Life Gave Me a Lemon

Sometimes, life comes along and says, "It's about time for me to mess with you, don't you think?" And when you answer saying, "Uh, no!", life doesn't care and does it anyway. On Monday I lost my wallet. Really lost it, as in I've called everywhere we went that day to ask for it and searched pretty much everywhere in the entire house. Nothing. My driver's license, debit card, and some other pretty important crap was in that wallet. Bummer. 

So after I'm done writing this, I get to call virtually every store in Orem, again, and then call the bank and cancel my card. And then go mow and edge two lawns. Life, one of these days it's going to be my turn to throw something back at you! Just you wait, just you wait ...

Climbing Stuff and Stuff

I got to go climb with my buddy Collin today. It's been awhile since the last adventure, so we pretty well sucked. I just like being up in the mountains and away for a minute, which means the trip wasn't a complete bust!

This is an ATC style belay device. ATC literally stands for Air Traffic Controller. Funny, right?

There's Collin!

Tonight, my sister invited some friends of ours over to watch The Village. We've seen it at least 100 times and it's one of our favorite shows. It was a pretty good day!

Tomorrow begins a three day youth conference that three stakes in our area are participating in. All the youth are going to meet together in the morning and then are sent home late at night to sleep and then come back the next day. I may or may not be writing  posts for the next couple of nights.

Amazon.com = Happiness

Over the past week or so I have received three records in the mail from Amazon. I know that way too much of this blog lately has been about records, but the excitement and newness of listening to vinyls has still not worn off. On the days that the records were scheduled to arrive, I check the front doorstep two or three times. I feel like it's Christmas Eve when you lie in bed wondering how time could possibly go by so slowly. And when I finally find a package on the porch, I run inside like a little kid and tear that box open and throw that record on the player. So much happiness!

The favorites so far: The Head and the Heart - Let's Be Still, The Head and the Heart, Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. 2, Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde, and Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits

I also received in the mail a fountain pen with some ink. It is a lot of fun to write with because it has a flex nib, which means that you can create thin and thick lines by varying the pressure you apply as you write. 

Last night I went over to Mike's house with some friends to play shoot 'em up bang 'em up. Mike just bought a new house in American Fork. In his basement he has a pool table, an air hockey table, a Foosball table, and a projector set up to play on. We had a blast and were there until almost 12:30. He's so cool to let us come over and crash his house into the morning!

Cribbage

I made that board!

One of my family's favorite board/card games is Cribbage. It is a staple on any camping trip. My sister and I like to play it a lot during the summer. Today, my sister and I were playing and I got dealt this hand:

That, my friends, is a 21 point hand! The highest possible hand is 29! Not bad, if I do say so myself.

My The Head and the Heart LP arrived today. It's really fun to listen to music that you know and love in a different way. I ordered Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons just now, and it should be here next Wednesday!

Calligraphy

I do not claim to be a professional by any means, but it sure is fun to mess around! I used to write quite often with a fountain pen, but I've recently discovered an interest in writing with a dip pen. I'm going to keep practicing those alphabets until I can write something cool! I also ordered a cool/cheap fountain pen that should be here on Friday. It's clear, which is pretty awesome because you can see the ink and the piston and stuff.

Image courtesy of fountainpennetwork.com

Also, my The Head and the Heart LP arrives tomorrow! I'm so happy!

Boating

It is so nice to have such great friends like the Prestons. They invited us to go boating with them yesterday afternoon, and we are suckers for boating. We love it!

A Day of Tradition

The Fourth is a very exciting day for my family and I. We've established some traditions with some friends of ours in the neighborhood that are tons of fun. In the morning, we get up around 5:30 and drive down to Provo to watch hot air balloons launch.

Thanks for the pic Kristen! I didn't even know you took it!

We do go to see the balloons, but we also love to play games. We play tons of group games and always attempt at least one pyramid.

Once we're done at the balloons, we go home and take a nap because 5:30 is way too early to be up. We then go to our good friends Kurt and Michelle's house for a BBQ/pool party. It's so much fun to spend the day with friends.

Then at around 8:00, we go sit on a road somewhere in Provo to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks with the Prestons. Actually going to the show would be silliness; we like to go sit and play games and hang out until the real show begins. The fireworks were awesome, as usual. I still can't decide which was more fun to watch, though: Kristen's little baby Micah clapping and laughing through the whole show or the actual show itself!

I Feel Patriotic!

The 4th of July has long been one of mine and my family's favorite holidays. It's right up there with Christmas. I was raised to appreciate the sacrifices of great men that came before us and for what they did to ensure the blessings of liberty to the people of our generation and generations to come. I was raised to appreciate the military and their sacrifices for my freedom. I was raised to honor the flag and for what it stands for. 

I'm one patriotic kid! I love celebrating Independence Day. I love reading through the Declaration of Independence. I read those words over and over: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I'm entitled to those. And it feels good. I love singing the Star Spangled Banner with my hand over my heart. We are all so different, but when the crowd rises and removes their hats and thousands of people become silent in respect for Old Glory, we are all united. 

Spending time with family and friends in celebration of Independence Day has a special feeling. Maybe it's the unspoken understanding that we are united as Americans. Perhaps it's the knowledge of what happened on this day, 238 years ago. No one can quite put their finger on it, but we all feel it. Happy Birthday America!

I'm Makin' Paper!

Photo cred: Gracie

I took home my first ever paycheck yesterday! I was so excited to get home and deposit it, I actually felt a little childish. But hey, it was exciting, okay? I love my job. I have tons of fun with the people I get to meet and the colleagues that I work with. Hopefully that lasts!

Yesterday marked the end of my rock climbing drought! My friend and I went up Rock Canyon. I re-caught the climbing bug and went again today!

This is how I end each work night. Catching the last couple of innings.

My grandparents have a dentist appointment to catch tomorrow, so I get to hang out with them and maybe take them to go look at the artsy-fartsy booths. And tomorrow is the big fourth of July game that has fireworks afterwards. It's going to be pretty cool!

Whiting

As I mentioned last post, I spent this past weekend at Whiting campground in Mapleton Canyon with my family. We had a ton of fun just hanging out and playing games and riding bikes. Our version of camping is very laid back. We spend the day just hanging around camp and enjoying each other's company. We don't have any plans aside from what we're going to eat, so there's no stress and no worries. It really is a fantastic way to camp!

How do you start fires?

We arrived at the campground Thursday evening and came home Sunday. On Friday night, our good friends Taylor and Kelli came up to spend the night. We played tons of rounds of Cribbage, Carcassone, and Family Business. We had story and s'mores night too! 

I won three rounds of Carcassone, in case you were curious.

Hey look, it's me!