"You Say It's Your Birthday"

Yes, Tuesday was my birthday, and yes, I'm getting old. I kind of love when my birthday is. Just the timing of it always makes for a great day. May 29th -- warm weather, Memorial Day, transition time... luckily with this b-day I'm usually in Utah, and we have some fun times. Birthdays are just fun because the little kids get such big kicks out of them. Olivia was in charge of photos this time, and she got some great ones....

Miss O, herself...

Davis and Ellie

James

Davis and Me

P-Dawg

The Cake in action

Paul and Olivia

Annie and Miles

Matt workin' it

Annie and Me.. I seriously miss this girl

The highlight of the day might have been Olivia's card. I should have taken a picture of it... But it said... "What is up Miss Perfect. I hope 24 is the best year ever!" Why is Olivia is cute? Oh ya, I forgot to mention that after she gave me the card she wanted me to put some makeup on her so she could go kiss boys! Is anybody else scared for Matt and Annie?

"Slip Slidin' Away"

For Memorial Day some of us took a little road trip down to Moab. We had ourselves some good times. Here's a recap of our adventures...

When we first got there we were a little hungry so we ate some manly food at Dax.
Then we found our camp at OK RV and went to sleep. I, of course, was the last one up, and Nici took advantage of the photo op.
We headed to the Firery Furnace in Arches and got in some trouble. Luckily we made it out without too many injuries, and we all concurred some fears of heights and wedging our bodies in small cracks. I tried to rotate these pics, and it just wasn't working so get over it.
Krista and me workin it...
After our hike we met up with Shan and Kent and their new jeep. The girls had fun in the back...

And I had fun with their huge dog, Oscar.

It was so fun to see Shan, Kent, and their cute dogs. We're not quite sure which one is having the baby in September... Can you figure it out?

Oh ya.. we did some swimming too. Michele and Krista were pretty much made for the water. They've got moves you've never seen.

Gosh, why is a weekend in Moab so perfect? Every time I go I just can't over how much I love it down there. If you've never been you should really go.. it's pretty amazing.

"Old Friends"

Last night Nici, Lindsay, Tyler and I went to dinner at Maza. Oh my, if you live in Utah you need to go. It's yummy, yummy Middle Eastern food located at 9th and 9th... Go Go Go... I had falafel and it was so good. It was fun to see Linds and Ty, they're getting married two months, and they're so cute. Here's a pic of Me, Nici, and Linds... Gosh, I miss these girls... we all used to have some good times together. Anyways, it was a super fun night catching up. You can't really beat good convo and amazing food... That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.

We watched a little Arrested tonight... Why is that show so funny? And why did it get cancelled? This is from the episode we watched.. It was cracking my right up... This isn't a very good copy, but you get the point...

"Needle and the Damage Done"

Today was not a good day. Ever since I decided to go to Africa I've been dreading today. Today was shot day -- NOT, NOT, NOT A GOOD DAY.

I asked Nici if she could take me to get my shots, she thought I was being unreasonable, but after what happened today, she understood why I needed her there.

Last night all I could think about was getting my stupid shots today. It was making me out of control nervous. When I woke up today, I was still thinking about. I know this is a completely unreasonable fear, and I hate it about myself, but I really can't help it. The thought of shots just drives me crazy. A few years ago Peter took me to get some shots and I passed right out on the floor. He,of course, got a kick out of it. The nurse at the clinic got so mad at him for laughing at me. It was a pretty funny situation, but no matter how stupid I think I'm being, I just can't get it under control. I freak myself right out.

So today we went to the clinic and the nurse was giving me the rundown on the laundry list of things that I could get while I'm in Uganda (this is kind of a sketchy list, I'm not sure what I'm getting myself into). Anyways, as we got closer to the actual giving of the shots I got more and more nervous. My hands started getting sweaty, and I couldn't' really concentrate on what the nurse was saying. She gave my two shots, and I thought I was going to lose it. I almost told her to stop, that I couldn't' take it anymore, but I kept it under control, and she gave me my final shot. When she was done I was looking at Nici and all of the sudden all I could see was little black dots. The nurse grabbed my arm, and put my head between my legs. It was the strangest thing because I knew how silly I was being, and so Nici and I were giggling, but I couldn't stop freaking out. I sat up after a minute and thew up. That's right, I'm a freaking 23 year old who passes out and throws up from shots. That's a certifiable baby. Anyways, after that whole debacle the nurse made my lay on the ground, and she gave me a sucker to make it all better. She was a nice nurse even though I'm sure she thought I was a freak show.

The only good part of the day was that I pretty much have every shot I could ever get, so I'm good to go to travel anywhere in the world. This trip to Uganda better be worth all this drama.

"Swimming Pool"

Since I've been Utah I've been spending some quality time with Suz, Annie, and their kids. Yesterday we went swimming at the new Bubble in Bountiful. We had a lot of fun. Here are some cute pics of the kids...

Paul

Ellie

Olivia and Me

James

Olivia

Paul, Ellie, and Me

When got back from swimming we dumped all the kids in the tub.
Olivia and James

James and Ellie

Oh ya, and I've been spending a lot of time with The Roc Dawg too!

Good times in Utah!
Tonight is the Jazz game.
YOU GOTTA LOVE IT BABY!

"Sunday Morning"

I'm finally back in Utah, and I'm loving it. But did any of you doubt that I would? I always love coming home and hate to leave.

10 Reasons I'm Loving Utah Right Now:

1. Sleeping on the tramp with Nici and Krista
2. Roc Dog... I just love my lil' brudder!
3. Movin' 100.7... I heard some pretty classic songs today thanks to that station
4. Sugar House Park.. there's nothing like a Sunday morning in the park
5. Jazz parties with the fam... they lost, but don't worry they'll be back for game 2
6. Late night chicken foot games... Matt and Annie get ready for a two week marathon
7. Driving in a car with the windows down... I seriously HATE not having a car
8. Cruisin' around on Barb, Nici's pink scooter
9. Setting up swimming dates with the nieces and nephews...
10. The sound of sprinklers... We don't really hear that in the big city

Did I mention that I just love, love, love Utah? Well I do, and I'm so excited to be here for 2 1/2 long weeks. Holla back now ya all!

Random thing... Alicia my an old BYU roommate was on my flight from Denver to SLC. We took a quick pic to capture the moment. I miss that girl...

"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

Today was another long day in the big old city...

We started out at Norma's and it was amazing. Our waiter/waitress (the jury is still out on what he/she actually was) was quite entertaining and invited as all over for bloody marys...

Peter got a little too excited about his chocolate overload...

We hit up a Mets game... It was pretty intense, the Mets scored 5 runs to win it in the 9th... It doesn't get much better than that...

Me, Peter, John.. heading out to get the mandatory baseball treats (hot dogs, sunflower seeds, mt. dew, and nachos that's what I'm talkin' bout)

The fam on the Brooklyn Bridge...

"Start Spreadin' the News"

I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH SCHOOL FOREVER... MAN OH MAN... THAT'S A GREAT GREAT FEELING!

So.. today was graduation. It was actually a pretty fun day. We went to all the crazy long ceremonies. They were long, but I think it was worth it. I never think I'm going to like graduation, but I always end up enjoying myself. Here are some pics of our adventures...

Tuesday Lunch Group...
Walking into the quad...
Three little Mormon grads...
At the end of the commencement they played "Start Spreadin' the News" and everybody was dancing around. Here's a video of the scene.

After the big ceremony we headed down to Lincoln Center for the Social Work ceremony.

Davis and Me
The Fam

M&M

After it was allover we headed down to Columbus Circle and Peter got a kick out of this statue... He's so mature like that... I mean, it was well polished...
To finish off the long day we got some good dinner at Carmine's...

Pretty perfect day besides the rain... It was a true NY experience for the visitors.

"Let's Get it Started"

Last weekend we went to DC for some fancy shmancy wedding, but the only pics we took were these lovely ones. I think I need to get Davis some glasses just like mine... He had so much fun wearing them I couldn't get them away from him...

I was looking pretty cute on the drive too...
The first round of the fam got here today... Davis and I had some fun guiding them around town...

I don't think we'll ever get enough of these shots...