Brave

I wish that I was brave enough to:

Stop wearing make-up

Jump off a cliff into the ocean

Jump off the high dive for that matter

Not wear so many layers during the winter

Dye my hair red

Take the G.R.E

Climb Mt. Everest

Cry in front of others. I still even have a hard time letting go in front of Buck.

Erin Elizabeth

This weekend my sister graduated from BYU with her MPA (masters of public administration,) which is pretty epic considering it was a super hard program to get accepted in to and it's intense and full of hard work for the two years in it. Although my sister getting through it AND being honored in the "highest distinction" on the program at convocation is no surprise to those who know her. She definitely got the brains out of the two of us. (and every other notable talent and good thing...) We are proud of her! So here's to my sister- one of the most talented, smart, kind, thoughtful, hard working, creative, and fun people I know. No, but really though.

So that day we went and did a little graduation photo shoot with master Erin. To see more of another photo shot with her click HERE. 

 

 

 

Erin and my parents- all proud cougars. Yeah. And I'm a Viking. Thanks BYU-Idaho

Flashback photo- 2009. Me and Thor. Oh yeah.

Anyway.

And then this happened with her robe. Scary stuff.

Also, my cousin, Alycia, graduated with a bachelors degree in illustration. And people- she is AH-MAZE-ING. Like, you should have heard people gawking over her story book at her art exhibit. This girl is going places in life. No doubt.

Check out some of her art HERE (and I'm hoping that soon she will put up her final project on her blog because it is so wonderful.) 

 

Oh. And then this happened.

 

I win. Barely.

We both lose

Another win for me. It's okay, Erin didn't get a degree in Jumping. And clearly I don't need one.

Tah-dah!

Then we all got to go out to eat at a great Italian restaurant. 

No complaints.

And there was an accordion player. And June was enthralled.

 

 

Then on Saturday we had an epic party for Erin. And my mom and I made these. And it was a proud moment.

 

And June looked cute.

 Good luck to Erin and all graduates. It will be exciting to see where they all end up next! (although they are all more concerned and scared it seems.) Well, I'm excited for all you smart and talented people. 

And in the meantime, I'll be home working on my jumping. . .

Two Lips

While my parents were in town this weekend for my sister's graduation, we were able to go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving point. It was beautiful! (And of course there are more photos of June than of flowers, but you how it goes.)

Me and my pirate baby

The Koi fish...

And June being obsessed with the Koi fish.

Me and my friend Alicia

Ode to Da Vinci

Well.

It's been a week and a day since our Russian tortoise, Da Vinci, went missing.

Since then we have handed out fliers to all our surrounding neighbors, searched high and low, sent in a city notice, checked KSL, prayed, and called the animal shelter to see if anyone brought in a tortoise (the worker asked me for a description and this actually happened during our conversation: Her- "And what color is he?" Me- "umm... green..." Really?)

And as you can all guess- he never showed up. He legitimately ran (walked) away somehow.

And this all happened the week it's been raining and storming and well, it's not been a very warm and tortoise friendly climate. 

So we feel pretty awful about how it all went down. Poor little guy.

So in memory or our green shelled pet, I am now going to compose a poem for him. Like, right now. 

Our dearest Russian Tortoise

You always did support us,

You helped us eat our tomatoes and carrots,

And you were much calmer than pet ferrets,

We will miss the familiar glow from your heat lamp,

And how when you walked around you left a ....dirt stamp,

Oh Da Vinci, why did you have to go?

Is it better in reptile heaven? We will never know...

Your corner of our room is now empty and bare,

But we will always remember the days you resided there,

Miso will miss hunting you, and June will miss her drum,

Buck may never recover, he still feels like scum,

So Da Vinci, dear Da Vinci- our scaly, rad pet,

Your tortoisey ways we shall never, ever, forget.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Really though, it is sad. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that we kind of feel like we sent him to his death by taking him outside and then forgetting him there for two hours. (But really?! How far can a tortoise get in that time?! He is NOWHERE to be found!) Our best-case-senerio-hope (aside from coming home to us) is that some kid found him and thought he'd make a cool pet and now he is safe and warm somewhere else. We can hope right?

I guess now I have to get Buck some other random pet-gift. 

Well. 

Maybe not. 

Not yet anyways.

Our Yard

Buying a house built in the 1950's may have its problems. But the fact that there are so many flowers and bushes and trees that grow and bloom and bring color to my life, without me laying a finger, is pretty awesome. Sure we have had and still have lots of work to do but it has been exciting. There is so much spirit back there. Every day June and I go outside and check on every living plant to see how it is progressing. I love them all. And there's still more to come- I have two HUGE lilac bushes that are getting close to full bloom! So exciting.

And then there is our tree out front. I mean, let's get real- this is pretty amazing. AND it's my favorite color! And give it some time- Plums will appear this summer!

I'm pretty much obsessed. I don't think I'll ever want to buy a new house. The older the piece of earth, the better. (As long as you have a good lawn mower and some pruning sheers and a pest control company, that is.)

Sausages

The first time Buck and I got to hang out after our missions was the weekend of the mission reunion of April 2009. That night after the reunion, a group of us decided to go to Denny's. It was a good time and I may or may not have flirted a bit to get Buck to buy my food for me. It's not like it was anything expensive. That night I was only craving sausages and so that is what I ordered. Four sausages. Is that too much for a girl to ask of a guy? To buy her some sausage links?

I guess so because just a couple months ago our friends Max and Rebecca, who were also there that night, confessed that they felt bad for Buck . They thought that I was just leading him on (whether or not I was at the time is irrelevant at this point ) and they felt bad for him because he was losing money. I laughed at this as I thought about all the things I had let boys buy me in the past. (I have no shame. It was my duty as a blonde.)

Good thing it worked out for Buck. He went on to spend much more money on me. What an investment he made that night. From sausages to a home.

But I digress.

The point is that we now consider this to be our [bizarre] first date.

And so a couple weeks ago he sent me an email invitation asking if I would go on some anniversary date with him on April 3rd. Guess what it was the anniversary of?

And guess what I ordered?

Sometimes, I'm still a cheap date. 

And for those of you who are concerned, I am no longer leading him on. 

:)

Pets

In case you forgot, I really, really love my cat. Everyone told me that after having a baby I would practically forget about him. How little they know me. I still count him as one of my own kids. Or so I thought. Until I

FORGOT
His
Birthday.

Sure. It was a birthDAY that I had made up, based off the information I got with him from the animal shelter- it was the best I could figure. Maybe you remember my little celebration last year. But this year April 5th came and went and I didn't even open a can of his favorite green beans to mark his birth. I'm a lousy human.

The other night Miso never came inside. He ALWAYS comes home at night and sleeps at my feet. I was worried but figured he'd come home sometime in the night. So when I spontaneously woke up at 2:00 a.m. and he was still no where to be found, I freaked a little. And I was up for a couple hours, just laying in bed, wondering what I would do without Miso.  But thankfully he showed up in the morning. GAH.

THEN today June and I walked outside for a minute to get some morning air. And then I saw it- two houses down laying in the middle of the road- lifeless. A brown-ish marbled cat. I started to panic as I walked slowly towards it, in all my bra-less, pajama glory. I didn't go fast, because if he was dead then I wanted a few more seconds to think that he was maybe still alive. I almost started crying and felt pretty breathless. I know- to some of you its just a cat and you think I'm ridiculous. But, as I stated, I really really love my cat. Even if I do forget his [made-up] birthday.

Deep breath.

It wasn't Miso.

And while I was still sad about the random cat (I have a bleeding heart for all animals) I was so happy my kitty was alive.

(June is never leaving the house.)

Then later today Buck and I went out to our wild backyard and took our Russian Tortoise, Da Vinci, with us. During the summer we do this and let him rage around the yard and eat dandelions and such. He is obsessed with it. Don't think a tortoise can show that kind of emotion? Well, you should see him trying to scale his bedroom (cage) wall to get out everyday.

We took him out there around 5:00 p.m.
And then at 7:30 p.m. I realized we forgot him out there.

. . . .

Poor Buck spent almost two hours searching and asking the neighbors.

And now it's 10:30. And we never found him.

:(

We're still hoping that he will show up somehow tomorrow. And we're hoping it doesn't get too cold for him tonight. I mean, he sleeps with a heat lamp!

Buck has been sad. (for those who don't know, the tortoise is Buck's. I got it for him as an early Christmas present last year because he claimed that he always wanted a turtle when he was a kid.)

Anyway. This was a long blog post about our pets to really just ask for your prayers. I know that there are a lot of bad things happening out there in the world and that our lost tortoise isn't the biggest tragedy, but if you could spare a few words, it can't hurt, right?

I'm feeling like a pretty lousy pet owner right now...