Best of 2007

Here's my little Best of 2007 list. It isn't comprehensive of course...I'm sure there were more great things about '07 but these are just the first things I thought of. In no particular order...

Best thing someone said to me:
"Are you the one who can't find a husband?"

Six-year old Reagan said this to me when her mom dropped her off at my house for me to watch her for the day. I knew it was going to be a fun 10 hours of babysitting as soon as she said it, and it was.

Best Blog Commenters:

And the winners are....Audrey and Kim. They did request this honor however. But I do have to say that they are pretty faithful blog readers and commenters. If anyone else would like to be honored for anything, just let me know. I do always try to be a people pleaser. (Sorry about the wedding picture Kim... I forgot to get a picture of you and Audrey when I was home.)

Best Church lesson:
A two hour lesson just this past Sunday by our Singles' Ward Bishopric. Guess what it was on?... You are right! Dating and marriage. It was an awesome lesson as it included watching half of the Seinfeld episode "The Fix-up"...hilarious! I know you are all jealous that we got to watch Seinfeld in church. (In my Bishop's defense it was a surprisingly VERY CLEAN Seinfeld clip.) This lesson also included role-playing by members of the ward...just in case any of us 25 to 30 year-olds didn't yet know how to ask someone on a date, or accept a date, properly touch someone on the arm or make eye-contact. VERY HELPFUL. On the board there were several definitions of types of daters that we shouldn't be...such as: Tries-a-lot Timmy, Bitter Barbara, Warcraft Willy, Unavailable Ann, Deal-breaker Dan, and All-star Bob. We were also given some reading materials to take home such as the talk Dating versus Hanging Out, a list of ways to BLS, which stands for "Become Less Single," and other Ensign articles and helpful dating hints. I learned a lot. For example, we are all supposed to date, get married, and have babies. Wow. I wish someone would have told me that sooner! In all seriousness it was a good lesson and was totally hilarious. How can you be offended by a dating/marriage lesson when it is so funny? Now, all you married people don't get too jealous that you don't have as much fun in church as we do in the Singles' Ward.

Best moment on television:

This has to be Miss South Carolina's answer to the interview question during the Miss Teen USA pageant this year. She did a spectacular job, really, spectacular. For a review of that great moment in Miss Teen USA history go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww&feature=related. (Sorry, I would actually post the clip but I don't want to spend the time figuring out how.) And my favorite Youtube mockery of Miss Teen South Carolina is also very worth watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQc6oBCuDXk&feature=related. Check these out for a good laugh and if you want to feel intelligent. One of my resolutions for 2008 is to do something to help all of the US Americans that don't have maps. I might even start a non-profit...Maps for America or something like that.

Best new hobby:

Blogging of course!

Year-end Summary

"I personally believe" that overall 2007 was a great year for the Becca B. family (aka: ME). I have a lot to be grateful for. I know that usually I am weird/sarcastic/judgemental/negative/etc. on this blog (isn't that what blogs are for?), but it is Christmas time and I am so glad for all of the blessings I have. "Such as..." a wonderful family, the chance to be a "US American," great friends, a job that pays the bills and that isn't too horrible (most of the time), "maps," a nice house to live in, the chance to go to college, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the opportunity to travel and see the world and last but not least, "the Iraq." So, here's a little Bridget Jones style summary of my year "like, such as"...

Year-end Summary 2007*

alcohol units consumed: 0 (excellent)

cigarettes: 0 (v.g.)

pounds lost: 11 (good)

pounds re-gained: 9 (not good)

pounds re-lost 11: (v.g)

January: "An Exceptionally Bad Start"

The year started with me getting involved in a hit and run accident. Some guy rear-ended me and then decided to flee the scene of the accident, but left his car behind (it was registered in his name). GENIUS. The end of the the month was better though as I got to escape the freezing cold and depressing SLC weather and went with mi madre (MOM) to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a week. So much fun and so great to be warm and tan!

February: Not Fun

All I remember about February is that my Grandma B. passed away. Even though she was 85 it was still so hard to lose her. She was so spunky and fun right up to the end. We all miss her so much. She was the glue that held our extended family together. And also now there isn't someone else besides me to say inappropriate things at family parties...I'm all on my own now. I'm not just saying this because she was my grandma, but my grandma was awesome. If I could live my life even a little bit like she lived hers I would consider my life a success.

March: Fun in Paris

For Christmas I bought my mom tickets to a concert in Paris that she had always wanted to go to so that she would HAVE TO come with me to France. It worked. My mom hadn't ever been to Europe and I was embarrased for her! So we headed off to Paris for a week. It was SO MUCH FUN. I HEART EUROPE big time and I take any opportunity I can to get back there. And Paris is probably my favorite European city.

April: Another Great Trip

Lucky me...I spent nearly the entire month of April on another great trip. The only bad part was that I was gone when the majority of the 382 flower bulbs I planted in my yard bloomed. SAD. I guess my neighbors got to enjoy them. Anyway, my mission comp Katie F. and I headed off to Ethiopia and Kenya via Holland and Belgium. It was WAY fun and luckily it was tulip season big time in Holland so I got to see some bulb flowers after all. In Ethiopia we did some humanitarian work with a group called Village of Hope. It was a great experience. Then we headed off to Kenya for a week-long safari. Way cool!

May: Back to the Real World

In May the party was over...back to work. All I remember about May is that I worked a ton of overtime to make up for my complete lack of living in reality and traveling a ton during the first part of the year. It was fun while it lasted.

June: Blah

I don't remember anything about June. It must have been pretty BORING. I probably worked a lot.

July: Yay for Lee and Kim!

FINALLY........Lee (my brother) and Kim got engaged on 7/7/07. How cool! I just knew that at least one of us would turn out normal according to the Mormon formula for being a winner as explained to me by my friend Corrine. The formula is: 16 > date > mission > date > marriage > kids > winner! Well, I guess they don't have kids yet, but they are well on their way to being winners anyway.

August: Depressing

Yuck, yuck, yuck. I turned 28 in August and I wasn't smart enough to do something on my birthday like going skydiving to distract me. Tick tock goes the biological clock. At the end of the month I started the Public Health Program at the University of Utah. Very weird to be back in school after a 3 year absence.

September: Wedding!

Lee and Kim sealed the deal on 9/29/07. I am so happy for them.

October: Shocker

We got a big surprise when we found out that my parents would most likely be going on a mission for 3 years! I am excited for them but definitely went through some feelings of potential abandonment. I mean, I know I'm 28 but I'll still miss my parents. I also put my house up for sale in October. So I will shortly be homeless and parentless. Homeless, Homeless......

November: The Deal is For Real

In November we found out that my parents were FOR SURE going on a mission. They don't know where yet but it will be a Portuguese speaking. It will most likely be Brazil but there is a small chance that it will be Cape Verde, a country in Africa. Yikes! Also in November my cousin Audrey (one of my favOrite blog readers and also my AwEsOmE hairdresser) gave me a new haircut that I love because now I have bangs that cover up my huge scar on my forehead. (She REQUESTED that I mention my new awesome haircut and I do WHATEVER she says because she could really mess up my life with those scissors and hair color if she wanted to.)

December: Yay for Christmas!

I love Christmastime. Except for shopping. Yuck. I threw an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party at the beginning of the month. I don't know about anyone else, but I had fun. I managed to decently finish up my first semester of Grad School. Now I'm just home hanging out with the family...entertaining myself by trying to make myself get my Christmas shopping done, blogging, wrapping presents (because I LOVE wrapping presents), spinning cookies in the church parking lot, playing games, and planning trips for next year.

Well, I would maybe write something more, but my dad just made some really reeky oyster soup and I've got to get out of here before I puke. Have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone. I hope that it is meaningful and spiritual but fun too. Love, Becca

*P.S. To really appreciate my year-end summary you need to have seen Bridget Jones' Diary (you can borrow it from me if you need to...I even have it Cleanflicked) and Miss South Carolina's Teen USA Interview Question (look it up on Youtube).

Merry Bipolar Christmas

MERRY BIPOLAR CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I always receive Christmas cards and letters from my married friends and although I didn't potty-train anyone this year or go on a cruise with my in-laws, I figured that I could do a Christmas blog post for all of my friends and family. So here you have it. We were watching old home videos recently and I came across these clips and decided to use them as my Christmas message. My sister-in-law, Kim, says that none of us have changed since we were kids...that we are basically the same personality wise but we just grew up. I beg to differ however because after watching the clip below it looks like I, at 3 years old, was well on my way to being bipolar. So, Merry Christmas everyone and yay for being able to grow out of some of our problems.

Kim might be sort of right about us all being the same since we were kids though...because I still can't dance and my brother Russell still mocks my every move. Check out the clip below for proof.

d i s c l a i m e r

Okay, well as all of you blog readers now know I have a lot of problems/disorders. I am a little obsessive compulsive...I am a little passive aggressive...I don't like indoor pets...I am pretty sarcastic...ETC! At least I'm open about my problems though and I share them with the whole world on this blog. Admitting that you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right? So, I'll admit all of my problems here on my blog, and if any of you still like me in the end, after all that is wrong with me, then I'll know that you are a true friend. So, here are a couple of my faults that have recently come to my attention:

Confession/Problem #1: I am a little more blond/naive than I maybe think I am. I do okay in school, which should mean that I'm smart, but in the real-world often I come up lacking in intelligence. Confession/Problem #2: I didn't come installed with any sort of a filtering system to what I say and do. My brothers say that I don't have a pop up blocker. What comes up, comes out. I say and act and THEN I think. I like to think, 'WOW, God made me spontaneous and fun by not giving me a filter/pop-up blocker.' But more often then not this little problem causes me trouble.

So, with that said, I would like to apologize for a portion of a recent post I made entitled "Facebook Stalker Update." This is what I wrote for those of you who aren't regular blog readers, "...put out, put out, put out, and never get back. Welcome to being a Mormon girl in Utah!" Now, if you go back and read this in context with the rest of the post you should see that I wasn't meaning at all what you are all thinking that I was meaning. To understand what I meant by "put out" you can replace it with some of these phrases: "make cookies", "invite guys to dinner", "plan parties", etc Not at all what you were thinking, right? So I didn't really realize what "put out" meant until just tonight when my family started making fun of me for saying bad stuff on my blog. I HAD NO IDEA that "put out" was nasty. So, if I have caused any offense, please forgive me.

Sometimes I just hear things on TV or just around and then I repeat them without really knowing what they mean. For example, Michael Scott on The Office told his employees that they needed to "Gang Bang" the expense reports so they could all get home. I thought that "Gang Bang" just meant "TEAMWORK." My co-worker Jerry watches The Office so one busy day at work I said to him, "Jerry, lets just gang bang this work and get home." Thinking to myself, 'Oh, Jerry will think it is funny because I'm quoting Michael Scott.' And everyone knows that Michael Scott is hilarious and who doesn't want to be hilarious. Instead Jerry just looked at me in shock and utter disbelief and I said to Jerry, "What's wrong... why are you looking at me like that? Is gang bang bad?" Once he realized that I, once again, HAD NO IDEA what "gang bang" meant he started laughing uncontrollably and of course going around and telling everyone what I said.

So, if I use any words or phrases that are really inappropriate, just know that I probably don't know what I'm doing. I try to keep this blog somewhat clean...I mean, my mom, dad, grandma, old mission companions and converts read my blog. So my disclaimer is that I can't be held morally responsible for things that I say or do that I don't know are bad. Transgression, not sin. And, you can read my blog at your own danger of being offended, shocked, disappointed, or tainted. So, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! The end.

Blog Addict

So, why so much blogging lately you ask? Well, I'll tell you why. 1) blogging is addictive and I am getting more addicted every day. 2) I'm done with school until January 8th, yay! And 3) thanks to the writers strike I have no new episodes of The Office to watch and since that is really the only show I watch on TV, I haven't wasted any time watching TV for weeks. So, blogging it is.

Christmastime!

I love Christmastime. I love decorating my house and putting up my tree, having parties, going to parties, playing games, being with family and friends, being inside when it is dumping snow outside, and listening to cool Christmas music. I hate Christmas shopping though, but I hate shopping in general, so I guess that should be no surprise. I would just do it all online, but now I've put it off so long that I don't have time to do it online. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to brave the crowds eventually. Maybe I'll wait until I get home to Idaho to do it.

The other day I was driving here in the snow, getting all irritable, and I thought, "I can't wait until I move back to Idaho so I don't have to drive on roads like this." And then I realized that it snows in Idaho too and that the roads are actually usually worse than they are in Utah. BUT, here is the difference...in Idaho you don't EVER have traffic with snow (other than maybe 17th Street on Saturdays in December) and people SLOW DOWN when it snows and don't drive like complete Utards.

So, as I mentioned earlier, I love to decorate my house for Christmas. It always takes me forever though and is so much work and hardly anyone sees it but me. So, I thought I'd post a few pics of my house all decorated for the holidays, so I can feel that all my hard work was a little more worth it.

Oh, and yes, my house is sort of FOR SALE, so if any of you are looking for a second home, or a first home for that matter, let me know. I say sort of because I really don't want to sell it until Spring when all the hundreds of flower bulbs I have planted come up so I can enjoy them one last time. And who wants to move in the Winter anyway? Not me.

Brrr...Global Warming no more!

Entryway with my favorite Ukrainian Nativity painting in the background

Not So Fake

Dear Cybersnot Scout...Here is the picture you requested where I don't "look so fake." I'm so sorry that I put the fake smile picture on my Ugly Christmas Sweater Party post. You are my most high maintenance blog fan, but you know me, people pleaser...so here you go.

Leeches Coming Clean

Thank you to all of you blog leeches that have come clean in the last 10 days since I called you out. I know there are still more of you out there though. (See my post from December 6th if you don't know what I'm talking about) I'm not trying to be mean or pushy with this blog leech thing. You don't have to leave a comment every time you are on...just occasionally. So, if you are a regular blog reader (one or more times/week) you should leave a comment AT LEAST monthly. If you are more of a casual blog reader (one time a month or less) then a good rule of thumb is to leave a comment every 4th time you get on. And, if you are reading this right now and you have NEVER left a comment then you at least better leave a comment here that says, "Hello, my name is ______ and I read your blog." Really, I just need to know who my blog audience is so I'll know what I need to keep my blog rated (currently it is PG), how sarcastic I can be, and who I shouldn't say bad stuff about. Ha ha. Like for example, today I found out that my dad reads my blog. Crap, now I have to be even MORE restricted in what I say. See, I shouldn't have even said "crap." My dad is kind of tight laced, which is funny to me since he was a TOTAL hell child when he was young. Luckily though, my dad can't figure out how to leave comments, so his blog opinion will not be heard. (He is pretty technologically impaired... he doesn't know how to check his voice mail on his cell phone either, even though he has had a cell phone since they looked like the ones on "Saved by the Bell!") Also, apparently my long-lost second cousin Allie is a total blog leech too. She told my brother Lee the other day, "I just love Becca's blog...it is funny...you would never know she was so funny by how she is in person. She is so quiet and reserved." Allie, if you think I'm quiet and reserved, I'm afraid it has been too long since you've been around me. We need to do lunch sometime. I don't think I've EVER been "quiet and reserved," so I'm glad that my blog can help you get to know the "Real Me" a little better. Although I don't think that I'm quite as mean/sarcastic/judgemental/etc as I may come across on my blog...maybe I am though, I don't know. And Russell...you are the worst blog leech ever because you always critique my blog and tell me how many spelling and grammar errors I make, and yet you aren't contributing to the world with a blog of your own or even any comments! So what, you are a single white 30 year old male...it is okay to blog. So blog leeches, you are loved and appreciated, but you will be even more loved and appreciated if you make yourselves known and contribute to the world by leaving the occasional comment on my blog. Stop sucking and start commenting.

And one more thing...even if I don't know you (and you maybe linked to my blog from another blog), you can still leave a comment. If I cared who read my blog I wouldn't have it open to the public. It's not like I post my address or social security number here or anything.

If you are wondering about the picture attached to this blog post, it is one that came up when I did an image search for "leeches." According to the web page that I stole this sad but funny picture from, fat people "are a group of leeches that are sucking out all our well earned money, livelihood, and outlook as a country." SORRY EVERYONE!

Facebook Stalker Update

So, I'm finally coming to terms with facebook and am starting to see the good in it. I have had so many old friends contact me lately through facebook and it has been great to get back in touch. So now I sort of heart facebook. I decided that because I'm starting to heart facebook instead of hate facebook that maybe I should fix up my profile a bit, add some pics, and get rid of my facebook stalker (even though his many invites have kept me entertained). I logged into facebook tonight to start off by getting rid of the stalker and I was looking through my friends list trying to find his name so I could delete it...but HE WASN'T ON MY FRIENDS LIST ANYMORE! Instantly I thought,

'Oh my heck...facebook stalker deleted himself from my friends list! How dare he dump me...and right during the holidays. No one should get dumped during the holidays, no one. I guess he finally got sick of sending me all of those invites and NEVER getting anything back...put out, put out, put out, and never get back. Welcome to being a Mormon girl in Utah!'

Anyway, after freaking out a little and feeling rejected I decided to look into the matter a little more. And, I discovered that he wasn't showing up on my friends list because I had so severely limited what he could see on my profile that he wasn't really my friend anymore...he was just a person with limited access. Whew, sigh of relief, and self esteem goes back up. So, I went ahead and blocked him permanently from accessing my info. But as I'm logging myself out of facebook I notice a little message that says, "Kurt Somebody has poked you." I guess he saw that I was logged into facebook and just had to get one last poke in before I deleted him forever. I would have written him a message saying, "STOP POKING ME!!!" but that just isn't necessary now as he is gone forever. And by the way, I hate the poking thing. I think it is weird and even sounds a little disgusting. It is way worse than sheep throwing, vampire biting, and cyber cuddling.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

I've been talking about having an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party for years, and this past Saturday I finally had one. I found a pretty freaking ugly Christmas sweater at DI. It is bright red, has dolman sleeves, and two big shiny poinsettias on it. It is pretty special...one I will definitely hang onto and treasure for years to come. I got matching poinsettia earrings at Sears on 60% off (I wonder why) and bright red little slipper shoes to go with. I think it turned out pretty fun despite the fact that it was snowing like crazy and lots of people (especially the ones coming from Provo and Park City) weren't able to come. I had fun anyway, but I guess I always have fun. We went bowling in our ugly sweaters (where we got lots of weird looks) and then came back to my place and played the best get-to-know you game ever called What's wrong with your body? It is such a great way to really get to know people. We had food and visited next. Then we played a few intense games of Catch Phrase and then watched a couple episodes of The Office...the Christmas Party and the Injury. It was a pretty typical Mormon party minus David Luck taking his shirt off to show us his stupid human trick. Thanks for coming everyone!
P.S. I'm sorry but if there isn't a picture of you here it means that I either didn't get a good one of you or your weren't wearing an ugly sweater and therefore can't be part of this blog post. Sorry!

Alison and Allyson

Becca and Melissa

Alex or a Power Ranger...I'm not sure



Family Picture time

Alison broke 80 and without bumpers! Impressive.

Eric enjoys the tasty treats!

Don't you hate when you lean out of a picture and then you're still in it?

Alex loves cheese balls!

Speaking of cheese...my smile is SO fake!

??????????????????

Becca and Matt showing off their Ugly Christmas wear

Heidi and Spencer sharing some holiday cheer

Christa (in cowgirl Christmas Wear) and Lisa



Elena shows off her last minute DI find

TAGGED

A few weeks ago my friend Tricia tagged me, which I guess means that I have to write 5 things that are unique about me. I haven't had time to blog for awhile, but since I flunked my last final of the semester today, I now have time to blog away. So, 5 things that are unique to me...my brothers would say, "You're unique... just like everybody else." So, I'm going to change it and say here are 5 things that are weird or different about me, instead of unique since they aren't truly unique...I know, it is a technicality, but I just want to get it right.

I am weird/different because...

1) I am totally passive aggressive. This is a new discovery to me. Someone pointed it out to me when I told them about how I take care of things when my neighbors don't pick up their dog poo from my lawn. So, I looked up passive aggressive on Wikipedia and I think that it is true...I am a little passive aggressive. I just thought it was the nice way to get what you want done or said. But, according to Wikipedia, it is a DISORDER. So, I have a disorder...big deal. Here's a picture of my solution to when your neighbors don't pick up the dog poop from your lawn. It has worked wonders for me and my lawn. I think it is a good way to get your point across because 1) it is great for visual learners and 2) it makes a statement and 3) you don't have to confront anyone. Maybe I'm not truly passive aggressive though because I think that deep down I did it to be funny, but if it gets my point across too, great! P.S. The poop was gone within a day...I think it was gone before I even got around to taking the picture.

2) I don't like pets (cats and dogs). I would be afraid to admit this to the world because everyone that knows that I don't like cats and dogs thinks that I am a heartless, unkind, cold person. But I'm not... I love people, and sheep and goldfish. I got the courage to write this because Tricia wrote on her blog that she didn't like pets, so I don't feel so evil if someone else feels the same way I do. I know, you are asking yourself, "how could such a warm, loving, fun, kind person like Becca not like pets?" Let me tell you why...1)the only dog we ever had as kids was completely retarded 2)I got attacked and bit by a big dog when I was a kid 3)I am sort of a clean freak and well, pets aren't clean 4)One and a half years of South American Dogs...need I say any more?

3) I have never been on a cruise nor been to Hawaii. Yeah, I love to travel. I live for going on trips. I want to go everywhere. I am interested in every place and every culture, no exceptions. I have been to every continent in the world except for Antarctica and I have been to over 30 different countries, but I haven't been on a cruise and also haven't been to Hawaii...how weird is that? I guess I'm saving the close easy stuff for when I get old and decrepit.

4) I LOVE to have parties...especially theme/dress-up parties. I think that this may be an inherited trait from my Grandma Batt. She loved to always have something going at her house. As kids we had parties for nearly every holiday and everything you can think of at my Grandma Batt's house. We had back to school parties, Valentine's Day parties, Birthday parties, at least 2 different Christmas Parties, 4th of July parties, Easter parties, Bonfires, a wild New Year's Party, and parties just to have parties. We played games where we would chase each other all over the house and try to rip each others' socks off, games where we put on helmets and threw raw eggs or tomatoes at each other, strip poker (we would add extra clothes first), Annie-Annie Over, crazy hard Easter-egg hunts (where it wasn't at all unusual to find your Easter egg under a cow pie). I love parties because they bring people together.

5) I LOVE flowers. I really love flowers. I plant a crazy amount of them, especially considering how small my yard is. The last few years ever since I have had my own house I have had 4 crops of flowers. First crop is fall pansies. Second crop comes when the hundreds of tulip, daffodil, crocus, lily and other bulbs I have planted come up in the Spring. Third crop is the annuals that I plant as soon as the bulbs flowers die back. Fourth crop is the seed flowers that come up in the late summer and early fall as the annuals die back. I'm pretty sure that this obsession is genetic too thanks to my mom and Grandma Furness.

P.S. I tag Lee, Kim, Christa, Audrey, Heidi and Melissa.

A Word on Facebook

I think that Facebook is weird. Does anybody else?
My friends Sarah and Kate kept trying to convince me to get a Facebook account, telling me how fun it was, what a great way it is to keep in touch, blah, blah, blah. So a couple of months ago I did. Less than 24 hours after I opened my account I get a message that said Kurt Somebody poked you on Facebook. So, being a naive Facebook newbie, I poked him back. Within minutes he added me as a friend. I didn't really recognize the name, but I thought to myself, "Maybe I know him from BYU or the mission...I don't want to be rude," so I added him as a friend. So RIGHT away he writes a message on my wall that said "Thanks for the add cutie...hope you had a great day." "Okay," I thought to myself, "I definitely don't know this guy because nobody calls me cutie, nobody." The next day I get a message from him that says, "Hey cutie (must be his favorite word), what are you up to?" I wrote back..."Do I know you from somewhere?" And he wrote back (and these are his exact words, spelling and all), "No, i was just looking threw here, and seen your profile and i thought you were cute and i wanted to chat." So, less than two days on Facebook and I already had a facebook stalker...and this guy is persistent! First I got a message that said, "Kurt wants to cuddle with you "(I've never cyber cuddled...how boring could that possibly be!?) The next day it was, "Kurt has sent you a dance." Then it was a cyber pillow fight he wanted to have. Then it was something about a secret crush, a hot or not invitation, and then he wanted to add me to his best friend list(BEST friends so soon?) I have ignored everything he has ever written to me but the guy doesn't let up. I have about 15 to 20 invitations from him that I have ignored so far. Here is my absolute favorite invitation he has sent me..."Dear friend, tired of all those annoying bites from zombies, vampires and werewolves? Click the 'Start Fighting Chumps' button to become a slayer and start beating up on those zombies, vampires, and werewolves." What in the world does that mean? Am I in Graduate School or Middle School? So, in conclusion, I think that facebook is weird. I don't get all this vampire biting, sheep throwing, cyber cuddling stuff. I will however keep my facebook account because it has helped me get back in contact with several old roommates, mission comps and friends. And...just a couple of days ago my 80 year old Great-uncle added me as a friend. I didn't even know that 80 year olds knew about Facebook! The end.

Blog Leeches

Okay all you blog leeches out there. You know who you are...you read my blog but NEVER leave comments. You take but never contribute. You suck, suck, suck, suck, suck. If you read my blog, I expect at least one comment for every four posts that you read. I love comments. I live for comments (I know, I'm pathetic). If you are embarrassed that your life is so pathetic too that you read my blog, you can leave the comment from anonymous or make up a fake name. I love getting comments from people like Al Gore and Sean Hannity. So Russell, Bobbi, mom, grandma and all you other little leeches out there, come clean, admit that you are blog readers and leave me some comments! Love, Becca

Beyond Boring

So, I'm driving home from another fabulous day of work today and I notice that the car in front of me has one of those licence plate holder things that says:

"Dad's Mid-life Crisis Toy."

I instantly started laughing and pulled out my camera phone to try to snap a picture (while I was driving in the rain...oops!). Now the saying itself is not that funny....the part that made it funny was the car it was on. You would maybe expect something like that on a Porsche, BMW, or a cool old classic car. The car I saw it on however was a WHITE TOYOTA CAMRY! Did you catch that...not only was it a Toyota Camry, but it was WHITE. Could you possibly get any more conservative and any less Mid-life Crisis like? If a WHITE TOYOTA CAMRY is your version of a CRISIS then I'm sorry to be rude, but you are BEYOND BORING. I'm sure that Toyota Camrys are great cars...they always get excellent consumer ratings, excellent crash test ratings, excellent gas mileage, excellent resale, etc. But buying a conservative, well rated car in a conservative color is a smart buy, not a mid-life crisis! Now, maybe buying a purple, orange, bright yellow, or lime green Toyota Camry could be considered part of a mid-life crisis... but any purple, orange, bright yellow or lime green car purchase is a crisis no matter what the make and model of the car is. Please, everyone, if my life ever gets so horrible and boring that I consider buying a white sedan of any type to be living on the edge, please, someone, anyone, shoot me and take me out of my misery.

Are My Lights On?...I Don't Know, You Tell Me!

Let me start off by saying that I LOVE old people. I really do. I think that they are funny and cool and I can't wait to be one someday because then I can say anything I want about anyone as long as I follow it with "Bless his/her heart." Okay, now that we have that clear let me share with you what happened to me at the grocery store this evening. First of all, whenever I go the the Smiths by my house weird things happen...from the girl coming up to me in the freezer aisle pretending to be a robot, to the gay guy stopping me as I was leaving to frantically tell me that there was going to be a tornado and to hurry home(there wasn't by the way), to almost getting puked on by a little girl (luckily she made it into the big sand container for cigarettes out front because I hate puke).

Maybe it is just me with stores in general...I have been in Wal-mart twice and had to leave because they cleared the building because of a bomb threat...TWICE. I have also been in Albertsons and had to leave because the store started on fire. It is REALLY ANNOYING to have your cart full of what you need and then have to leave it. It really might be me, because I was also in a movie theater in Bangkok, Thailand once that started on fire.

So anyway, weird things happen to me all of the time. I love it though, as it makes my life fun and gives me something to blog about.

So as I was leaving Smith's this evening this old lady with hair dyed dark enough to stain your pillowcase, says to me "Mam, can you help me?" (Do I look like a mam? I hope not.) She didn't look too scary, even considering the uber dark hair, so I said "Sure, just let me put my groceries in my car real quick." The whole time thinking to myself "Please don't be a flat tire, please don't be a flat tire," as I don't know how to change a flat tire because I'm a horrible person who cheated on that assignment in Driver's Ed. So I go over to her and she says, "Are my lights on?" (phew, no flat tire) I said, "Are your lights on?...you mean your headlights, yeah, they are on." "Oh good," she replies. "I haven't driven at night for a long time and I couldn't tell if my lights were on." 'WOW,' I thought to myself. 'If you don't know whether or not your lights are on you have much bigger problems then just wondering if your lights are on or not...maybe you should retire from driving at night, or driving in general.' She was a nice little old lady though (even though I'm not really sure that her lights were all on, if you know what I mean) and thanked me for my help. I watched her drive away and then drove off in the OPPOSITE direction. The end.

In Church But Not Of Church

So my last blog post got me thinking about other things either I have done or I have seen or heard of being done while in church other than what we should be doing in church. We are all guilty of it sometimes...being in church but not of church. I guess it is better than just not being there at all, right?

Here are a few that I'm guilty of (as an adult)...
*writing my last will and testament in preparation for skydiving
*writing plans for my funeral for the same reason
*taking a picture of my cousin's ex-boyfriend (who was visiting my ward) with my cell phone and sending it as a picture message to my cousin with the message "Guess who showed up at my ward today?"...by the way, I turned off the sound on my camera phone so no one even knew that I was taking pictures during Sunday School
*playing this little game with my brothers where we draw pictures of people in the ward and try to guess who they are (we usually exaggerated their most prominent feature to make the game a little easier)
*writing notes, of course...I really like to write notes

Here are some things that I have seen or heard of done (by adults)that I don't plan to ever participate in...
*picking the gray hairs out of your friend's head
*a boy rubbing another boy's back
*a girl rubbing another girl's back
*opening up a bag of Doritos and a soda during Sacrament meeting to snack on
*a girl playing with another girl's hair
*yelling out "FINALLY" when the Priest gets the Sacrament prayer right after several attempts
*giving the closing prayer 20 minutes early (on Fast Sunday) because you fell asleep and then woke up during a lull between testimonies and thought it was time to end the meeting

Here are a few other fun ideas for things to do in church, although they may not be appropriate or acceptable, depending on your age...
*playing "Testimony Bingo"...what a fun idea! This consists of making a game card either with phrases that might be said in people's testimonies or a game card with the names of those who you think are most likely to share their testimony. Then whoever gets BINGO first has to get up and bear their testimony and somehow use the word BINGO. My brother and his friends used to do this in college...I wish I could have come up with such great ideas when I was young enough to get away with them.
*make out your next tithing check to "God"...just to see if your Bishop is paying attention

If anyone has any suggestions/confessions of things to do in church other than listen and participate, please, leave me a comment and share your ideas.

Great Read

I have a suggestion of a book that I think everyone should read. The book is called My Name is Asher Lev. You will not be able to put this book down, so make sure to read it over the holidays or sometime when you can dedicate your life FULLY to it. Now, I haven't actually read the book but I know that it is a great read. Let me tell you why... so, I'm sitting in Relief Society today and at some point during the lesson I notice that the girl sitting next to me is reading a novel. CURIOSITY PIQUED. So, I pretended to STARE at my scriptures as I read a few paragraphs of her book and also procure the title. I just had to know what book could be so intriguing that you would come to church early, get yourself a seat on the edge of the room, and dig into your book during the ENTIRE lesson, never looking up. I didn't know the girl or I might have been tempted to ask her.

So I thought to myself, "maybe she got to Relief Society and realized that she had already heard the lesson on Joseph Smith last week when she was visiting her grandma's ward"... or "maybe somebody is forcing her to go to church (by using an ankle bracelet?) and she's like 'I'll show you!'"...or "maybe she has a book report on it due tomorrow morning and thought that being at church and not listening was better than not being there at all." or..."maybe it is just a really good book and she has NO self control." I'm still not sure why she was reading it, but it REALLY must have been one you just can't put down because she sat across the aisle from me in Sacrament Meeting and she was still intently reading the book. I guess I shouldn't judge this girl. I guess we all have times when we don't listen in church, but COME ON be a little discreet about it.

Here are a couple of suggestions that I would give to her if I knew her...first, make a fake book cover for the novels that you want to take to church. Go to DI, buy The Miracle of Forgiveness or something for a dollar, take off the cover and attach it to the book you are reading. Easy. My brothers used to put comic books,crossword puzzle books and 4-wheeler magazines inside an Ensign or New Era cover when we would have Stake Conference and it always seemed to work for them. Secondly, when you are reading your book in church, try to look up occasionally and act like you are listening. And, last of all, if you want to be an over-achiever, you could even make a comment (just make sure that it applies to the lesson topic and that no one else has already made the comment...so I would suggest doing it near the first of the lesson). And...if you REALLY want to cover your tracks either 1) mention the lesson and how great it was to a friend in the ward or to someone that was sitting next to you or 2) tell the teacher how much you appreciated and enjoyed the lesson.

Tell me, is it one in four marriages that ends in divorce now or one in three?

So, a couple of days ago I went to get a chemical peel. Basically, a chemical peel consists of paying someone 100 bucks to pour acid on your face so that later your face will peel and look better. They are made for people like me with disgusting skin. My normal esthetician, Marthea, was out of town so some other girl, who will remain nameless to protect her lack of tact, did my chemical peel. Before I could even get onto the facial table she said to me,

"So are you married?"
I said, "no."
She replied, "well do you have a boyfriend...are you dating anyone?"
And I replied, "not right now."

Now, I'm not sure exactly why I said "not right now..." as if I had been dating someone a few minutes prior and had just gotten dumped or something. But if you ask me a dumb question you should expect a dumb answer...I mean, what was I supposed to say? And she didn't shut up after that! She went on to ask

"Well, do you have any nieces or nephews?"

"No," I said, "my only sibling that is married just got married a month ago"...and I thought to myself "and I haven't gotten around to asking them yet when they are going to start making babies!"

Ok, and get this, the next thing she said to me was,

"Did they get married in the temple?"

And I thought to myself "Oh my heck am I wearing my 'I AM A MORMON' shirt again!?" So within two minutes of meeting me this girl, who was married with three kids, broke the CARDINAL RULE of talking to single people. Never, under any circumstance ask a single person (even if you know them) any of the following questions or any variation of the following questions UNLESS you are asking them because you have some RAD person that you want to set them up with and you want to make sure that they are available. And, as a side note, never ASSUME that someone is LDS. It just makes you look like a stupid Utard.

Here are some no no questions:

"So, how's your love life?"
"Are you dating anybody?"
"Anything exciting/new going on in your life (wink, wink)?"

Now, this girl was probably just trying to be nice and make conversation(although I wish that she could have just shut-up and let me listen to the peaceful waterfall music), but HOW SAD is it that she was so un-rounded that the only thing that she could make reference to in life had to do with dating, marriage and kids! LAME! Needless to say, I did not give her a tip $$$$$$$. But let me give all of the tactless married people out there a tip...and I don't think that all married people are tactless, but those of you who are... you know who you are, listen up. You should never talk to a single person about their dating life, or the lack thereof, unless they bring it up. Just as I shouldn't ask you,

"So, how much money do you make?"

"When are you guys going to have another baby...it is about time, isn't it?"

"How's your LOVE life (wink, wink)?"

"When are you planning on starting a family?"

"Do you think you'll go on a diet soon?"

"How much equity do you have in your home?"

"Are you planning on doing anything about your receding hairline?"

Etc!

Or, I might say, as Bridget Jones replied when asked, "So Bridge, how's your love life?"..."Tell me, is it one in four marriages that ends in divorce now, or one in three?"

Global Freaking Warming

So maybe Al Gore is right about that global warming thing... I mean he did invent the Internet and almost became President of the USA, so he must be a genius. Why do I now believe in Al?...because it is almost Thanksgiving and my Begonias are still blooming like crazy...and on the north side of my house! Check it out.

Movie Madness

So, I have something to admit to the world. I go to movies in the movie theater all by myself. I go on weekdays, weekends, holidays, during the day, and at night. I don't care AT ALL that it is socially unacceptable to do so. The first time I did it was a few years ago as a bet with my brother Lee. We were talking about things that people just don't do alone...two of which were going to movies by themselves and eating at nice sit-down restaurants by themselves. So we made a bet to see who could do one of those two things first. I won by going to a movie by myself. Not only was I by myself but I was the only person in the theater...weird because it wasn't even a crappy movie. I called Lee from the movie theater...he made me scream to prove that no one else was in the theater. Lee had to one up me though by going out to eat by himself on Valentine's Day in Provo, Utah (coupleland USA). And yes...he was wearing a tie and had flowers with him. He pretended that he got stood up. He called me from the restaurant to let me know that he had beat me out as the most pathetic single person in the world. Hilarious. Yeah, we have weird ways of entertaining ourselves. So anyway, last night I went to see Lars and the Real Girl by myself. As a side note let me just highly recommend going to movies by yourself. It is liberating. It is like saying "Hi world, I am a singleton and even if I don't have anyone to do stuff with I'm not going to stop doing what I want to do... I am independent and okay with being alone!" It is nice too because you don't have to worry about someone else liking or disliking the movie you see...you can just form your own opinion. And when you go by yourself you always get to choose the movie and where you sit in the theater. So, single or not, try it sometime and let me know how it goes. Anyway, I loved the movie Lars and the Real Girl. It was way different than anything I've seen in a long time, and I like different. It was both funny and sad, which is the best combination because guess what folks, that's life...funny and sad. Here's the link for the trailer if you want to check it out... www.youtube.com/watch?v=P27EIxPRmcY. Also I haven't seen this movie yet because it is Rated R and I am waiting for it to come out on DVD so I can get it CleanFlicked...but I have heard nothing but good things about the movie Once. It has Glen Hansard from the Irish band The Frames in it. It is sort of a musical love story. It has received tons of awards and has gotten excellent reviews...Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 98%! The soundtrack for the movie is amazing. You can play one of the songs by clicking play on the Mp3 player I have on the left side of my blog under my favorites. Check out the trailer www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mIpwx5lA5I. Just wanted to share!

Free Falling

I am SO tired right now...I was up until 4 A.M. writing a paper for one of my classes. Because I would have to be up by 5 to go to work I just decided not to go to bed at all last night and just went into work early instead. I actually did pretty well with no sleep...I only had to drink one energy drink to get through the day...and I even worked a 12 hour day! Amazing what a little caffeine will do for you. I like to pull an all nighter every once in a while...just to feel young again! Anyway, I should just go to bed right now, but I don't want to mess up my sleeping schedule too much so I'll try to stay up until 9 or so tonight. So, I figured I'd add a little something to my blog while I try to stay awake because Jerry at work said my blog was getting "stale" and "lame" and that I needed to update it. SORRY BLOG FANS. I don't have anything too exciting to add right now so I just thought I would post a picture of me skydiving on my 27th birthday. It was something that I had always KIND OF wanted to do, and I just decided that I was going to do it. My brother Lee went with me and we had so much fun...we did write out wills and funeral plans before going, just in case. It wasn't even scary though once I got there. The anticipation before going to the jump site was much worse than actually jumping out of the plane. The air was freezing cold and it was hard to breathe. Don't laugh at my picture...I was going 120 miles per hour in free fall when that picture was taken. Try to imagine your face and hair at 120 mph...yeah, you would look ugly too. It was a lot of fun...not exactly what I expected, but a lot of fun. I was hoping for that stomach dropping feeling you get on roller coaster rides...I love that feeling, but you don't get it skydiving. Instead you just get this, "I am rad, I did something crazy" feeling.

The Pressure is OFF!

Yay! Someone in my family finally got married! My little brother Lee got married on September 29th. I am so excited for he and his wife Kim. They are perfect for each other...just the right amount of weirdness between the two of them (see picture above for proof). And I love my sister-in-law Kim. And I'm not just saying that because I know she reads my blog. She is just perfect for Lee and is so easy going and fun. And...she puts up with Lee and with our family which says a lot. I was always worried that one of my brothers might marry some B that I would have to TRY to like, but that isn't the case with Kim. They are so happy together and I would like to publicly thank them for taking that Darwinian Pressure to help my parents pass on their genes off of my shoulders and onto theirs. Thank you, thank you, and congratulations!

Travelaholics Anonymous...My Road to Addiction

If addicts to traveling had a support group, Travelaholics Anonymous, I would definitely be a member...maybe even the president. I love to travel and always have. The road to addiction started young. I was 13 and my cousin Lucy was finishing her mission in Australia. My Aunt Ellen was planning on going to Australia to pick up Lucy. I felt that my aunt "needed" someone to go with her. Somehow I convinced my parents to let me go. I probably had to do dishes for months or something...or just bug them enough until they said yes. I was probably a pretty annoying kid. Anyway, my mom and Grandma Fern ended up going too so there were 4 of us. We flew into Sydney, spent a few days there and then drove to Adelaide. We picked up my cousin and spent the rest of the time in the Adelaide area. I got to meet my Australian pen pal Brooke Williams and spend some time with her. It was a wonderful trip. From then on I knew I was meant to travel and an addiction was born. I was probably predisposed to my addiction but I just had to have a little sip to know I was really hooked. Unfortunately a few years passed before I was able to use my passport again. I went to Canada with my family, but you didn't need a passport at the time to go there. Right after I graduated from high school in 1997 my friend Cindy and I somehow convinced our parents to let us go visit my friend Rhona, an exchange student from Scotland. We went with the Bryson sisters...the people Rhona lived with when she was in Idaho. We spent 3 weeks in the British Isles...about a week in England and Wales, a week in Scotland, and a week in Northern Ireland and Ireland. It was my first real time away from home and I was pretty homesick at first but I got over it and had a fabulous time. My favorite was camping in Ireland...what a fun experience! In the Spring of 1999 I went to BYU Jerusalem for a term. It was absolutely one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I wish I could have stayed there for a year. It wasn't really too dangerous. I was there during a pretty peaceful time. We were able to go to all of the sites without any major problems. I did get spit on in the face, I guess for being an American...SORRY! And my friend Jill was so close to a shooting that she had blood splattered on her shirt. But, in the end nobody got hurt or killed and it was an awesome experience. I hope to have the opportunity to go back someday. It was such a great mix of fun, spiritual experiences, and cultural experiences. I learned so much...I just wish I could remember more of what I learned. We traveled all over in Israel...from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee. I have to say though that Jerusalem was my favorite. It is such an intriguing city. We also went to Jordan and Egypt...saw the ruins of Petra (on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), climbed Mount Sinai, snorkeled in the Red Sea, and went inside the Pyramids of Giza. We saw and did so much...it was amazing! In August of 2000 I took a break from "normal" life and served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For more info on the LDS church see http://www.mormon.org/ or http://www.lds.org/. I served as a missionary in the Argentina Mendoza Mission. Mendoza is a land of mountains and vineyards. It is incredibly beautiful there. The experience stretched me more than I had ever been stretched before. My comfort zone became non-existant. I worked when it was so hot I thought I'd die. I worked when it was so cold I felt comatose. I ate cow intestines. I pretended to like people's dogs. I walked miles every day to talk to strangers about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And with all of that I came to love the people there and came to better understand the love Jesus Christ has for all of us. Serving a mission was by far the absolutely most meaningful and beautiful year and a half of my life. In April of 2002, about a month after I got home from serving in Argentina, I was off to China and Hong Kong. My mom, Aunt Ellen, Grandma Fern and my cousin Audrey and I went with our Chinese friends Brother Wai, his son Benjamin and their friend Jessie. We went to Shanghai, Bejing, Xian, Guilin and then to Hong Kong. It was a great trip...we got to climb on the Great Wall of China, see the Terracotta Soldiers, take a boat ride on the Li River, eat funky food (which is nothing like American Chinese food), and buy lots of cheap stuff like CD's, pearl earrings, cheap shoes that made our feet bleed, etc. In the summer of 2003 my friend Cindy and I went to Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico with BYU travel studies. I worked 3 part-time jobs that summer while attending summer school so I could pay for the trip...I was even a telemarketer person for a couple of weeks! Desperate? Yes. I was desperate to go on a trip and especially to get back to somewhere Spanish speaking. The trip was a blast. We had a busload of about 30 people, mostly college students and we went all over Central America. I especially loved driving through the jungle of Guatemala up to Tikal. We went to tons of Mayan ruins and focused our studies on the Book of Mormon. Almost everyone on the trip got sick though (with Montezuma's revenge)...there were only 3 that didn't...and I was one of those three! Thank you to swimming in the manure infested canals of Idaho as a child for my awesome immune system! The next April (2004) instead attending my graduation from BYU, I headed off to South America with one of my mission companions, Corinne. I figure you can always graduate from college but how many times do you have an opportunity to go on a trip to South America? We mostly went back to visit people we knew while serving as missionaries in Argentina. I always wanted to go back...especially because I always told people in the mission that I would be back to visit and I wanted to be a woman of my word since so many missionaries say they will be back to visit and never go. We spent most of our time in our mission which included Mendoza, San Luis, and San Juan Argentina. It was so wonderful to see the people we knew when we were missionaries...and they remembered us! We headed east for a few days to Buenos Aires and then took the ferry from there to Uruguay to visit another one of my mission companions, Hermana Pertuso. On the way home we stopped off for a couple of days in Santiago, Chile just to see the sights. What a great trip! A few months later I was off to Peru. My friend, Cindy and I had talked about going to Peru for awhile, but unfortunately I lost Cindy to marriage before we could go. So I didn't have anyone to go to Peru with. A true traveler never gives up though, so I just went by myself with a group from Morris Murdock travel. I didn't know anyone else on the trip but I ended up having a fabulous time and meeting lots of great people. We spent most of our time in Cusco and the surrounding areas and Machu Picchu. Of course my favorite was Machu Picchu. I climed Wayna Picchu early one morning to get a great view of Machu Picchu. It was rainy and slippery that morning. The trail was pretty steep and I'm sure not too safe but it was a great hike and the views were worth it. The best moment of the trip was when one of the ladies in our tour group said to me, and I quote, "If you marry my son and put up with his crap I'll give you my house when I die." And that is no lie! In February of 2005 I had the opportunity to go to Guatemala with my Grandma and Grandpa Furness. My grandpa had been going to Guatemala for years and had a lot of friends there. I had always wanted to go with him and I finally had the opportunity to go. We visited his friends and saw several places in Guatemala. We went to Antigua and Lake Atitlan. We also went down to Esquintla and to the black sand beaches there. A lot of what we did centered around a couple of humanitarian projects that my grandpa was involved with...one with getting computers for schools in poor areas of Guatemala and another with an AIDS orphanage just outside of Guatemala City. Highlights were meeting all of my grandpa's friends, riding with the Botrans (uber-rich Guatemalans) in their bullet-proof suburban convoy with 6 body guards, and visiting the schools that received computers. It was a great experience. I so glad we went when we did because my grandpa died just 2 months after we returned. I have such great memories with my grandparents in Guatemala. In 2005 I headed to Europe with an old friend from high school, Corrine. We went to England, Holland, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. We backpacked. Well, we high-maintenance backpacked Europe. Basically, we put all of our stuff in big backpacks so it would be easier to maneuver train and subway stations. We didn't grunge it though. We only stayed in one hostel and it was a Christian Youth Hostel with private rooms. The rest of the nights we stayed in pensions or hotels. We had a ton of fun. We discovered that the hottest men in the world live in Holland, particularly Haarlem, Holland. Unfortunately they didn't give us the time of day though. Instead I got attention from a Turkish man in Munich and Corrine got attention from a 19 year old in Prague! OK, if you are actually still reading this, leave me a comment and use the word "crazy" in the comment. This is taking forever but I'm getting closer to done. OK, maybe just half through. Anyway, the next February (2006) I went back to Guatemala with my Grandma Furness. We had such a great experience that we just had to go back. We spent most of the time with our friends in Guatemala City but we also went to Antigua and up to Coban. I hadn't yet been to Coban so that was probably my favorite part, although our friend Jose Manuel who was driving is the craziest driver I have ever been with. I was surprised when we made it back Guatemala City alive. Coban is where the true Mayan people still live. It is a beautiful area. It is very lush and green. We had a fun drive listening to my IPod in the car. Jose Manuel was having fun making requests and seeing if I would have the music he wanted to listen to. I love Guatemala...it is the foreign country I have visited the most. The people there are just so wonderful and so much fun...and the country is beautiful and full of history. In May of 2006 my friends Kate, Sarah, and I went to Thailand. We got inspired to go to Thailand from watching the second Bridget Jones' Diary movie (edited of course). So we called it the "Bridget Jones' Thailand Tour 2006." We even made matching t-shirts. We had a blast. We spent time up north in Chaing Mai. We got to ride elephants and see the stretch neck people of Thailand and some of the other Hill Tribes. Then we went down to Phuket where we enjoyed snorkeling, sunbathing (especially on Phi Phi Island) and trying to secretly take pictures of Caucasian men with their Thai prostitutes. We also took a boat ride in Phangnga Bay like Bridget and Hugh Grant did. It is such a beautiful place. We spent time in Bangkok and the surrounding areas like the ancient ruins of Ayuthaya. Bangkok at night is really fun. Kate and I stayed out nearly all night the night before we left just soaking in the sights and riding around in tuk tuks (little motorcycle taxis). Good times! That fall I talked my brother Lee into going to Eastern Europe with me since he served a mission in Ukraine. We stopped off in Paris just to see the main sites. I hadn't really ever been that interested in France, we just stopped because we were flying through there so we could do it as a stopover. I loved Paris though and now it is one of my favorite cities. After Paris we flew to Budapest, Hungary. We spent a couple of days just exploring the city there. It was so nice to travel with a guy...you feel so much safer and can stay out later at night and stuff. I need to find some guy travel friends. Anyway, from Budapest we took a night train, which is so much fun for those of you who have never done it, through Slovakia and up to Poland. We stopped in Slovakia in the middle of the night so these scary Slovakian guard guys could stamp our passports and try to make us think that they weren't going to let us continue on. Poland was awesome. My favorite was going to Auschwich. I am intrigued by Nazi death camps. The very best and the very worst in people is brought out in situations like that. From Poland we took a bus in the middle of the night to Lviv, Ukraine. It was a fun experience as it was definitely not a touristy way to travel. We spent time in Lviv, Lutsk, and Kiev, Ukraine seeing the sights and visiting people Lee knew as a missionary. It was a great trip. We packed in a lot. I hope I didn't turn Lee off to traveling as he is just a beginner and it was a pretty intense trip. We made a lot of great memories though. Even on our flight back home we had fun as a man sitting near us in the plane loudly complained to the flight attendant about a couple sitting in front of him by saying "I need to be moved, we have a MAJOR body odor issue here." He was right, the people really did stink like they hadn't showered since the fall of communism. Lee and I had a good laugh about the man's lack of tact though. The next January 2007 my mom and I headed to Mexico just to get away from the yucky January weather. I really don't like the month of January very much so it was just nice to get away to where the sun was shining. We went to Cabo San Lucas. My mom really wanted to go there for some reason. I'm not a very big fan of touristy Mexico but I really wanted to get away from Utah and go on a trip. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We just relaxed at the beach, went whale watching, and took a bus up to Todos Santos to the "Hotel California." I like traveling with my mom because she's not afraid to just hop on a local city bus with me and explore. She's pretty adventurous for an old person! Then just a little over a month later my mom and I went to France for the week. My mom had never been to Europe and I was ashamed. So, for Christmas I bought her tickets to a concert she had been wanting to go to in Paris so we couldn't back out. It was the second time I had been to Paris but I didn't have very much time there the first time so it was so fun to get to know the city. We took the subway and RER trains everywhere. We saw all of the main sites...from the Louvre, to Notre Dame to Versailles. I love the gardens of Versailles. They are amazing. In another life I want to come back as Marie Antoinette...except skip the having to be married to that wimp Louis XVI and the guillotine part. Anyway, it was a fun and relaxing week in Paris. It was the first time I had ever been to Europe and just stayed in one place. I'm used to rushing around from country to country. Anyway, I'm so glad my mom likes to travel (since no one else in my family really does) and that we have been able to take several trips together. Just a couple of weeks after getting back from France I was off with my friend Katie to Africa. We stopped off for a few days in Holland and Belgium and then went onto Ethiopia and then to Kenya. It was tulip season in Holland and I am a big fan of flowers. It was so beautiful. Highlights from Holland and Belgium were: the Hot Holland men, Belgian chocolate, almost getting arrested for sneaking onto a trolley car in Amsterdam, and getting kissed by a Belgian guy...on the lips!...it must be the French influence. I have a whole entry below about the Ethiopia/Kenya part, so read on! I'm so glad for all of the opportunities I have had to travel and see the world...to meet great people and come to know other cultures and ways of living life. So, this is how and why I am a travel addict. I don't ever plan on changing either. That's all. The end.