Tears of Laughter

One of my favorite memories is when Abby, Amanda, Katie, Kerry, and I  were coming home from New York during fall break last year. We left the Abby's dad's apartment with plenty of time to catch a cab to the airport. Catching a cab in New York is actually not as easy as it looks, especially when it starts to rain. Amanda had left earlier that day, so the four of us sat outside of the apartment on the corner for about an hour trying to grab a taxi. The rain kept coming harder and harder. We finally realized we were running out of time, and that if we didn't figure something out fast that we were going to miss our flight. The rain was coming down so hard now that it looked like all four of us had been thrown in a swimming pool. I'm not exaggerating in the least bit. We kept our luggage underneath the awning of the apartment so luckily that was dry, but now looking back, it didn't matter, it got soaked anyways. We grabbed our luggage and sprinted block after block all the way to a subway station. The puddles we had to charge through were not puddles. They were more like lakes. Each time I stepped in one it went up to my shin. We caught a subway to a train station and hopped on a train headed to the airport. It was packed with people. I am still amazed that the four of us were able to fit all of our luggage (with four girls, that is a lot of luggage) onto that train. Three very nice businessmen offered us their seats and made plenty of room for our luggage. We spent two hours, SOAKING wet on the train and then finally made it to the airport. We were so lucky that our flight was delayed because we would have missed it by like an hour an a half. When we got to the airport we changed into the driest clothes we could find in our suitcases and found a place to get some hot chocolate. It is so fun to look back on that time and have a good laugh. In the moment we didn't find it very amusing, but once we got to the airport we could not stop laughing. We ended up running into our anchorman Basim and Spencer Pearson, so it was fun to talk to them while we waited at our gate for another three hours. They could not believe what we had been through. I love looking back on that moment when I was with some of my best friends, running through New York City, laughing and yelling at taxis, and letting the rain drench me and my luggage.

Tarantula Run In

A few weekends ago Richie and I went on a hike along the Bonneville Shoreline trail and look what we stumbled upon. A tarantula!! I was in front of Richie and as we came around a corner I almost stepped right on it. I am NOT a fan of spiders and so it was kind of an intense moment for me. I've heard tarantulas are poisonous and aren't poisonous. It wasn't worth the risk so we kept our distance. 

Fall Favorites

• Halloween
• Butternut Squash Soup
  
• Candy Apple Suckers
• Sweaters
• Pumpkins
• The Colorful Leaves
• Haunted Houses
• Fall Drives in the Mountains
• Warm Rolls
• Blankets
• Carmel Apples
• Hot Chocolate/Apple Cider
• Fall Clothing
• Hikes
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lately..

This last Saturday was the Susan B Sandoval run for ovarian cancer. We had a good time running the 5K at Sugarhouse park. 

Brecken, Abby and I after the race!

Richie and I went to the State Fair on Friday night and had so much fun. We ran into Richie's brother and sister in law,  Clay and Ashley and had fun trying fried oreos, snickers, twinkies, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Let's just say between the four of us, we couldn't finish them. We never realized how great of a place the fair is to go people watch. 

A few weekends ago, one of my best friends Alyssa came to Salt Lake to visit for a day. The last time I saw her was in London at the BYU center. It was so good to see her and reminisce. I can't wait to see you and Kaitlyn again in a couple weeks! 

This is a portion of my group from London. We all met at Ben's Cookies and then went and had dinner at CPK. 

A couple weeks ago, one Saturday afternoon we had nothing to do so we headed up to Swiss Days in Midway. It was really fun to walk around and look at all the different booths and sample different food.

Favorite London Moments

• When Liz and I got hit by a bike walking across the street in Dublin.
• Making up songs about the most random things with Meg and Liz.
• Going to Broadway shows three times a week, every week.
• Crunch time with Alyssa and Meg.
• Our farewell dinner at Beach Blanket Babylon. 
• Sticky Tofee Pudding from BBB.
• Thursday dates with Harrods.
• Giant Vanilla macaroons from Laduree.
• Taking the nightly stroll down to the food and wine for our bag of revels.
• Playing the revel game with Liz and Meg.
• Late night chats in the Kitchen
• Secretly making cookie dough (with bad brown sugar) and not sharing with the group.
• Foggy morning runs in Hyde Park.
• Literally getting shut in the tube's doors on the way home from Church.
• Having to deal with Lindon, Hamilton, Mark, Earle and Louie every week at Church. I never knew I would miss them this much.
• Movie nights in the classroom.
• Skype dates with the family.
• CORE sessions with Mike, Liz and Meg.
• 5 of us cramming in a taxi with all our luggage from Victoria station to 27 Palace Court.
• Our first dinner...questionable soup.
• Being so upset at myself the first night I got to London because I fell asleep during Les Mis. Jet Lag had really hit all of us hard.
• The LONGEST walks of my life and being absolutely soaked from head to toe the whole time.
• Discovering Nandos, Wagamamas and Pret.
• The "grumpy hungry" moods and arguing when and where we will eat.
• Computer parties on the landings.
• Hiking the five sets of stairs multiple times throughout the day to get to my room.
• Getting lost on Portobello Road at Portobello market.
• Discovering hidden treasures in Covent Garden.
• The Clapham Common Ward. The greatest people.
• Listening to Talby ramble on about T.S. Eliot, Oscar Wilde, John Donne and the many others.
• Beachy Head adventures.
• Tesco!!!
• Finding a long dark hair in our dinner one night and Liz being absolutely disgusted.
• Being so mesmerized by the Egyptian exhibit at the British Museum. Oh and accidentally setting off an alarm in the Roman exhibit...Mike, your the only one who knows about that!
• Primark
• Small little friendly pubs on every corner.
• The day I found out home stays were cancelled...I would have missed my family coming to visit.
• Sandy Talbot saving the day. Everyday.
• My 21st birthday breakfast with Liz at Laduree!
• The awkward laundry room run ins with Joe and Melinda.
• The HUGE MAC counter as you enter Harrods.
• Dave and Terry Scheuler. They are the greatest live-ins!!
• The Italian man that works the Gelato counter at Harrods. He always gave us free gelato!
• Being able to talk to my good friend Joey Spafford on my birthday. What a great surprise.
• The discovery of Hummingbird Bakery. Better than Magnolia Bakery!
• Tea at Kensington Gardens at the Orangerie every couple weeks!
• Staying in the ghetto hostel in Paris. What a memorable 5 days.
• Walking right past a dead homeless man right outside our hostel in Paris.
• Climbing the Eiffel Tower all the way to the top, over 900 stairs!
• Kristen and I splitting a crepe and hot chocolate and her overflowing the hot chocolate and the french man yelling at us at Notre Dame. "Thank You, it was ready." in an angry french accent
• The BEST dinner in Paris at a place called Tribeca.
• Seeing Lady Leading Liberty at the Louvre.
• Cimarron pants.
• Seeing A Night at the Opera by Degas.
• Spending a whole entire day in the Chunnel station.
• "What are we going to do tonight?" "I don't know" "FREAKY FRIDAY!!"
• The night we discovered Revels at Woman in Black.
• Playing endless games of chess with James.
• Seeing Ewan McGreggor star in Othello. 
• Kristen getting her new coat thrown up on at Othello!!!
• Discovering Hatchards Bookstore. It's the oldest book shop in the world!
• Wandering around the wonderful store of Fortnum and Mason. AMAZING!
• "topping up"
• Mike's Valentines poem to all 40 of us girls.
• The most awkward FHE EVER! Especially my prayer, Mike's "love" squeeze to Curtis, and Liz's laughing.
• Getting Annie Cobabe's package!!!
• Walking across the foggy field at Runnymede to see where the Magna Carta was signed. 
• Wandering down the halls of Windsor Castle with Meg.
• Betsy, Meg and I falling asleep in the warm sun on a bench just outside of Windsor.
• The bonding bus ride with Alyssa! Oh Joe!
• Decorating the kitchen for Valentines Day.
• My long visits throughout the whole semester to see my Burberry sunglasses.
• Meg and I getting our Tiffanys necklaces!!
• Itsu frozen yogurt!
• "Meet at the coat rack in five minutes."
• Meg and I sprinting back to the hostel in Dublin at 4:30 in the morning because we forgot our "Viagra" (as we called it) Bus Tour tickets.
• The Windy trip to the cliffs of Moohr.
• Watching the parade of Scots wear their kilts and play their bagpipes.
• Taking FREEZING cold showers for two weeks. Dumb water heater!
• Selfridges!!!
• Meg's purse getting stolen.
• Running late to Phantom and having the tube break down and having to sprint so many blocks to the theater. Liz and I were so fast!
• The "park" walk that Meg and I took. Thanks Meg!!!!!
• Clovelly
• Wicked and Billy Elliott with the Bennions and Family.
• Watching Conference in the classroom with everyone!
• "questions"
• FINALLY--my big Harrods purchase.
• The concert by candlelight at St Martins Church.
• West Ham United game!!!
• Mine and Alyssa's Sweaty Betty purchases!
• Cambridge day trip!
• The lemon incident..oops!
• Burough Market!
• Our last day out on the town. Such cute pictures!
• BUCKINGHAM PALACE!
• The day at Hamstead Heath!

Back to School...

I am so sad to see summer end, but at the same time so excited to be back at school. I think part of the reason why I am so happy about it is because that means that fall is just around the corner. Today was my first day back at school and I am not going to lie, it felt good being back on campus. I really haven't had actual school since last fall. While I was in London, school was kind of a joke. It's nice to have a little more organization and an actual syllabus to go off of. I had two classes today, one three hours long and the other an hour and a half, long day I know, but I enjoyed both of them. This past week it has been hard to say bye to summer. I don't like knowing that I can't wear flip flops for too much longer, or knowing my days of going to the pool or going boating are limited. I have had a really good low key summer, which I am so grateful for. Here are some pics of the tale end of summer.

Waiting for the Wetzels to come boating with us.

Cute Erin and I boating at Echo. We need to do this again Peach!

Action shot at Dotties: Me wearing my shirt/dress from India, not sure what's going on. Richie concentrating on his next shot and smelling his golf club. My mom just smiling away as usual.

Meeting my London girls at the London Market on 7th!

My little brother Sam and I boating at Rockport.

Richie and I boating at Rockport.

2008 Beijing Olympics

I don't know what it is about the Olympics this summer but I have loved watching them. I find it so fascinating no matter what I am watching. It has probably been a good thing for me because it has motivated me to get in shape. My favorite thing to watch is swimming. How amazing is Michael Phelps? I read an article on him and in the interview they asked him where he gets all of his strength and energy. He said that he eats on average 12,000 calories a day, which provides more than enough calories to burn. Can you believe that? Then he went on to add that he has trouble keeping weight on. I guess when you are as talented as he is you could eat whatever you wanted and not feel guilty. I also love watching girls gymnastics. It was so sweet to see Nastia Liukin win the gold medal, and Shawn Johnson taking the silver. Can you imagine winning an Olympic medal at their age? I am going to be so sad when the Olympics are over and can't wait to watch the winter olympics in Canada in a couple of years!

A little more..

We were so lucky to have our grandparents there with us. What would we do with out J-Dub and Carol?