t h a n k f u l (times 7)

Seven things to be thankful for in no particular order... 1. We all got to Fortaleza safely and on time. We we're especially lucky to get Russell here on time (he came two days later then the rest of us) because he got delayed in Idaho Falls due to big time snow and fog. He was only supposed to have a 45 minute layover in Atlanta too, but luckily the flight out of Atlanta was delayed so he didn't miss it which was good since they only fly to Fortaleza every other day. And then on Russell's flight from Atlanta to Brazil some guy punched one of the flight attendants in the face so they almost had to emergency land in Miami but they decided to take him to Brazil to be arrested there instead. Haaaaa good luck getting a fair and fast trial in Brazil over the Christmas holiday!

2. And not only did we all make it safely and on time but so did ALL of our luggage (all 10 suitcases plus carry-ons)...even though we used my unlucky red luggage. I guess my luggage is only unlucky and gets lost when I really need what's in it and not when it contains things like tomato soup, Kleenex, and orange sticks.

3. And in all that luggage not one thing got broken or spilled of the 500 pounds of stuff we brought my parents. Not even the jars of dill pickles we brought...or the cocktail sauce, Christmas decorations, and other breakable things we packed. 4. And...I didn't even get busted by customs for bringing my mom and dad some milk, chocolate milk, sour cream, cheddar cheese, buttermilk, and cottage cheese. And everything stayed nice and cold in the cooler we packed. The only bad thing is that now they'll have to go through dairy withdrawals again. 5. Lee, Kim, Ty and I were on the first ever (as far as we know) direct flight from anywhere in the U.S. to Fortaleza, Brazil. We consider ourselves VERY lucky that they just added this direct flight. It saves us from having to fly all the way down to Southern Brazil from the U.S. and then all the way back up to Northern Brazil on a Brazilian airline as you used to have to do. That's about a 10 hour travel time savings (now it only takes about 18 hours) as well as about a 700 dollar savings. So yay for Delta! Before we left Atlanta they even had this big ribbon cutting ceremony for the inaugural flight. And then when we got to Fortaleza after landing they didn't pull to the gate immediately and then they got on the plane's intercom to tell us that it would be a few more minutes before we could go to the gate because they had to "baptize" our plane in honor of the inaugural flight. So we're sitting out on the tarmac and then a few firetrucks came out and doused the plane. It was pretty cool/funny. And then when we got into the airport they had this reception breakfast (see below) waiting for us. They had big dogs from Delta there all dressed up in formal wear as well as news reporters and people from the Fortaleza tourism board there to hand us each free beach bags, hats, and maps of Fortaleza. We would have felt like superstars except we were really tired and dirty from traveling.

6. I'm glad that I was able to get 195 little packages of candy from the U.S. (one for each of the missionaries in the Brazil, Fortaleza mission) made up from the candy I brought before my dad and brothers ate it all. It was quite a feat. We probably had close to 100 pounds of candy for the missionaries.

7. Thanks to my awesome new big fat carry-on that came with my luggage set I was even able to bring my mom a 220 volt, 6 quart crock pot. I've never before had a crock pot in my carry-on. I guess there's a first for everything!

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December 17, 2008... Today I am thankful that even though all of my clothes are ugly and I haven't been clothes shopping in FOREVER that I will just be with family in Brazil and won't have to worry about impressing anyone. It gives me less stress in packing...and I'm all about less stress lately.

Love...True Love...

You know love is true love when... You see someone (or something's faults) and still love them (or it). This weekend when I was in Idaho I was reminded that: 1) The roads are horrible there in the Winter. Especially the side roads. They don't plow or don't do it often enough because the roads stay covered in snow/slush longer than in Utah (or it may be because it is usually slightly warmer in Utah). Luckily usually people actually slow down, are courteous, and don't drive like idiots so we get by even with the bad roads. 2) The radio stations in SE Idaho are crappy and every time I'm home (in Idaho) I long for my Utah radio stations. Good thing I have my iPod. 3) Idaho Falls really is lacking on restaurants, big time. I notice this more ever since I sold my house and completely stopped cooking anything more complicated than Mac n' Cheese and ever since my mom moved to Brazil and I don't get her home cooking (although I do get Lee and Kim's home cooking quite often). BUT despite these three things that Idaho is lacking in I still LOVE Idaho. It is quiet there. It is peaceful. The only traffic is 17th Street at Christmastime and the Greenbelt on the 4th of July. My family is there. My extended family is there. People are nice. Life is a little slower. Life is a little less competitive (compare numbers of luxury cars in SE Idaho to SLC and you'll see what I mean...although Idaho guys do get pretty competitive with their trucks). Housing is cheaper in Idaho. I may even one day be able to buy another house. So it must be true love. I can see that Idaho is not perfect and yet I still love being there. Maybe part of it is just going where everybody (or at least somebody) knows my name...dum, dum, dum...and they're always glad I came (usually). I'm not intending this blog to turn into an Idaho Rocks Blog or anything. But I guess the worse things get for me here in Utah, the better Idaho seems. That's all.

t h a n k f u l (times 6)

I'm not doing a very good job in keeping up with my gratitude. But I can just keep trying. To catch up here are six things I'm grateful for (in no particular order).

1) I'm glad that my work is too cheap to have a work Christmas party. That way I won't do something foolish like Harvey (see below cartoon for details)...without the alcohol of course. I don't even need alcohol to do and say stupid stuff.

2) I am SO glad that I only have 30 hours of work left before going to BRAZIL for Christmas. I have never ever been so excited to have a break from work or to go to a foreign country. And other than my two mission Christmases I haven't ever spent Christmas outside of the USA so I'm excited for something different and am ready for some warm weather! And most of all I'm excited to see Al and Mil and to hang out as a whole family for the first time in six months.

3) I am grateful that I now have 7 of the 10 suitcases we are taking to Brazil packed. They'd better not lose our luggage this time or I'll be SUPER MAD since packing this stuff for Brazil has been the focus of my life for the past 2 months. And special thanks to Blog Leeches Myrlann and Aunt Ramona for your help in getting stuff together to go to Brazil...and to Russell, Lee, Kim and Ty too and anyone else I've forgotten to mention. Thank you, thank you.

4) I'm so glad that gas is cheaper than ever because I went to Idaho again this weekend...partially to get a couple more of the suitcases packed and partially for moral support (due to job stress) from my good brothers and sister-in-law and grandma.

5) And I also got a fabulous haircut from Audrey. I always feel better about myself after a haircut from Audrey. Partially because of the actual cutting of my greasy mullet and partially because of the talk that goes on during the haircuts. Many haircuts end in watching some little clip from Oprah, So You Think You Can Dance, or Dr. Phil...you know...whatever came up in conversation that day. Always therapeutic.

6) I'm glad for blogging. Because it too can be therapeutic (even if everyone who reads your blog thinks you are a bipolar weirdo because you write every little detail about everything and always give TMI...too much information). And I'm grateful for the friends that I otherwise wouldn't have or wouldn't know too well if it weren't for blogging (even if some of them are leeches). Love you all!

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December 10, 2008... Today I am thankful for WATER. I love water. It is my drink of choice. Pretty much everywhere I go my SIGG bottle full of water goes too. When I'm at a restaurant 99.9% of the time I order water. Not to be a cheapskate or health nut but because water really is my favorite beverage. Water is calorie free and usually costs nothing. Water is great. If Al Gore is right about this Global warming thing then we should have plenty of water in the near future with all the ice melting. California will probably be covered in it. But we'll have plenty to drink (yum, yum) as long as the temperature doesn't get too hot and it all evaporates. But if that happens then it will rain and we can gather the rain to drink (they do that in Australia even now). So either way I think we're all okay. Unless of course the world's population grows too fast...you know the human body is about 60% water. Good thing China has pretty strict population control. And...most of us are extremely blessed enough to have clean, running water in our houses, places of work, stores, churches, etc. We even have both hot and cold water. We don't have to walk long distances for water and then carry it back to where we live on our heads. We can take a hot shower. We can wash our clothes and dishes. We are so lucky. In places on the earth where people aren't so lucky they spend a big part of their days in the pursuit of water. Walking to get water, purifying water, and heating water. And if they don't have clean water they spend a lot of their time sick from waterborne illnesses. I'm glad that I have easy access to clean running water but I am also glad I've met people who don't...that way maybe I won't forget what a blessing it is. But if I do...there's always the occasional power outage to remind me. Yay for water!

t h a n k f u l (times 5)

I'm not ungrateful, just really busy, but I'm five days behind on gratitude so here's a list of five things I'm grateful for. Sorry for the gratitude overload. In no particular order... 1) GAS PRICES...Holy crappoly I paid $1.41 for 88 octane gas (that is usually considered mid-grade) this weekend when I was in Idaho. For some reason I think gas is cheaper in Idaho (probably because everything is better in ID) so I haven't seen prices that low in Utah, but hey, anything under 2 bucks is good as far as I'm concerned. So yay for China and India (and everybody else) cutting back on fuel usage big time. We need to get those guys to always cut back. 2) THE AWESOME NEW TREADMILLS WITH INDIVIDUAL TVs THEY JUST GOT AT MY GYM!...So now I can channel surf while working out. And since I don't have cable at home I now no longer will miss out on watching shows such as: Pregnant and Paralyzed, Mermaid Girl, shows about dwarfs, shows about fat people, shows where trashy people yell at each other, shows where people yell at each other while cooking, some wedding show with a host who looks like Sloth from the Goonies, cheesy Telenovelas (Soaps) in Spanish, ETC! I flipped through the channels a couple of times before I realized that watching Seinfield, Simpsons and Everybody Loves Raymond was my best bet for not feeling more stupid and sad for Americans everywhere then I did before starting my workout. SERIOUSLY, what is wrong with TV these days? But hey, I'm super grateful for the individual TVs on the treadmills. 3) I'M GRATEFUL THAT THIS WEEKEND I WAS ABLE TO GET 3 OF THE 10 SUITCASES WE ARE TAKING TO MY PARENTS IN BRAZIL PACKED. Yay for me! This weekend I was thinking about how much fun it is to bring my parents stuff from the US and how much easier it is to shop for my parents for Christmas now that literally to them a can of Campbell's Tomato Soup could be a legitimate and appreciated stocking stuffer...and I started to wonder why it seems so much fun to pack all this stuff for them (even though I'm super busy and stressed with school, work, finding a new place to live, finding a new job, etc.) And then I realized...in some way taking stuff to my parents in Brazil feels almost like sneaking contraband to someone in prison and sneaking equals exciting. No offense to Brazil or anything but life there is different and they are missing a lot of staple foods, like chocolate chips for example. And although I can't change the reality my parents being in Brazil for 2 and a half more years it sort of feels like sneaking them contraband in the form of peanut butter, root beer extract, taco seasoning, marshmallows, cheddar cheese, and American candy, is the best thing I can do to help make their stay more comfortable and fun. 4) IDAHO. Need I say more? Okay, I will. I LOVE Idaho. I went there this weekend to visit Lee, Kim, Russ, my Grandma and others, and let me just tell you...the second I crossed over the border the headache I'd had for the past week went away, I suddenly stopped grinding my teeth, I felt excited about life, etc! In Idaho I have: no job, no school, no stress, no hate (just love and peace), lots of family...it is wonderful! I'm just a different person when I'm in ID. Oh how I miss it. And now thanks to number 1 on today's gratitude list I'll be able to afford to go to ID a whole lot more! Yay for recessions! 5) THOSE NEW PEPPERCORN RANCH SUNCHIPS. They are delicious. Basically it is like Cool Ranch Doritos breeds with Original (plain) Sunchips and now we have one more yummy snack.

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December 4, 2008... Today I am grateful that: a) Tomorrow is FRIDAY (because work is dragging me down into the pit of misery and endless woe) and... b) Due to the awesome skills I developed as a youngster, by messing around with the Microsoft Paint program for hours on end, I was able to fuzz out the full male frontal nudity on the above cartoon so my blog can stay at a PG-13 rating...just bad enough to stay interesting but good enough you can watch it (or read it) with your mom.

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December 3, 2008...

Today I am thankful that the luggage I've been eying at Dillard's for the past couple of months is now 70% off! And who said that recessions were all bad?

P.S. It isn't the luggage in the picture...the luggage I've been eying is this cool blue-green color. Hopefully if I buy this new luggage my lost luggage curse will leave with my old red stuff. Only time will tell.

t h a n k f u l

December 2, 2008... Today I am thankful for the lessons and council given to us by a wonderful man who passed away last night. I know, I know... just last night I was thankful that the B.O. smelling car wipes I bought were cheap and tonight I am actually thankful for something serious. I guess I'm just a person of contrast...that's how I roll. ANYWAY, I just have to say that I love, love, love Elder Wirthlin's most recent conference talk. It for sure was my favorite talk from this conference. And his April conference talk was pretty sweet (as in cool) as well. He's always been one of my favorite apostles (and yes, I'm pretty sure it is okay to have favorite apostles as long as you still listen to the council of your non-favorites). He was just such a humble, quiet, and kind man...basically my complete opposite, which always made me intrigued by him and made me like him. Anyway, I'm sad to see him go but am happy for him. Oh, and by the way, I just for the first time paid attention to Elder Worthlin's middle name...just like President Hinckley. So I did a little research and found out that both Elder Worthlin's mom and President Hinckley's moms were Bitners. So were they sisters...cousins...distant relatives? What's up with that? Anybody know?

t h a n k f u l

December 1, 2008... Today I am thankful that the Four Peaks Protectant Wipes I bought to dust my car's interior with only cost me $1.98. I am grateful that they were so cheap because then I won't feel as bad about throwing them away after only using them once. Why would I throw them away you ask? BECAUSE THEY SMELL LIKE B.O.! My car has gotten a little dusty lately so while I was at Walmart tonight I decided to get some interior car cleaning wipes. Unfortunately I made the mistake of buying the cheap brand. Right when I got out to my car I opened up the pack and started cleaning. Then all of a sudden the image of a sweaty guy in a wife beater walking out of Gold's Gym came to my mind. Oh and by the way the guy was spitting too. I don't know why the guys leaving the gym are always spitting but they are so that was in my little vision too. And then I wondered why all of a sudden I was thinking of gross, spitting, sweaty guys in wife-beaters. That's when I realized that the smell of the protectant wipes brought that imagery to my mind. Great. Now my new car smells like B.O. But, in keeping with my thankful attitude I'm glad the wipes were cheap!

t h a n k f u l

November 30, 2008... Today I am grateful for the broken clock in church. The clock in our chapel has been broken for months it seems. The nice thing about that is that today, I think because of our broken clock, we got out of church 20 minutes early! It was awesome. I think what happened is that the speakers weren't sure of what time it was and they rushed through their talks, not wanting to go over in time (as all good speakers should avoid doing). It was great. I mean I only was at church for two hours and 40 minutes but got credit for three hours! Yay for broken clocks! However, I am glad I'll be out of town next week for Fast and Testimony Meeting. That kind of meeting could be dangerous with broken clock.

t h a n k f u l

November 29, 2008... Today I am glad that SLC has an Ethiopian restaurant. Even if it is in West Valley City (scary) and has no atmosphere. The food is good and the Ethiopian lady that runs it is super nice. This is a picture of injera. It is what most Ethiopians eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner...literally. It looks really sick but it is actually really good. And it has been said that I am a picky eater...just because I don't like mushrooms, onions, or meats where you can see the fat...I don't think that makes me a picky eater, but whatever. So you can trust me on this injera thing because I don't eat sick stuff. My favorite injera filling is the one with cabbage and carrots and potatoes. I don't know what it is called but it is delish. Especially if you get one of the meat fillings too and can sort of mix them together. Yum. And I especially love that the whole eating with your hands thing is not only okay to do, but it is the way injera is meant to be eaten. And I'm grateful for my brother Ty. He and I went out for injera Saturday night. I am especially glad that he was there since the Ethiopian lady and I had some communication problems and he could step in with his Amharic and help me order. Here's a picture of Ty I took while talking to him on Skype. Ty likes Skype. Ty is a funny kid. He and I talk more and do more together then we used to...since we are both temporarily orphans and temporarily (hopefully) stuck in Utah. And since I've been spending more time with this big little kid lately I have realized how many funny little things he says. I wish I had written them all down. You know how some people have a section for quotes from their kids on their blogs? Well, I'm thinking of adding an area for Ty quotes on mine. Maybe you'd have to know Ty for these quotes to be funny but here are just a few I can think of to share. Tyler to me before eating Sunday dinner at my grandma's house right after I got back from spending most of the summer in South America. Ty: "Hey Becca, guess what?" Me: "What?" Ty: "While you were gone I caught a grape shot out of an airgun in my mouth." Wow, first of all what were my brothers doing shooting grapes out of guns? And second of all I guess Ty almost choked on that grape so I'm glad he thought it was a cool event in his life and one he just couldn't wait to tell me. Congratulations to Tyler on being the only person I know that has caught a grape shot out of an airgun in his mouth. Here's another one. Tyler was telling me about a recent date he went on and how they had gone to see the movie WALL-E. Me: "So, what did you think of the movie?" Ty: "It was okay except for all the propaganda." Me: "What propaganda?" Ty: "The movie was full of propaganda to try and make me do things like recycle and exercise. I didn't like that." And just last night after eating Ethiopian, Ty and I went to JcPenny to get my dad some more short sleeved white shirts. While we were there Tyler was trying on coats and wasn't having much luck since any coat that fits him around has sleeves that are too short and for him to get a coat with sleeves that are long enough he has to buy one or two sizes too big around. After unsuccessfully trying on several coats he turned to me and said, "I guess I'm just a human oddity."

t h a n k f u l

November 28, 2008

Today I am thankful for a slow day at work. I mean being busy at work is good most of the time because it makes the torture seem to go faster. But sometimes it is nice to not have something to do every single second and have to run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Today I'm glad that people like to wait until after the holidays to find out what is wrong with them.

t h a n k f u l

My SWB (Singles' Ward Bishop) challenged us all to write down somewhere one thing we are thankful for each day from Thanksgiving to New Years. And since, as an older single woman, I am now more likely to be killed by a terrorist then have posterity, I figured I wouldn't bother write my thankfulness in a journal (as my journal will most likely end up at DI someday when my great-nieces and nephews find me dead and alone half eaten by wild dogs and clean out my house by calling in the DI truck). So I figured I'd share these things with you now. Although maybe I'll keep a more serious and less sarcastic gratitude list in my journal...you know, just in case somebody does care about my history someday. So here you go...I've got to catch up for the past few days so I'll do several posts today. November 27th, 2008... Today I am grateful for "Thanksgiving in a Box." Because when you have to be working at a job you hate instead of eating yummy food with a family you love at least there is Thanksgiving in a Box. Seriously, Marie Callender covered all the basics...except pumpkin pie of course (which is funny because I thought she was way famous for her pies). I'm sure I can survive one year of my life without pumpkin pie though.

And honestly, for a TV dinner, it wasn't too bad. It tasted better than it looks.

Chris Martin is a Runt!

Last Saturday night Lee, Kim, Ty, and I went to the Coldplay concert. I LOVE Coldplay. They are probably in my top 10 favorite bands. I just love their music. In the past several years they have almost become too popular for their own artistic good, but I still had to go to their concert when I heard they were coming to SLC. I can't remember a time when I didn't love Coldplay but I do remember when I really fell in love with their music. It was the summer of 2003. I purchased their album A Rush of Blood to the Head right before my friend Cindy and I headed on an adventure to Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico with BYU Travel Studies. This was a year or so before I bought my first iPod so I was sporting this awesome travel CD player (with 40 second skip protection, a must have for Central American roads). Pretty much everyone on the trip (except me and two other people) got Montezuma's Revenge right off. So I spent the majority of the bus rides just looking out the window of the bus and listening to my CD player since all the sick people were either doped up on medicine or up front puking all over each other. I must have listened to the album A Rush of Blood to the Head literally a hundred times on that trip. I was just at a point in my life where I needed to start over and as I rode the bus through the jungles of Central America listening to that Coldplay album over and over I felt like the long jungle drives and awesome Coldplay music helped purge me from the events of the past year and helped me feel like I could start all over again. Oh, the power of good music. Anyway, I just really like Coldplay and feel like so many of their songs just resonate with me. HOWEVER, now that I've seen them in concert I'm pretty sure that I am much more in love with the music of Coldplay then I am with the band because: 1) Chris Martin (lead singer) is a little runt who wears those super tight, hardly stay up on you girls' pants. And I'm sorry...I know those kinds of pants are way in style, but HELLO Chris, you are in your 30's now(and have two kids)...time to lose the girly teenage pants. 2) Lee just about ruined the concert for me when he told me right before it started that Chris Martin is a big Obama fan and prior to the elections made a big deal about Obama before the start of his concerts. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion I guess (even if you aren't an American...Chris Martin is a Brit...okay he might have duel citizenship due to his marriage to Gwenneth Paltrow, but still...) but I'm not a big fan of celebrity endorsements...for either a Republican or Democratic candidate. Elections are supposed to be elections, not popularity contests. But I guess even since the days of student council elections and promises to bring more vending machines to the school we've all known that elections mostly are popularity contests. Either that or evil conspiracies to buy people's votes. I'm guilty of it myself. When I ran for Student Council in high school I bought the cowboy vote by helping the "head cowboy" with his algebra homework. And I won the stoner vote by giving them helium balloons from the election assembly so they could suck out the helium. 3) Really, although I still LOVE, LOVE, LOVE their music I feel like I've been to concerts where the musicians put on a better show. Like the awesome Arcade Fire concert I went to a couple of years ago or the Trans Siberian Orchestra (aka Forgotten Carols on crack) concert that Ty and I went to a few weeks ago. So, in conclusion it was a good concert but for the price we paid for the tickets I shouldn't have had to watch 31 year-old Chris Martin pull up his girly pants the whole time. We went out to eat right before the show with Kim's sister and her friends. We went to an Italian restaurant in the Gateway. I can't remember what it was called but the food was good and there was a very cute waiter there.

Ty and I at the concert.

Lee and Kim mocking the couple in their 50's sitting a couple of rows in front of us. The lady was sitting on the guy's lap for awhile. If my mom sat on my dad's lap at a concert as 50 year-olds, I'd have to punch them both in the face.

We were up pretty high but still payed way too much for our tickets.

When we got back to our car this little pile of clothes (including a headband???) was on the lawn near our car. I don't even want to know...

The end.

The Engaged Committee

Okay, okay, everybody has been asking me about this "Engaged Committee" I mentioned a couple of posts back. I'm not engaged and never have been (except for a fun little two month FAKE engagement one summer at BYU). So because I'm not engaged I have no idea what engaged people do. I do know however that the committee is real. I have been in Sacrament Meetings where people have been sustained as members of the Engaged Committee. No kidding.

I'll do a little research on Sunday at church about the committee and I'll let you know if I find out anything more, but here's what I know for now. Basically as soon as someone in our ward gets engaged they get released from their current calling in the ward and get put on the Engaged Committee. This is probably due to the fact that we all know that people that are engaged to be married are no good to anyone except for the person they are marrying. So I think they just put them on the Engaged Committee so that 1)they can not feel bad about not contributing anything to the ward and 2) other people won't be stuck working in callings with engaged people who aren't doing their calling because they are engaged.

I think they maybe encourage the engaged people to go on double dates and do activities with some of the other engaged couples in the ward...probably just to try to keep them out of trouble. Other than that I don't think they do anything except that they aren't taking up a place in a calling that they wouldn't be doing anyway.

So no, it isn't some committee you can join when you feel you are ready to get married and hoping to be engaged soon. If that were the case I think that every girl in the ward would be on the committee and not a single guy would be. And no, it isn't some committee where matchmaking takes place or anything like that. You have to get yourself engaged and then it is sort of like the retirement home of the Singles' Ward because you have made it to the ultimate goal of all Singles' Wards and you can therefore retire for awhile.

So there you have it. That's all I know for now and I think that is really all there is to it. If my research on Sunday gives me any new info I'll let you all know.

Google Game

Okay this is supposed to be an image tag. Basically you use Google Image Search to find images to answer the questions...without using words except for the questions you are supposed to answer. But, anyone that knows me at all knows that I can't really do anything without words. So I'm going to cheat and do it my own way. But, if you want to really see how this tag is supposed to be done you can go here to see it done right. Oh, and I tag my MOM, my Aunt Nancy, the Battskies, my cousin Crystal, and anyone else who wants to do it. But go to Geri's Blog first so that you can do it right and not follow my wordy example.

Hello, my name is Becca and I am... years old.

This is a map of the places I've been...

This is a place I really want to go...ANTARCTICA. But it is so cold there and so expensive to go that I'm having a hard time finding anyone to go with me. So, if any of you out there want to go to Antarctica with me, let me know...

Jerusalem is one of my favorite places in the world. I would live there if I 1)spoke Hebrew or Arabic 2)had a job there 3)could convince my family to live there and 4)wasn't afraid of getting bombed on a bus. I LOVE Jerusalem despite all its problems. There is just a very cool feeling in that city. Can't really explain it...just love it. I'm sure those of you who have been there know what I'm talking about.

My favorite object is...a FRESH Sharpie. There's nothing better in life than an assortment of colors of fresh Sharpies.

My favorite food (right now) is homemade chicken noodle soup. Maybe it is just because I am really craving my MOM's cooking...or anything homemade for that matter. Now that I don't have my own house I never cook anymore...and I mean never.

My favorite animal is a Suffolk Sheep. I'm not a big animal fan period, but since I grew up with sheep I like them. I also wouldn't mind having a few beautiful horses running wild around my house...but only if I was rich enough to have someone else take care of them and I could just ride them like once a month or something.

My favorite color is SEA FOAM GREEN...at least that's what I think you call this color. I love everything this color...clothes, dishes, purses, towels, etc. I love the car in this picture too.

I Fo Fo Falls (that's how I used to say Idaho Falls) is where I was born. Not at the Temple or in the river or anything but somewhere near there. I think in an old hospital that now no longer exists.

I currently reside in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hopefully not for the rest of my life though. I mean it is okay here, but it isn't Idaho.

My current pet is NONE...and most likely always will be NONE. I'm not a big pet person. And hey, I don't even want to hear it about this dead dog picture. I didn't 1)kill the dog or 2)take the picture. I just found it on Google Images. And just because I don't want a pet doesn't mean I'm into animal cruelty or anything. Just ask my cousin Garrett who I almost stabbed with spear after he stabbed a bunch of frogs with a spear when we were kids. I love animals. I just don't want them near me.

Pistachio frozen yogurt mixed with white chocolate almond frozen yogurt with cookie dough mixed in is my PAST LOVE as it is no longer available. Oh how I miss it. My heart is broken.

My best friend is ZERO...NON-EXISTANT...NADA...NINGUNO. It is just too much work to make BEST FRIENDS and then lose them to marriage and have to start all over. Putting all your eggs in one basket with one best friend is just too dangerous. Unless of course you are married to them so they are stuck with you forever. So I have decided that best friends are overrated and just to stick to having good friends...and to try to have LOTS of them. Like my Spinster travel buddies spread all over the world and my family and extended family. Oh, and the picture of my family wasn't from google images. I cheated yet again.

My nickname is...

But my REAL name is...

My first job was at...

And this...

is what I'm doing right now.

The end.