.003-06:00

Adam Poulter & Mister DJ: NERDS ALERT!

Tyler + Ashley

2010-08-04T11:29:00.010-06:00

A little bit of lovey-dovey stuff...

I absolutely loved this shot.

What a weirdo...

2010-07-14T23:00:00.004-06:00

Happening right now...

D.J.'s watching a video on youtube about the "9/11 conspiracy"...hahaha NERD ALERT!

I looked out the window and what did I see...

2010-04-20T19:31:00.004-06:00

Nope! Not popcorn popping on the apricot tree...even better!

THE ICE CREAM TRUCK!
The ice cream truck is back making it's rounds. One day I'll actually go buy myself a delicious Chocolate Fudgsicle.

Ode to Misako...

2010-04-12T01:25:00.010-06:00

Misako

...Misa Magilacuddy...
...Meecha...
...Michanko...
...Smoosie...

I love Misako very very very very much.

Gorgeous girl. Fantastic model. Brave. Selfless. Dependable. Hilarious. Goofy. Talented. Etc... Above all--a magnificent little sister.

Definitely one of my best friends. She and I have so much fun together all the time. I am so proud to be her big sis!

Working at Su Casa has some great perks...

2010-03-30T00:08:00.005-06:00

I know who will be speaking at the priesthood session and you don't!

NEENER NEENER NEEEEENERRRR~!

St. George, once again!

2010-03-23T10:28:00.010-06:00

I'M LEAVING TO ST. GEORGE!

Oh, I cannot wait. I have needed a break for quite some time. I've been looking forward to this day for the past month--counting down the days till FREEDOM!...for at least a week anyway. So much has happened in the past couple months: My debit card getting stolen, getting a ridiculous traffic ticket, my car being attacked by a tree...the list goes on...I honestly think someone is out to get me. Hopefully that someone won't follow me to St. George and ruin my vacation..."YOU WUINED OUR WHOLE WAYCAYSHAN!!"--movie quote--anyone?? RAT RACE!
Also in the past couple months, I've been working on some of my photography. Here's a little taste of Tyler & Kiku's engagements...

WELP! I'm off to soak up the sun.

XOXO

My favorite thing...

2010-02-09T18:30:00.004-07:00

In Relief Society, we got asked to stand and tell our name and what our favorite thing was. I have a confession. I lied. I said my favorite thing was anything having to do with music, and even though it is a close first, its not number one. My absolute favorite thing in the entire world iiiiiiiiiiiiiis (drum roll please)...

WHEN LESLIE SINGS LIKE ARIEL TO ME IN THE MORNINGS!! "Awww~ Awww~!" You know the part where she has to sing for Ursula? Yeah, you should hear Leslie sing it, you'd think Ariel was living in the room next to you.

That's all. Have a nice day :)

My friends are better than your friends!

2010-01-31T20:46:00.004-07:00

I had the best birthday I could have asked for. I wasn't even expecting that much. I mean, as you get older, birthdays seem less and less important. I remember when I was elementary school, I'd plan my birthday way far in advance and even make my invitations and party bags and such. Oh how I miss those days.

But this year was one of the best birthdays. Mom left for Japan so I was a little sad, but she left to go take care of my grandma so, she had a legit reason. The day before my birthday my sisters and I had the opportunity to sing together in church for the first time since Sachi's homecoming. I love singing with my sisters! Mike Van is the greatest and came to watch us. What a great friend.

Afterwards, my family and Aaron and I had dinner at my parents. We had some delicious ice cream and cake that Misako so graciously prepared for me. Opened presents. I got a magic bullet!! I cannot wait to use it! and I got socks and a lot of other great things. (I love socks.) It was a great celebration.

On my birthday, I had to go to school/work, unfortunately. But Aaron came up to surprise me and took me to Tuscany's. Such a great place! Light up menus, way way cool!

Then yesterday Mike Van wanted to treat me to dinner so we decided to go to Texas Road House. And I was planning on seeing Aaron afterwards so I was really excited for that night. But then Aaron texted me and said he couldn't come up so, that kinda got me down. Anyway, so Mike came over and told me we had about 15 minutes to kill. So I used that to my advantage and had him fix a few things--my furnace, a few light bulbs, and my cabinet. Its nice having a guy around the house! Then Misa called me:

Misa: HAPPY BIRTHDAY~!!!

Mari: ...what?

Misa: ...happy birthday...

Mari: uh...do you know who you're talking to?

Misa: Mari??

Mari: What???

I was so confused because my birthday was on monday and didn't know if she was calling the wrong person. Then Mike intervened and told me she just called to tell me happy birthday because she knew he was taking me to dinner. I was a little mind boggled...So then we leave and get to the restaurant, walk in, and I see Jordan there with Leslie. I just thought, hey you guys are here too?? But then I walk in a bit further and I see Aaron and Sachi and Collin and Gordy and Alicia aaaand...am I missing anyone? oh dear, I was just so overwhelmed to see everyone there. Mikey! That sneaky boy. And Sachiko, his partner in crime. Aaron, sweet boy, I can't believe he took a BUS from Provo to come to dinner. Crazy kid! But I was so happy, I couldn't stop smiling! Afterwards, we went to my place and watched Bill and Ted's...actually, it was more like we put the movie on and everyone took a nap. Despite the fact, my birth week ended with a bang!

I love my friends so much. I am so blessed with the greatest friends ever.

Lets take a stroll down Memory Lane, shall we?

2010-01-21T23:31:00.014-07:00

I am 22!!

Sheesh...how weird. (Or as the Village Way girls would say, ZAT EEZ SO VEERD!! Every morning we all wake up with a new accent...don't ask. I myself can't explain our lunacy.)
I thought I'd make a fun list of 21 things that happened in my 21st year of life on earth. (If by chance a big event isn't listed in the 21 things, its only because these are just off the top of my head!)

Went on a sledding extravaganza for a second date, and we ended the night with a real bang, literally! We ended up in a hospital. (Sorry if the photo is too much.)
Had my first snowshoeing experience and made my first igloo!!
Michael came home!! Oh Michael, you are number 3 on my list of year 21. That's how much I love you!
Rekindled a long lasting friendship with the one and only Leslie Miles. She is wonderful. She is hilarious. She is beautiful. And she happens to be my roommate now! I remember the first time we saw each other after a long apostasy of nothingness. It was kinda the awkward, "Hey! I haven't seen you forever!! How are you??? What are you up to nowadays??" Now, we have the type of friendship where we can ride trax together, sitting side by side for 50 minutes, and then when its Leslie's stop, she doesn't even have to say goodbye. She just gets up and leaves...;) Love you Leslie!! You have made my year 21 a year to remember!!
I was a Bootie-Duty-er. Yes, I was in charge of handing out/assisting the elderly with their booties to wear into the Draper Temple Dedication. Its a rough job. Number 5 goes out to my lovely roommate Leslie Miles and friend Dan Kettle: "Hi, welcome to the temple. What a neat experience you're about to have. Please remain reverent at all times. Now it's time for BOOTIE DUTY!!!!!!"
My best friend since 9th grade, Malorie Nicol Moser Brower got married (to the intense sledder in picture #1)! Absolutely love her to death. We have some of the funniest memories together, including a massive 14 inch cookie, puddles in the cafeteria, leaving "trails" back to my st. george house after penny tapping Mo's casida, etc.
Rekindled another elementary friendship with Mister Trent Newman inside the Draper Temple of all places. One of the funniest guys I've ever met.
Experienced the Festival of Colors. Probably the most colorful event I have ever attended. And I got to spend some great quality time with one of my best buds and cousin, Michael Osterloh!
Took a sweet vacation with Michael and Coleman. Oh, so much happened on that trip...I'll just say, it was epic.
Took my first trip to San Francisco with two of my beautiful sisters. Saw Wicked, Alcatraz, aaaaand the "Bay to Breakers" race...oh and I had my first encounter with a very naked man on rollerblades. Google Bay to Breakers, you'll understand why.
My twin finally graduated from high school.
The first Osterloh cousin got MARRIED!!
Misa and I accompanied Michael and Jake on their first exhibition to JAPAN, and our first joy ride in first-class baby!
Picked up Sachiko from her mission. Saw my first International Surfing Competition. Also, had a chance to visit Obaachan and Ojiichan!! I love and miss them so much.
Traveled to San Francisco again with Sachiko, Mike Van, and the crew for Ty Johnson's wedding. Went to Japantown! Got in another cake fight. Had the greatest time with my best friend Sachi!
Rode my first mechanical bull at the fair.
One of my closest friends Nicholas J Nielson got home from the Japan, Tokyo mission!
Moved out with the most fantastic roommates anyone could ask for. Les--I don't even know where to begin. My mornings would be so dull without you. You are my mental equal. Leesh--We live together, we work together, we play together. We are THE BEST together. Rach--in short, my fingers would still be hurting without your handy-dandy band aids!
Learned how to DOUBLE-DUTCH!
Was a witch for halloween and Alicia was my little black Kat! (K-A-T, I'm outta here.)
Took family photos for 2010!

This past year has been a crazy rollercoaster with the lowest lows and the highest highs!! But all in all, I am so grateful for every experience I was blessed with. I learned so much about myself and discovered how strong I really am (emotionally and physically). Life has been great! Last years motto was to Live life as it comes, and that is exactly what I did. Cross bridges when you come to them. Take chances when opportunities present themselves. In time, even if its not what you planned, you'll find that things work out greater than what you expected!

Life is good.

Goodbye year 21, HELLO 22!!

Dora dora Fedora, banana fana fo fora, me my mo mora, FEDORA!

2009-12-03T16:17:00.004-07:00

I need Fedoras. Anyone got one I could use? or know of anyone that has one I could borrow? I have a vision for my final project and, I NEED A FEDORA! ASAP!

Here's whats happening riiiiight NOW!

2009-12-01T21:34:00.002-07:00

Chase is standing against the wall chattin' on the phone. Les is on the recliner sippin' her hot cocoa that Chase so gladly prepared for her. He even bowed down to her when he served it to her. Today Chase sang Christmas carols with his school. How old is he?? We're about to watch Rudolph the rednose reindeer. We're all chillin in our PJs, about to enjoy the joy of christmas. My dishwasher makes noises and so does the washer. Kinda annoying. We can't find the DVD remote so we're watching the weird previews. Why don't they put like beepers on those things? Speaking of beepers, remember when people had beepers?? Ha! Thats funny. Beepers. Gotta love the advancement in technology! And THATS whats happening on this side of town.

"Ice Crrrream, Chocolatesssss!"--Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

2009-09-22T17:08:00.003-06:00

I just saw an Ice Cream truck drive by the front of my house!!! Who sees that anymore? That totally takes me way back! Coincidentally enough, it takes me back to Village Way, where I just recently moved to--which is fantastic, by the way, I love my house and my roomies! But that blog is for another day. Anyway, I remember ice cream trucks from way back when my family and I use to live in the twin home on Village Way. I remember always hearing the fun songs it would play. I loved playing in the streets and hearing the truck right around the corner. I would get so excited! Everyone would hurry inside and get some money so we could all buy some deliciousness to cool us off from the hot summer days...

Can I be frank? When I think about ice cream trucks now, its kiiiinda creepy, is it not?! A creeper van that drives VERY slowly around neighborhoods that have lots of little kids, luring them to the van with their cutesy, happy, merry-go-round type songs. I mean, every kid is curious.

With a van driving by playing songs and has pictures of their favorite desserts on the door, what kid wouldn't want to frolic up to that??? I'm tellin' ya, its a creepy concept.

...Kinda reminds me of a movie I grew up watching. Love the movie, but hate this part, the part that Sachi quotes so hilariously:

"What will it be today, Ice Cream? Strawberries? Chocolates?? Come along children, all free today~! Come along, kiddie-winkies!"

Oh dear...Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a creepy show.

Granite Grizzlies Unite!

2009-08-27T23:06:00.003-06:00

Oh my goodness, today was such an interesting day. I woke up not really expecting anything different from the day before. Class/work/eat/sleep. But this evening was the best!!
Today started off great! I made myself a healthy lunch. When I was crossing the cross walk I caught up with a friend I hadn't seen all summer. I went to class and centered my first wheelthrown pottery. It is SO much harder than it looks. I got clay all over my nice MEKs which kinda sucks. Hopefully it'll wash out. Oh, it was so fun though. I can't wait to throw my own pitcher and tea cups! Once I get an entire set, WE'RE HAVING A TEA PARTY AND YOU'RE INVITED!
I got home, chilled for a bit, realized I forgot about a meeting and rushed to Village Way to show the house to Alicia. Afterwards, met up with my mom and Sachiko at Costco and picked out some way cute frames for their glasses. Since I didn't get to buy anything from Costco, mom paid for my gas!! (THANKS MOM!) Went home, did some dishes, got on the internet, did some searching for a Washer/Dryer set on ksl.com. Skimmed through facebook, and then it hit me...
I'M LATE FOR ANOTHER GET TOGETHER!!! I totally had forgotten that my girlfriends that I hadn't seen in YEARS--we're talkin' since 6th grade--were planning to meet up at Su Casa for some dinner. We were all best friends in elementary then all went our separate ways, but Christine, bless her heart, decided one day to Facebook message all of us and got us together again! So...I rushed down town, not expecting what the night was going to be like. To be honest, I was really nervous and expected it to be awkward. But tonight was the funniest night I've had in a long time. I almost laughed till I peed!! We caught up on funny memories we all had from our Granite Grizzly days. Such funny memories! The amazing thing about our get together is, it was initiated through facebook. Lately, I've kinda been anti-FB, but I guess it really does have its benefits! Because tonight definitely wouldn't have happened if it weren't for facebook.

Megan Poole, Christine Messick, Liz Spiroff, Emily Eysser...

I love these girls!!!!!

(I apologize, this blog is kinda all over...)

I DON'T WANNA PAAAAAACK!!!!!

2009-08-19T21:59:00.002-06:00

I am procrastinating. I'm a procratinator when it comes to packing. Ohhh how I dread the idea of packing. Seriously. I think it might be THE worst thing. Ever. Right up there with finding the milk has gone bad when you've got a delicious pack of Oreo's just waiting to be dunked. I ran down the stairs today and yelled to my mom, "PACKING STINKS! I HATE PACKING MY LIFE AWAY!" Of course she just giggled, but it really is like packing my life away into ugly brown boxes. Whoever enjoys packing, please feel free to help a lazy girl in need. Oh, and no offense, you're weird. I'm moving out next coming week so I have to get everything in boxes so I'm ready to move. On top of that, my big sis and I are flying to San Francisco tomorrow. Grrrrr~ packing should die.

This summer has been FULL of packing and unpacking. Took a quick trip down south to St. George. I've been to Japan twice (within a month--holy COW, that messed with my sleep schedule, yes it did!). I went to San Francisco. I'm going BACK to San Fran tomorrow. I'm going to St. George again in a few weeks...MAN! Despite how much I loath packing, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE traveling. If it weren't for school and money, I'd be all over the world!!

Oh dear. I really really really really REALLY don't want to pack. Boo.

Due to jet lag, I am forcibly able to update my blog :)

2009-08-01T02:24:00.008-06:00

Aright! Time for a new post, eh chums? I have jet lag to the max right now and cannot sleep. Therefore, I have decided to spend time wisely and get stuff done instead of...staring at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness...NAME THAT QUOTE! ...didja get it?

"The nerve of those Whos. Inviting me down there - on such short notice! Even if I wanted to go my schedule wouldn't allow it.
4:00, wallow in self pity
4:30, stare into the abyss
5:00, solve world hunger, tell no one
5:30, jazzercize
6:30, dinner with me - I can't cancel that again
7:00, wrestle with my self-loathing... I'm booked. Of course, if I bump the loathing to 9, I could still be done in time to lay in bed, stare at the ceiling and slip slowly into madness. But what would I wear!?"

If you know me, you know I love movie quotes and they are in my everyday conversations. Wanna get along with me? KNOW YOUR MOVIE QUOTES! (If you REALLY wanna impress me, know She's the Man word for word--best quotable movie.)

One of the best lines: "Viola, ...chew like you have a secret...."

Here I am. Updating my blog. Man. Blogging is harder than I thought. Its hard to keep this up to date. Its hard finding time to write all I have done and everything I want to say!

GANBARIMA~S!

I'm sitting here listening to MY NEW FAVORITE SONG, over and over again, trying to learn it. GREAT VOCALS! Its a beautiful song with such moving lyrics. My favorite part of it is, its a Japanese song! By my new favorite female artist, Ayaka. I am so amazed by her. I can tell her lyrics are truly coming from her heart. She was diagnosed with Grave's disease in 2006--your immune system attacks the thyroid gland--and she's still working hard to produce singles and albums. On top of this, what a great talent she has! Such a GORGEOUS voice. So pure. Mmmmm. Yummy. Love it.

Come on take a dip, CUZ OUR POOL RIPS!

2009-07-04T11:28:00.002-06:00

Pool party baby, it was a cool party! Cool pool party, La la la la~! Yesterday, lots of friends came over for a pool party. I have to admit, I didn't think many people were coming. I only heard back from a few, but the turn out was pretty darn good!! Daddio made DELICIOUS cheeseburgers. Probably the best I've ever tasted (including all the major fads: Five guys, In and Out, etc, you guys don't even COMPARE to my pop's grilling skills!). And momma toasted some fantastic buns! I love my parents, they are the best!
Afterwards, we all jumped in the pool and played some volleyball. My team was definitely the best! We totally conquered!
Then we moved onto the next event: MARSHING OUR MELLOWS! Barton made me a delicious mellow with chocolate hidden inside. It was so good!! The chocolate was perfectly melted, ohhh~ man!!
By the end of the night, I was sooooo tired. It was a very successful pool party! I love pool parties!!!!

Oh Hiii~!

2009-06-30T01:30:00.003-06:00

Wanna know a secret?

...

RONNIE'S HOME!!!!!! Topher and I just got back from the Matheson's. I think this is the happiest I have been in a loooong time. I just love him to pieces :) It was so weird--even though its been two years, it seemed like I just saw him a little bit ago. It wasn't awkward unlike some other return missionaries...It was just good ol' Ronnie baby! My little cowboy.

Ah!! Love him

Funny videos.

2009-05-31T20:24:00.007-06:00

I just came across the funniest videos during my reminiscing. Oh man, those were the days!

Here's Brandon trying to crawl outta the small square.

And Isaiah didn't quite fit so he had to go through the big square.

I love Ronnie. He had this saying over in Moab, he thought he was the man...pffff! I tried to correct him half way through his phrase because he said it wrong and I almost got my head torn off. Don't mess with Ronnie.

Natsukashi~!!

2009-05-29T18:01:00.021-06:00

I was thinking I should update my blog since its been a few days, and plus if I don't do it now while I have the time, I doubt I will in the next couple days...I wanna get better at this and stay on top of keeping it up to date! The term "easier said than done" definitely applies.

I think this next blog is really just for my sake. I am feeling a little nostalgic looking through old pictures...

Lately, I have had a lot of friends getting married/engaged. My best friend Malorie, aka Oak, recently tied the knot a couple months ago. We've been the greatest of friends with such a funny beginning story. First day of math class, not really knowing each other, we walked in and sat on opposite sides of the room. Malorie then remembered me from eating together at lunch a few times in 8th grade, so she invited me to sit with her. (Later in our friendship, she told me she was using me because she had no one to sit with...haha what a great way to start a friendship, right??) From then on we were inseparable. Mr. P and Mr. Barlow can attest to that--They both made their seating arrangements so we were on opposite sides of the room because we would talk too much. 9th grade was definitely the greatest year of my life so far. We've been through a lot throughout our friendship, rough times and fun times. I really miss the times we had back when we didn't have a care in the world! I can't believe I'm posting some of these pictures...but each one tells such a funny story!

Oh my goodness, we were the BIGGEST Peter Pan fans haha so after getting out of the movie, Malorie had to take a picture of the poster on the wall.
I don't know why we thought this was funny, but we decided to be pirates with a food item for the eye patch...?!? haha I really don't know, don't ask. I think this was at EFY.

We were going to be sad in this picture because Caitlin, aka Polo, was moving away. We had a photo shoot trying to get the perfect one and I was getting sick of it, so I guess I went a different direction with the "sad face".

Ninth grade, Lagoon day...This was probably right before Malorie peed...

I had to stay in Park City all day to take care of Kumi in between her dance classes, so Malorie, being the lovely girl she is, decided to accompany me. It was such a fun day window shopping and going down the slide.
This is when Mal locked my keys in the car at Bob's Brainfreeze...

Graduation with my best friends!!

Our awkward double date...

Random BBQ in the summer.

And finally, Mal's wedding. Just watching her, she seems so happy starting her new life! What an adventure.

My best buddy (since 9th grade when he and Chris sang to me and the girls at Lagoon with frozen-lemonade tainted voices) is getting married in just about a month. We had the most fun times--always having handstand contests in the basement, playing sandwich with the love sacs, drinking pure snow cone juice, fiddling with the baday toilets...the list goes on and on.

He's been dating his future wifey for the past few years, and they still can't get enough of each other. Its really been an eye opener about my life and what I'm doing with it. Not saying I want to get engaged or married anytime too soon, but its definitely been in the back of my mind...It seems like everyone is always one step ahead of me. I'm having a hard time keepin' up!!

...man, life changes so quickly, its ridunkulous. My friend Ronnie, who is very near and dear to my heart, comes home in 15 days. Oh, I cannot describe in words how excited I am. This kid, bless his heart, has been with me through thick and thin. He's been such an example to me and has always pushed me to be a better person. I have seen his testimony grow so much through all his letters over these past 2 years. He is such a spiritual giant! The more I talk about it, the more I just get so giddy about his homecoming. I know he will truly return with honor.

I can't believe how quickly these past 2 years flew by...

The refreshing drink: Lemonade.

2009-05-24T20:20:00.002-06:00

Life has been giving me lemons lately. So, as a wise man once said, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Ergo, I added some water and a lil' suga suga, and VOILA! Sure enough, my lemonade is tasting delicious!! Due to my "lemons", I've had a lot of leisure time lately. I only work 3 times a week during the days, teach a little singing on the side, every now and then run some errands, but other than that, I don't know what to do with my time. So, trying to be optimistic about my depressingly open schedule, I figure, HEY! I'm going to make a schedule for myself, add in some things I've been wanting to fit into my past busy schedule. I'm actually really excited!

I'm planning on hiking Bell Canyon twice a week (Its such a fun hike/jog. Feel free to come along! The view is amazing during sunset.).
I have set aside actual BOM study times throughout my week. I think I follow a schedule easier than just saying "I'll get it done sometime today."
I'm going to start cooking meals--actual cooking. Not just putting a piece of meat and cheese between two slabs of bread.
I want to practice more photography.
Seeing "Wicked" inspired me to really focus on my singing, so I want to work harder at becoming stronger and more confident. (Idina Menzel's voice is ridiculously amazing!!)

Just to name off a few things on my to do list. I'm excited to actually get these things going! Before, I had a hard time checking things off my list. I think I'm really going to feel accomplished after this summer :)

I KNEW I knew his voice!!

2009-04-30T22:54:00.005-06:00

I found it!!!

I have been searching for this version of the song for the longest time. I saw this slideshow in church a few months back and have searched for the accompanied song ever since. I have googled Come Thou Fount numerous times for this specific arrangement to no avail. I even sat at my computer for a while listening to all versions of this song to find the one I was looking for (there were the weirdest arrangements of the song...seriously. Really odd ones that even sounded like Rap and the banjo put together...) Again, I was unsuccessful. I was so flustered because I totally knew I knew the voice of the singer. I just couldn't put my finger on it and it drove me absolutely nuts! Tonight, I decided to try once more. I resorted to google again, hoping it would be in my favor and put my searching to a rest. And then I saw it. In a blur of words, the name "Freddie Ashby" stuck out to me. Click... YAY!! Third time's the charm, right?

One of my all time favorite hymns, Come Thou Fount. It is such a beautiful arrangement performed by Clyde Bawden and Freddie Ashby. (One of my favorite pondering songs is also by Freddie Ashby called "I Cry"--check it out.) There is something about Freddie's voice is so soothing. He has such a unique tone. I can't describe in words what it is exactly...is it 'smooth'? 'calming' or 'peaceful'?...

At any rate, I could listen to his music anytime, anywhere. Its so uplifting! His music has so much emotion; you can tell just by his voice that he really means what he sings--it truly comes from his heart.

This arrangement accompanies a remarkable slideshow of photographs by Mark Mabry. (This slide show really was the perfect thing for me--I have such an appreciation for both the music and the fantastic photography--I have much to learn from both!) His "Reflections of Christ" images really illustrate the life of Christ so perfectly. I absolutely love this slideshow. Its only about 6 minutes, so I hope you take a moment to watch and listen...

Here is "Reflections of Christ".

I hope it touches your heart as it has mine. Enjoy!!

This post smells like a meadow!

2009-04-29T22:51:00.014-06:00

SO! My good friend 'LES' and I decided to go for a tulip photo shoot. Tulip Festival--Thanksgiving Point. Definitely a must see. We went a bit early in the festival, so not all the tulips were awake. But for what we saw, it was gorgeous. I'll post a few pictures from our day in the meadow of exquisite aroma. Whaddya say? Take a stroll with us.

TADA~!

Life is like a box of chocolates

2009-04-28T14:20:00.005-06:00

Life is like a box of chocolates, right? Sometimes you get the yummiest ones of the bunch, and sometimes...you're not so lucky.

I got a yucky one.

You know when you go through the box of assorted chocolates, and you see one that's going to be unrealistically delicious because it has the perfect coating? It has that beautiful extra chocolate drizzled on top with maybe even a cute little chocolate in the form of a flower or heart or a bow on top? And you take it before anyone else can get to it, take a bite, and you come to find that the chocolate that was in your hand and is now in your mouth is actually the worst one out of the entire batch? Its like a major slap in the face. The evil chocolate you thought was going to be so sweet to your tongue is laughing in your face, and yells, "Psych!!"

Thats the one I got...

Two down. Ten to go!

2009-04-27T23:55:00.007-06:00

Being a waitress at Su Casa has its ups and downs. Lets start with the downs, shall we? That way we'll end this blog on a happy note.

(Not in any specific order...)
1. It is a very small space. The server station downtown is like working in a submarine! I think the most frequently used phrase is, "Ope, sorry!" after bumping into another employee.
2. The parking space is limited causing the employees to have to park 3 building spaces away.
3. After working a shift at Su Casa, my DKNY:Be Delicious perfume has morphed into the ever so entrancing aroma of salt covered chips and SALSA~! Nummyyyy~...
4. Hungry people = Ornery. Enough said.

Don't get me wrong--despite the list above, I love my job!! I find it amusing meeting different types of people every day--especially our regulars. They are so entertaining! They are so specific with their orders.
-Cheese enchilada, diet coke, ABSOLUTELY NO lettuce touching the plate.
-Lunch Special--black beans in the burrito and no enchilada sauce. Diet coke--don't forget the lemon!
-#9 with onions on top with a diet coke--straight up. (His words exactly)
-#7 and a side bean tostada--extra tomatoes and extra lettuce. 2 waters.

My list of regulars could go on and on! But want to know who's order is the last one?...Elder and Sister Oaks!! Yep. They are devoted customers of Su Casa Downtown. Which brings me to my next topic of discussion--Why I love Su Casa!

1. The food--duh.
2. The location is great. The U of U is just 2 minutes east. The temple is just down the street. Gateway and Energy Solutions Arena are 5 minutes west. Trax is one block over. etc etc etc.
3. This is totally random, but we got to all dress up for Halloween and it was so fun!!

4. Su Casa Truffles!!!!
5. Due to location, we've had many general authorities come in and grace us with their presence!

I have had the opportunity to wait on Elder Holland and Elder Oaks. They are some of the happiest customers, and I LOVE IT!! After serving customers that are hungry and ornery, people like Elder Holland and Oaks make it all worth it. Elder Holland would compliment my work, even when I simply set down his tray of chips and salsa. "Oh that looks just wonderful!" He constantly was smiling his cute smile with his happy-squinty eyes. After serving them their food, he called me an angel! ...wait, Me?? Being called an angel by an apostle of god?? As cheesy as this sounds, my heart was overwhelmed with joy!! It made me so happy. I must say, along with his beautiful spirit and infinite wisdom, he is one fantastic tipper!!
Serving Elder Oaks has been so fun. I've had the pleasure of serving him a few times. And every time has been just amazing. There is a spirit that these wonderful men bring into the room. He has such a glow about him! Just talking to him made my day so wonderful!! I would serve him, and he'd thank me with his booming speaker voice, "Oh thank you dear!" Ohhh it just makes me giddy!
Ohhh I love working at Su Casa. We get apostles for customers!! I've served two so far--10 to go!! Come join the crew!!

2009-03-22T16:01:00.006-06:00

Spring break. Wow. Where do I begin. Last week was the most fun week I have had in the longest time! It was a much needed break. I'm sure many others can attest to this feeling, but my life has just been a whirlwind lately--school, work, play, dating, more school, more work, more playing, more dating. Its the crazy circle of life for me.

The decision was really spontaneous come to think of it. I had been thinking about it all week and I wasn't fully decided on actually going down to St. George. But I decided, heck! Don't think and just DO! So I DID!

I went down with Michael and Coleman. Not gonna lie, at first I was a little worried I wasn't going to have as much fun being the only girl. But it honestly was one of the best vacations ever. I really got to know my awesome cousin MO a lot better--I'm glad we grew closer. He's such a stud. Also, I had the chance to get to know Coleman better, too. One of the nights, we both got so unbelievably hyper. It was hilarious, I just wish I could retell that night. It was definitely a side of Coleman I'd never seen before...nonetheless, I loved it!

Sunday night, the three of us decided we wanted to make an agenda for the next day (typical missionaries...). I thought it was a good idea until the two boys decided to make me a slave. They put down:
"Wake up at 8:30 am--Mari
Wake up at 9:00 am--Mo and Coleman"
Reason being, they wanted me to make breakfast so they could wake up to the smell of crackling bacon. Pff. Lame...But the weird thing is, my body automatically woke up at 8:29 for some odd reason, so I figured, why not be a good homemaker for my boys since I'm already up. So we had some pop ups!

The night before, the three of us decided to pull pranks...wow! Talk about taking a trip back to Jr. High. I felt like I was 14 again. We doorbell ditched the house across from us, ran and hid behind a bush, sat there for a while just giggling, and ran back home. No matter how immature that was, it definitely was hilarious!

Next day: After being lazy and sitting around for a bit we decided it was time to eat again. We went biking over to the Arby's. On our way we found some narly dirt jumps. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to hit them up--my tire went flat. But Mo and Cole got to play on them a bit. It was fun to watch because, quite frankly, they sucked. But it made for good entertainment!

Later, we hit up Snow Canyon. It was such a cool hike down to the Lava Pots. Then we just goofed off for a bit on the rocks.

That night, we invited a few groups of friends to join us for a BBQ. Trista and her girls, Spencer and his sister, the clan from across the street--it was a pretty good turn out!

Tuesday was just a lazy day. I did wake up to make the boys blueberry muffins though, hoping they'd wake up to the delicious smell...but to no avail. They didn't wake up for another couple of hours...And my muffins were so good, fresh out of the oven!! Golly, the things I do for them...No appreciation. Seriously.

That afternoon, we went searching for the Bloomington cave--again, to no avail. Our friends wanted to take us on an adventure, so we followed them all the way to what we named, "The Devil's Platform". (We named it that after "Angel's Landing"--the place we were originally planning on hiking, and could have if we had known we were never going to find the cave.) Honestly, it was hilarious! But at the same time, everyone was so frustrated. It was like searching for a needle in a very large, very DUSTY haystack. We basically went off-roading in Brenda's very nice Hyundai (Sorry Brenda! We blame Isaac!). The car looked ridiculous! After about 45 min of searching, traveling the rockiest terrain, we come across a group of grandmas and grandpas riding 4-wheelers (Kinda a funny sight to see). They told us that Megan and Isaac's group had hit something and tore off the bottom of their car, and said that the path was too rocky up ahead, so we had to reverse to find a place wide enough to turn around. Oh, we were so angry! All that for nothing. But we made some good memories from that experience. One day, we'll all look back and laugh...one day...

On our way home, we decided to pump ourselves up again after that unsuccessful adventure, so we stopped by FIESTA FUN! We played some mini golf--girls vs boys. Girls won! After we got into the bumper boats. Coleman, Mo, and Spencer are buttheads. They tag teamed against me and shoved me into the water fountain. I was drenched! But Mo did fall into his own trap, so that was pretty funny. After that we did go-carts and the arcade. I have to say, I am getting pretty good at the arcade. A little over 2 years ago, I played at Boondocks and won the jackpot and got about 300 some odd tickets. This time, I won the jackpot again and got about the same! I am the champion of all champions. You wanna battle me?? Ha! Funny joke.

Wednesday wasn't as exciting, we just lounged around the pool for a while. It was so nice just relaxing though! Not a cloud in sight. It was just you and the sun! Lunch time was at In and Out Burger. My first experience there--Not too bad! Service was awesome. We even had someone greet us at the door. They've got my vote! We went over to Spencer's place and played some shuffle board.

Thre rest of the break was simply glorious. So so relaxing! No pressures of school or work. Just enjoying the company of my closest friends. :)

BEST WEEK EVER!

Food, GLORIOUS FOOD!

2009-03-01T19:34:00.003-07:00

My weekend was so great. Main reason being, I got to eat two my favorites foods: #1 and always will be #1--ICE CREAM! #2, OKONOMIYAKI!

Friday night, Tyler, Sam, Syd, and I decided to make sculptures out of ice cream. Being an artist, I got really excited to make something extravagant. Maybe make a sculpture of one of the ohinamatsuri dolls. Come to find out, ice cream is not the easiest medium to work with.

It melts--duh.

Nonetheless, we had a great time. And lets be honest, how can you not enjoy an edible art piece? See, Willy Wonka knew what he was doing when he said,

"Everything you see in this room is eatable...Edible...You can eat everything in this room."

Genius, right?

About a week ago after dining on some delicious sushi, my good friend Steve, aka Stephant (its an inside joke--you wouldn't understand), and I decided we wanted to be Japanese Chefs for a night. So last night, Leslie, Stephant, Brandon and I put on an Okonomiyaki party.

Yuh. Me.

It was, shall we say, no less than fit for a king.

After the meal, I don't know if we were getting hyper off of the many pounds of chocolate chips we ate involuntarily or if it was simply pure genius, but we came up with the most amazing ideas for future food gatherings. I don't know why, but these ideas were just insanely hilarious to us, and yet had a touch of brilliance. I can't reveal them just yet. Its too soon. ...Fine! No need to beg. Ok so, idea #1

--International Night.
Every person attending must bring a dish from a foreign place they've been to (maybe a mission, study abroad, vacation, etc.) or just some place they want to learn about. Along with that, they need to bring something from or about that country--maybe teach us something about the culture, some vocabulary from their language, bring a little show-and-tell, or just dress to their culture. For example, Leslie will be bringing an African dish and will be wearing an African head wrap! I might do a Japanese dish and wear a kimono, or something fun like that. The idea is still in the making right now, but once we polish it up, it'll be an event you won't want to miss!

Idea #2

--Succulent Smoothies at Sunset.

This is the idea where we all just were throwing out loopy ideas and laughing till we were on the verge of having an "accident". Well, I can't speak for everyone but uh...ahem! Anyway! To advertize: What better way to end a hard working day than to kick back and enjoy a delicious smoothie with great company. So, everyone attending will bring a smoothie recipe, ingredients, and if possible, their own blender. We're labeling "B.Y.O.B" under the title. Now now, its not what you think. Think about it again. Bring...Your...Own... BLENDER!! Good job. (Hopefully we'll have enough sockets to plug all the blenders into...some might have to resort to bathroom sockets if the party gets too big...shkidding! EW!) The reason for B.Y.O.B is, we're going to be having all different kinds of smoothies, which is basically an open invitation for taste testers, right?? Which brings me to the next idea. We'll be having a competition to see which ones the best and most popular smoothie. And duh, of course we'll have some type of prize.

Both these ideas will be so fun once we get them running! You're not only building friendships by coming, but you'll experience new flavors for your taste buds, and for those of you who like to spend time in the kitchen, it'll help fill your recipe book! As Michael Scott would say, this situation is a win win win. Right??

Jerry brings out the giddy in me.

2009-02-24T00:03:00.005-07:00

You know those really embarrassing moments when you do something, well, embarrassing, for lack of a better word. I had one of those moments tonight. I haven't updated my blog for quite some time, so what better way to start then by telling an embarrassing story, right?
This is also probably one of those "you had to be there" moments, but I will do my best to illustrate the event for you.

So tonight was just full of funnies and giggles. I don't remember a time I wasn't laughing my head off. I can only recall one other time in my life when I had laughed so much the entire day that I ended up with a massive headache, much like tonight. So my friend and I attended the Jazz game. It started out really fun. And then got hilarious. As time passed and as we got tired from laughing and having a good time, I think we got a bit loopy. We talked about all kinds of things, from getting CTR tattoos on our backs all the way to dropping out of med school to start a career being an officer in charge of crowd control. Random, but way funny.

On our way home right before entering the freeway, we stopped at a traffic light. I don't know why, and I'm sure many people are the same (ooooor maybe I'm just a weirdo), but when a car pulls up along the side of me, I have the natural tendency to look over to see who's going to be my traffic light neighbor for the next minute or so. So a car pulls up in the lane to the right of us, and I look over and think, 'Holy cow, I know this guy from somewhere. Maybe a TV ad? Teacher from high school? One of my friends' dad?' ...Then I realized, it was Jerry Sloan! This all went through my head in a matter of milliseconds! So being the spaz that I am, I started rapidly tapping my finger on the window, POINTING at Jerry, trying to tell Colby it was Jerry Sloan! I was so shocked that the words coming out of my mouth weren't making any sense. Just total gibberish. "...OH MY! Its! Thats! HEY! Look! Its its its its!!!" And then I noticed that...Jerry is looking straight at me while I'm still pounding my finger ever so rigidly against the window in his direction, and I probably had the most shocked/excited/flabbergasted/I've-just-seen-a-movie-star/spastic fanatic's look on my face. Then. I realized what I was doing. I'm thinking, '...oh. my. gosh...I look like the biggest idiot right now!' Oh Mari. The things I do without thinking...How pathetic. So I crouch over to Colby and try to nuzzle myself under his back/arm attempting to hide, just utterly embarrassed that Sloan caught me pointing at him like a freak. Oh my gosh, and it didn't help that the traffic light was refusing to change to green!!! I had to sit there looking like a fool so Jerry could get a better look at the dumb bum spaz next to him. I didn't have the guts to look back to see what his reaction was, but Colby later told me Jerry was just staring in awe with a confused face at what just happened...pretty sure not many can say they've experienced that. So yep. Basically Jerry and I are tight now. We have a unique friendship.

oh geez.

...But it made for some good laughter to add on to our already sore diaphrams for the drive home. Definitely a great way to end a fantastic night!!

[[*Go JAZZ*]]

Do not be decieved by the power of the sled...

2009-02-08T15:34:00.004-07:00

Sledding. It seems like such a simple activity, right? When I think of sledding, I picture friends and family getting together on a sunny winter day, going to a hill at a park, maybe some random dogs just frolicking around, big smiles on everyone's faces,...you know! The whole shabang!

...Yeah, that wasn't the case. When you get with the right crew it is an entirely different sport. This past Thursday, a group of us decided to go sledding up at Deer Valley. When they said sledding I thought, okay, let me just grab my coat and mittens and we'll be on our way...we get to Kevin's house and, holy cow, I was SO unprepared. This kid is intense. He got out boots, snow pants, ski jackets, hats, snow gloves, goggles--the whole enchilada! Kevin's dad even told us to gear up with helmets and such...he wasn't kidding! I had no idea we were going extreme sledding. And let me tell you. It. was. EXTREME. Pretty sure we were breaking some sort of law sledding at the resort, but hey, you only live once, right?

We got up to the top of the resort and walked out onto the slippery slopes with our sleds. Usually, the hills I go sledding on end in about 15 seconds, IF THAT!...I had no idea what I was in for. I couldn't see the end of the hill! So, of course, being the little girl that I am, I decide to wait for the other two people to go first so I could watch them, just to give me some comfort in knowing I could make it out alive. And naturally, they biff it in the first 10 seconds. GREAT!! So much for that idea.

There's no turning back now! Its Denzil's and my turn. I'm already scared outta my PANTS, and it didn't help that we didn't even have a real sled. Yep. We were on the boogie board!! So who knew if that was going to be stable or not. We hop on the board and start bookin' it from the get-go. We pass up the other two and zoom right under the bridge, barely clearing the cement wall on the side, fly past a few bushes and trees, clear a couple ski posts...From then on, its all a blur to me, we were zooming like rockets! My face was covered in snow from our feet trying, and never succeeding, to slow us down. It felt like eternity till we got to the bottom of the slopes. Finally, we came to a stop...

oh. my. gosh. THAT RIDE WAS UNREAL! WHO'S UP FOR ROUND TWO!!

I have to admit, as scary as that was, I'm so glad I did it. Now I can cross "defying death" off of my life's to-do list. ;)

Unfortunately, the next part of the story gets a little scary. I would play 20 questions for you to guess what happened next to make it a little more exciting, but since this is a one sided blog, simply telling the story will have to do.

So. Round two. Same routine. We get to the top of the hill, hop on the sleds, and take off. This time, we weren't as smooth. The very last hill we went over was the steepest, but we handled it pretty well the first time, so we figured, Hey, piece of cake! Denzil and I lifted up our feet to give us more speed, but as we got closer to the end, our speed was getting to fast to control. Immediately, we threw our feet and hands down to slow us down. We got lucky and stopped right at the edge of the slope. If we had gone any further, we'd have slipped down into a gully of trees. Both of us turn around to see where Malorie and Kevin were...I saw them, and instantly, I knew this could not end good. They were going way too fast to control. Before I could even blink, they were airborne and had flown into the trees. I can't even describe how scared I was. We jumped up and saw they had both landed quite a ways away from each other. Fortunately, neither of them got knocked out, but Kevin got banged up a bit. While he was midair, he hit his head on a tree and sort of ricocheted off onto another tree hitting his leg. I was just completely shocked at what had just happened, and didn't know what to do. Mal finally got up and crawled over to Kevin and saw he was bleeding pretty bad from his eyebrow and couldn't walk on his leg. He kept saying he thought he broke his femur. Oh heavens, it was scary. We got everyone down to the car and drove to the hospital to get Kevin checked out.

Can I just say, I hate the emergency rooms. It took so long to just get him past the front desk, even with blood completely covering one side of his face (sorry, that was a bit graphic...). Unbelievable. What's more, Kevin kept saying he didn't need this but they decided to take another 5 minutes to strap him into their little stretcher guy that they'd be taking him out of in the next 5 seconds. I mean, I understand they were taking precautions, but come on. So from then on, we just sat and waited for results. Turns out he just needed stitches and his femur had a deep, deep bruise. It could have been so much worse, so we were all really thankful for that. (I just feel bad it happened right before their wedding!! Yikes.)

Moral of the story is, do not let the simple activity of sledding deceive you.

Seriously.

When the going gets tough...

2009-01-29T23:04:00.005-07:00

This week started out pretty interesting.

The ultimate low of the week was definitely on Tuesday--and yes, I can say that even though the week isn't officially over. Nothing this week could be any worse than Tuesday's mishap. I won't go into detail, but I will say this much--I would be a mess without my family by my side! I am so thankful for my sweet family. My parents are always supporting me and comforting me unceasingly. Whenever something happens and I don't know what to do, the first place I know I can call is home. Tuesday, I found myself in a situation not knowing what to do. I immediately called my parents, and my mom and dad talked me through everything. I love them so much!

My sisters mean the world to me.

When I got home, Kumi was such a sweetheart and had bought me some delicious hot cocoa and donuts to make me feel better (nothin' like some sugary sweets to brighten up my day). That is very like Kumi to think of others first. She is always willing to help out whenever someone needs a friend. For the past 4 to 5 months, life has been a bit of a rollercoaster, and Kumi has been the best friend to me, always willing to listen.

Misa is such a cute girl! She amazes me every day. She is the youngest four sisters, yet she has been the greatest example to us. She never hesitates to show someone she loves them. She loves to talk to people and share stories (sometimes they get pretty long, but they are always great)! I have to admit sometimes we are a bit hard on her sometimes. We tease her a lot, but aren't all of the youngest teased by their older siblings? This is how sweet Misa is:

Our family has this ongoing joke about how Misa always talks and by the end of her stories, nobody is paying attention to her anymore. She knows we're only teasing her out of love. My family will never forget this one night when we went out to dinner. Kumi started telling a story, and she realized nobody was paying attention. So she yells out, "Nobody is listening to me!!" And sweet little Misa says with her cute, caring voice, "I'm listening :) ." (It was kinda a "had-to-be-there" moment.) It was so adorable, yet so very funny! We all couldn't help but laugh.

^^Last but DEFINITELY not least^^, my best friend in the entire world without a doubt, Sachiko. She has always been the most amazing sister. She's such an example to me. She's smart. She's beautiful. She's healthy. She's not afraid of taking risks. She loves the gospel so much. She's one heck of a missionary. Anything I ever had questions about, I could ask her. (But it's a little hard to call her up anytime I want right now, she's kinda busy preaching the gospel...) She's always taking the reins on all our performances and recording our album and such. I don't know how she does everything. I am very proud to call her my big sister.

I have the best family in the whole world--NO BATTLE!

Blogging.

2009-01-26T22:19:00.002-07:00

So. Blogging...is that even a real word? Let's investigate, shall we?...well would you look at that--IT IS! According to dictionary.com, blogging is:

To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.

[(we)blog.]
blog·ger n.

...the "n" means that word is a noun right? So...I guess now that I'm "writing entries in, adding material to, or maintaining a weblog" makes me...a blogger! I am officially a blogger.

What a strange word--blogger/blog. I wonder where it originated...WIKIPEDIA TIME! (See, that is the beauty of technology. Superfluous facts right at our fingertips!)

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May of 1999. Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams and Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms.

...Interesting...

...Alright, so let's get blogging! I have to be honest. Technically, this isn't my first blog. I just now discovered that I had created one a while ago when I was most likely delirious--I don't recall ever having one. However, I'm not surprised that I don't remember. I have the memory of a GOLD FISH. Many of my friends can attest to that! So even though this isn't the first time blogging, I still don't understand how to make my posts interesting. So, please, bear with me!

I was talking with Spencer last night about blogging. It really is like keeping a journal, but without hiding the key to the lock. It's a new way of expressing yourself and keeping readers updated on what goes through your mind. I never thought I'd have a public "diary", but it seems like its a pretty popular trend, and not to mention a fun way to keep a journal, which I've been trying to do my entire life. So I think I'm going to take a dive into my brain and run through what's been going on in there, what do you say--Join me!

Yesterday was my 21st birthday. It was a great birthday! This past friday, I had the special opportunity to share my first experience at The Roof with my good friend Celery, you know who you are. Saturday night, I got to see Spencer rock out to some of the greatest funk jams! He is one talented rock star. At 12:00 a.m. on my birthday, I was surrounded by some of my most treasured group of friends--to name a few, Mike Van, Collin, Rich, Nate--I was especially happy to have Tyler in Utah for my birthday. That was the greatest gift I could have asked for. He even sang Happy Birthday to me in Japanese!! Sunday, I got to spend a lot of time with my sisters and my parents. My mom made a very successful pop-up pancake (aka, German pancakes), a delicious sushi dinner, and very scrumptious chocolate covered cake with a hilarious singing candle running low on battery.
I've been alive for 21 years and a day now. 21 YEARS! I thought about it today, and I don't feel like I've lived that many years. I realized, while serving a cute old couple some chips and salsa, that I want to start living it up. And when I thought to "live it up", these ever so true lyrics sung by Marshall Dyllon popped into my head:

Old Man Jones with all he knows
You never see him smile
You know he's sittin' on that big portfolio
It's clear that all that's on his mind
Is the top of the ladder and the bottom line
But he can take it with him when he goes

Poor old Jones he never learned to dance
I bet he'd trade it all for one more chance to

Live it up
There ain't no time to waste no time
And there ain't no better time to celebrate
Hurry up, oh can't you feel the urgency
There ain't nothing we can do when it's too late
And too late's gonna catch us soon enough
So let's live it up...

I have so many things, little and big, that I want to do. I don't want to end up like Old Man Jones. I don't want to regret never grasping an opportunity that is standing right in front of me. I want to be able to go to a dance and have a guy swing me around without hesitating because I don't know the steps. I want to be able to cook a delicious meal for a group of people, and actually have them enjoy it! I want to sing songs without any hesitation, whether it be because I'm shy or because I simply don't know the entire song.
I know these things can't and won't come all in one day. Little by little, I'm going to work at it. I want to be able to look back and be proud of myself for what I've accomplished in my life!
It's kind of like a diet: Tonight for my birthday dinner outting, my dad and I were talking about eating healthier. He said he's going to start tomorrow. Then I thougt for a second and just said..."Why not start TODAY!" Because we all know, tomorrow never comes. Let's all start today!

Sand keeps slipping through the hour glass
Everyday's more precious than the last, so

LET'S LIVE IT UP!

P.S.
Oh. And mister Craven, you're the one that got me on top of this so--This one goes out to you.