Backpacking!

So my family and I...okay-like half the fam since most everyone is gone...went backpacking! It was a pretty rad trip. We were backpacking in Grand Gulch-home of several ancient Indian civilizations. Awesome? I think so. Here's a pic of one of the kivas:
We hiked 23 miles in 3 days. What's even more impressive than that-we drank what little water we found on the hike. It looked something like this:
Looks delicious-right? Okay...its wasn't quite that bad. But trust me: it tasted like a swamp and had many unmentionables floating around in it.
The hike was probably made most fabulous by my lovely, brand new backpack.
I know-it's beautiful. And it was super comfortable. And Eric was-and still is-super jealous of me. Trust me-he has reason to be.

Summer Fun?

Once upon a time I decided that this was going to be the most boring summer ever. And it has been. The End.

Okay, okay, life is not that bad. Actually, I'm having a pretty good summer. I mean, my social life is almost nonexistent (excluding the few awesome board game nights we've had at Matt's...who knew scrabble could be so outrageously fantastic?), but I've been doing some mediocrely awesome stuff. Here's a list of stuff that has made up my summer (3 weeks so far-I'm sure the summer will get better as it moves along...one can hope). List:

• Work. The event that takes up most my time. And, yes, I am still completing the most mundane jobs. However, I had a lovely chat with Nan, my boss, yesterday as we were cutting scrap paper into usable pieces. She thoughtfully explained to me that work is work, and even if it doesn't seem to mean anything to me, it means something to her. So, that doesn't really make my job any less tedious or any more glamorous, but at least someone appreciates the fact that I spent two hours polishing a silver tray that gave me a headache from the fumes. Also, for those of you who are unaware, I work with my Uncle Wes, and I'm pretty sure that he's aware of my mind numbing tasks. A week ago, he took me to the warehouse and had me outfitted with some gloves, safety glasses, and a smock. I spent the rest of the day cutting aluminum on his band saw. Which, by the way, I think is pretty awesome. As of now, I am much more experienced in mechanic-y things than my brother, Kyle.
  
• Experiencing BYU. Ha ha. It makes me laugh. BYU, I mean. It's just funny how different SUU and BYU are. Actually, I believe this topic deserves its own post. So, I will expound on this later.
  
• Running. Hooray for running! If you can't tell, I love to run. It's my fave. Really. There is nothing better. I have pretty much decided that running is my only true love. Well, maybe pretzels too. So, my first week of work I was running after work, around 5:30. But then I decided to try running at 6:00 in the morning instead, so that I had more time in the afternoon to do...other stuff. But, yeah-I LOVE running in the morning. Ees the best. It sounds cheesy-but running at that time is so pretty. I mean, there aren't very many people out that early and everything is just so peaceful and beautiful. But I'm going to stop talking about it because I feel very retarded talking about how the dew on the grass smells so sweet, and how the air is so crisp and...etc. etc. You get the picture. Also, this predicament may just explain my absence of a raging social life-I have to go to bed so darn early.
  
• Sewing. I'm sewing myself a quilt. And, actually, it is not moving very quickly. I sewed most of it last summer. In fact, my plan was to have it finished before I moved out-you know, clear back in August- but lots of stuff kept happening, and, well, it just never got finished. So, now the quilt pieces are sitting there, ready to be sewn together, and I am working on it very slowly. I blame the slow moving on the purpose behind it. When I started making the quilt, I decided that I'd put it in my cedar chest until I got married-then it'd serve as mine and my husband's bed spread. Cute, right? However, I am nowhere near considering marriage, so the need to finish the quilt has been depleted considerably. But I really want to start another project eventually...so I will finish someday. Hopefully.
• Cake decorating. I'm taking a cake decorating class and it is the bomb! I have been having so much fun. I love to bake-and being able to make my goods attractive makes all the difference. It is fantastic and a half. And, okay this comment is completely random but somehow extremely important, this lady in my class has a Power Ranger cake pan mold. How awesome is that? And I was looking online and there is also a Powerpuff Girl pan. And a Harry Potter one (not for me...for the friends). It is unfortunate that I am a poor college student and can't spend 20 dollars on something that's pretty unnecessary. Someday...someday.

And that is what has comprised my summer thus far. More summer-y posts to come, though, I'm sure.

Not to Complain...But...

For those of you who are unaware, I have started working at BYU in the physics department for a lady named Nan. I'm working full time- 8 to 5, with an hour lunch break.

It has been...interesting.

Now, I'm not here to complain-really. Nan was super nice to give me the job (Actually the only reason she gave it to me is because my older brother, Spencer, worked for her before and, apparently, she absolutely adored him *Thanks again, Spencer*) and to give it full-time, nonetheless.

So, really, I'm incredibly grateful.

But this is my 3rd day of work. And all I've done is clean, sort screws, and draw lines in a notebook.This is an example of the lines I've had to draw in the aforementioned notebook.(I know my paint skills are pretty much genius).
But it's worse:
The notebook contains 312 pages.
Plus I have to label the columns on each page.
Plus I have to number each row-starting with 10947.
Plus I'm pretty sure you can buy notebooks in similar formats at, say, Office Max or Staples.
Plus, even if you couldn't buy similar notebooks, you could definitely make a template on the computer and simply print them off.

I've spent more than ten hours in the last 2 1/2 days drawing in that notebook.

But yeah, I'm super grateful.