Counting...

Dear readers, the title is not referring to Christmas. It is actually referring to the fact that Kyle has been out on the mish for

A WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR!!!

Crazy, I know.

Kyle is pretty much my best friend considering the fact that he is basically my other half. We shared the womb together, after all. How much closer can you get?

I hope you all know Kyle, cause he really is the bomb. I mean, he makes some pretty lame-o jokes sometimes and he also has this really monotone voice when he just doesn't care about talking to people.

But he also is the funniest person I've ever seen on caffeine (1 mountain dew did him in...he was bouncing off walls...later he tried to explain that he was "just really excited" which is false. it was the caffeine).

And (as whitney and spencer know) he is highly entertaining when playing word games, like Boggle (he came up with the word "tam."
"Kyle," we told him, "Tam isn't a word."
"Yes it is," he insisted. "You know, like the color.").

And his knowledge is very widespread (before the 2008 elections, a couple of us were discussing the candidates. Kyle turned to me and said, "So Romney's the black one, right?").

As you can see, I love Kyle for fifty bazillion reasons and then some. I am so proud of him for serving the Lord. I am slightly jealous of Croatia for getting to keep him for two years, but I know that he is bringing about lots and lots of good (even if it is mainly through t-shirts, football, hiking, and lemon meringue pies).

Oh. And for the record: he writes me the longest letters.


See what I mean about us pretty much being the same person?

PHEW!

This is me.
Currently.

For the past week two weeks (anyone who's experienced college knows that the week before finals is hecka more stressful than the actual week of finals) I have been in hell (ah-hem...'scuse the language...but seriously. My stats friend and I decided that hell would be a never ending cycle of statistical problems and analyses).

And for some reason I had six finals this past week.

Six.

And facebook was completely killing me.

THEY SAID: One final down, two to go!
I THOUGHT: You only had three finals? Ya pansy!

THEY SAID: Finally finished with the finals! I'm ready for the break!
I THOUGHT: Curse you and your early partying! *while sobbing in the background*

THEY SAID: Yay! Last final is over!
I THOUGHT: mmhmmm. It's Thursday night and I still have two finals to go...

But after I cursed for a little while I thought of my other friends. You know, pretty much everyone else in the world who doesn't go to SUU. All those people have finals next week. And here I am being done. Completely done (okay, I'll stop rubbing it in). But, really, who am I to complain? I've got it pretty good, you know, being done and all...anyway...

So here's my shout out to all you guys who've still got finals to worry about.

I made it through.

You can too!

That rhymed and sounded reeeeaaaaalllly cheesy....but, I'm just spreading the love, right?
*picture is not my own...but I thought it was stinking cute so...this is another way of sharing the love? I don't know...but really...good luck!

Yes. Another Hike.

so...I'm outrageously busy this week and the coming week (thank you, finals...and all the teachers who believe that I only take one class a semester: theirs). I love writing to y'all (okay, so here's the thing-I always want to say y'all, cause it's so much quicker, but I feel like you have to be either a)Whitney or b)obviously southern to say y'all effectively...but I really just don't care so I'm gonna go ahead and say it) and I have a BUNCH to write about...but I'm thinking you're gonna have to be patient, seeing as how I have TONS the next two weeks and absolutely NOTHING the following four weeks. Check back in december and you'll be getting all sorts of posts about thanksgiving and family and random thoughts and ramblings of boredom. But until then, enjoy this post :)

If you didn't catch the drift, my family (myself included) LOVES to hike. We love it. I used to hate it. But thankfully I was converted to an all consuming passion of hiking.

And it has treated me well.

We go on some pretty awesome adventures. And this last trip to Robber's Roost was no different.

Robber's Roost is this awesome slot canyon that got its name from the fact that Butch Cassidy and his gang hid there. Cool, huh? Anyway. Unfortunately for you (but quite fortunate for me) there is no hilarity in the way of bee stings on this post. So I will just give you the pics and a short explanation. A'ight?

This is Mike. When I invited all the neighbor boys to come on the hike(there are 10 of them), plus my roomies (3), Mike was the only one to agree.
What wimps.
So it was just Mike and I in the car for a total of 10 hours.
I think it is fairly safe to say that he now knows most of my significant life details
(like the story of the a certain guitar ballad
and the fact that I basically always have to go to the bathroom).

This is my sister Heather. She is basically a model.
I mean, she is a model.
In this picture.

Some crazy awesome spidering that had to go down.
Otherwise, we would have died.
And people: There was some insane mud on this hike.
Spidering + mud= H-E-double hockey sticks!!!!
Also Known As: Hell
Trust me.

Cute! More spidering.
Oh, this is such a great shot of everyone's rear.
And see what I'm saying about the mud? On my camera. Curse.

Mason. So hot right now.
But really. He's like a monkey. Pretty much.

This is my family.
Our mom says we're special.
Ha ha. Okay...she didn't really say that. But I'm sure she thinks it.
Except Heather. She looks pretty normal.

Sister picture!
For cute!

Cousin picture!
Haven't you met cousin Matt Park and cousin Tanner?
.......
Really? Tsk tsk. That's a shame.

More mud.
On me.

This was our lunch break.
Bring on the beef log
(just FYI: that's the Nott's term. I think it sounds gross.
REAL hikers say summer sausage).

We are so good at teamwork!

Okay, sorry this was kind of all over. But really, I ought to be studying right now. Good thing I love y'all so much that I was willing to throw this up here so you could start the conversion process right away.

Remember, folks: hiking=good.

Like true love good.

P.S. update from last post: I am still thoroughly digging my boots. Thanks for asking.

Tsk. Tsk.

I have officially become a terrible person.

Actually, I am kind of in the middle. Half of me thinks that I am truly awful.

The other half could care less.

And so, here I am in this torn state, unsure of what I am and what is to become of me. Let me explain.

Ever since I was 14 my parents forced encouraged me to buy my own stuff.

Clothes
Shoes
Accessories
etc.
(pretty much everything I wanted
minus food and toothpaste,
you know, the basics).

Which I think is actually a pretty good idea. I appreciated my stuff a lot more than if my parents were forking out everything to me. I'm really grateful they did this.

And for the past 6 years (since this work-and-pay-for-it-yourself dealio started) I have been doing a freaking good job. If I do say so myself. I mean,

• I've kept a steady job since I turned 16.
• I studied my face off to get a good scholarship for school.
• I've shopped all the sales and bargains and thrift shops (although, this is more about me loving the outrageously awesome deal I'm getting...)
• I mooched lots of food and toilet paper off my parents whenever I returned from school for a weekend.
• I lovingly take and use hand-me-downs.

Really. I do a good job. And, currently, I'm doing pretty okay in the financial department (let's just not consider how much grad school will cost...).

My frugality is working out for me so far.

Except that a month or two ago I saw these boots.

And I really wanted them.

I tried to stifle my desire to have them. Really. I tried hard (you know, minus searching the internet for them more than a handful of times to gaze at their beauty).

One side of me was saying:
"You don't really need those."
"What if you want to spend that money elsewhere."
"HA. forty bucks? I'm waaay too cheap for that."
"Material wants. Material wants."
"This will make you happy for a day...but will it make you joyous for a lifetime?" (okay, I didn't really think that one...my thoughts aren't that righteous)

But the other side was thinking:
"Oooooh...so cute."

And, somehow, the other side won. So. I bought the boots. Technically, they were only $39.95. I didn't even have to pay for shipping and handling.

And while a fraction of me is still thinking the money could have/ should have gone somewhere a lot more useful, the other part has already fallen madly in love.

Just don't tell my dad. He'd be terribly disappointed.

Hiking Adventures in Cedar

I'm pretty sure I am such a slacker. This post should have been up here a month ago. But, alas, I am a college student...taking 18 credits, working 12-15 hours a week, volunteering some, and maintaining a healthy social life...thus, I hardly have time to blog. But this adventure really was pretty epic and I figure it's better late than never, yes?

Here's the story:

SUU used to have this lovely thing called a Fall Break. We would get a weekend off-usually Thursday and Friday-during October (yes, this break is specifically for all the hicks here in Southern Utah who count down the days before the deer hunt begins). That Fall Break is a much needed hiatus in the mass of drudgingly long and painful school days between Labor Day and Thanksgiving. However, SUU decided to hate us this year and take away our Fall Break.

Lame. Lame. Lame.

However (and this is a big however), my family is pure awesomeness. They figured that since I couldn't come to them, they would come to me. I know! They really do love me! They came on a Thursday and picked me right up from class to go eat at this Thai restaurant in town (yeah...I got a spiciness level of 4 out of 10 and I thought I was going to die-snot and tears were flowing, I tell you). I had to go to work after that, but I joined them that night for delish dutch oven. The next day, after I got out of my classes, we hiked Cascade Falls. It was super beautiful and fun (forgot the camera...sorry). More incredible dutch oven for dinner. Plus friends and family. It was so good.

Our Saturday hike was the truly epic part, so that's where I'll spend most of my time. We hiked Rattlesnake Creek/Ashdown Gorge, totaling around 11 miles. The hike was so pretty. I loved it.

Before I present the pictures I'll tell you the story of the hike. Trust me, you'll want to read this one:

I can't say it enough, the hike was really just breathtakingly gorgeous. My family usually hikes in the red rock area. And this one had red rock but it was mostly mountainous terrain (oh man, I sound so earth-y right now!). So we were about three miles into the hike when we crossed through a field and started descending the mountain through this woodsy-ish area. The trail was fairly narrow so we were going single file. I was second in line, with about7 or 8 people directly behind me.

Right before the trail made a sharp turn to the right, I glanced down at my feet and noticed a few bees swarming around a quarter sized hole opening in the dirt. Honestly, I should have said something. But, seriously, doesn't everybody hone in on potentially dangerous things no matter how obscure they might be??

Apparently not because a few steps down the trail my friend Mike started stringing together some Mormon swears.

"Dang it! Fetch! I just got freaking stung by a bee! Crap!" (yeah, I haven't heard "fetch" since 2002 either...but he said it).

Heather immediately assumed that Mike was lying. "Whatever," she insisted. I couldn't tell either way so I just kept on hiking. That is, until Heather started with the screaming. She ripped off her backpack and threw it at Mike. Then she started tearing at her clothes.

It was then that we all realized we had a swarm of bees after us. So we started sprinting down the trail, praying that we were somehow faster than our attackers. After running for a little bit, I stopped to make sure Heather was okay. Cause that's the kind of awesome sister that I am. But as we were looking at her back and Mike's knee (where they had been stung), I felt this forceful, stinging prick.

Right. On. My. Butt.

I don't think I've screamed as loud or danced as vigorously as I did then. My arms were flailing everywhere while I screamed and shouted at the top of my lungs. After calming down, I got the intruder out of the lining of my shorts. My lovely mother checked my behind for the stinger, but found nothing. It just hurt. A lot.

Luckily, Mike, Heather and I were the only ones to get stung. But we had to hike the remaining 8 miles of the hike with our stings pulsating with pain. And, because of the location of my sting, I was able to endure plenty of teasing about my rear end. Here's one of my favorites:

Pa: This trail is getting pretty narrow.
Me: Yeah. Good thing none of us are really fat.
Mike: Well, except for your left cheek.
Me: Oh my gosh. I hate you, Mike.
Pa: Kim, just turn the other cheek.

Despite the fact that they were referring to my butt, it was pretty funny. Anyway. On to the pictures!

This was at the first of the hike. The view was spectacular.

This is my roommate Amanda. I love her.
And also, this is my brother Eric. I love him too.
Eric, in true Eric-fashion, called Amanda "Amber"
or "Amy"
or "Ashley"
the entire hike.
I'm pretty sure he just wanted to get some.
He's pretty skillful at that.
Obviously.
I think it's true love.

See the old man in the rock?
I am totally kissing him...well, his chin.
You get the point.
Clearly, I'm very skilled at getting some as well.

This is my Cedar City family. Well, like a quarter of them
(the other ones are wimpy and wouldn't have made it on the hike).
But these ones are pretty rockin'. I love them.

These are members of my real family. I love them even more.
They are so incredibly awesome.

Sigh.

Family is the best.

And I get to see them this weekend too.
And it will probably take me a month to write about that trip as well.
Oh well.
Good story, right?

Oh, the Town of Cedar

A week or two ago I went on a date. As my date and I were talking he asked me a very interesting question.

"What's your favorite thing about Cedar?" he asked.

And he was serious.

Honestly, I didn't know what to say. At that moment I could only think of all the things I hate about Cedar. Like how there's only one and half decent radio stations. And how it's always outrageously windy here. And how the running here sucks (everywhere you run is uphill; there's no avoiding it). And how Lin's (the local grocery store) no longer gives SUU students the 10% off discount.

And to tell you the truth, I can't remember what I told him was my favorite thing. Because I could not for the life of me think of one.

However, I have since pondered this question and, as of today, I have a few things to add to my "Why I (for some weird reason) Really Do Love Cedar" List. Here they are:

This morning I woke up, threw on my running shoes and went running (yes, up several large hills today...no wonder my calves are so awesome). Now, on any given day I might see a tractor or two on my run. But today I saw like 15. I was a little surprised by this outrageous number until I got to main street and saw this:

Yes, in the hickishness that is Cedar they have an annual Livestock and Heritage Festival. As a part of the celebrations (?) they herd a mass of nearly 1,000 sheep more than two miles down main street. Sure, it creates hell for anyone wanting to drive somewhere, but who cares? At least we are all getting an opportunity to get "a glimpse into the Old West."

But seriously. A sheep parade? Who would've thought? It's so ridiculously random that it just works. Disclaimer: Cedar is nothing like Lehi. As many of you know, Lehi is overrun with sheep. This morning was my first time seeing a sheep in Cedar. So, really, Lehi is a way more hickish town than Cedar is by a long shot.

After my lovely sheep-filled run I showered and then my roomie, Amanda and I headed over to Lin's to purchase some items while not receiving a discount. After our groceries were in the car we started to drive home. But then we remembered the Ye Olde Catholic Thrift Shoppe.

We have been wanting to visit here for some time but they close at 4 so we never really had a good chance. But today we remembered and it was around noon, so we had plenty of time. Who knew what kind of wondrous things we'd find. I got two sweaters, two coats and a skirt. And all of that was only $5 total. (If I get bored I'll take pics of the finds and post them here.) Anyone who knows me knows that I love second hand stores (mostly because they are super cheap. Plus if you don't get anything good, at least you get a good laugh for the items that are there...meaning that at some point in time, someone actually wore it). But this one was pretty dang fantastic. And it is definitely on my favorites list. I would even go so far as to say that it's better than Cedar's DI. I know. Crazy. But true.

Another thing that Cedar does a pretty good job on, is it's sunsets. Seriously. Can't get better than this:

BYU vs. SUU: The Attack of the High Schoolers

I has been awhile since we compared our two lovely educational institutions: BYU and SUU. I figured that another comparison was loonnng overdue. So, here we are, examining yet again.

It is a common known fact that college campuses across the United States are used for a lot of things outside the realm of continued education and learning. Campuses are used by non-student/faculty people for forums, meetings, reunions, conventions, symposiums, parties, and concerts. These non-student/faculty people are more than welcome on campuses. I mean, heck, it's their tax dollars (or tithing money) that goes toward making campuses even better, right? However, I believe the majority of college students/faculty would agree when I say that there's one group of people we'd rather not see on campus.

And that group is high schoolers. (duhn Duhn DUHN!!!! *screams*)

And the thing is that I don't even have to explain. Just that title gives enough explanation as to why we don't really enjoy their company. But I will continue...because, after all, we are comparing here.

We'll start with BYU. The mass of high schoolers on BYU's campus can be seen from May through August. These kids run around shouting obnoxious songs and playing ridiculous games. They flirt unashamedly with each other. The boys escort. The girls primp and bat their eyes. It is customary to find a Crush of the Week (affectionately known as a COW), after all, this is where John Bytheway found his eternal companion. And who knows, maybe these 14 to 18 year old kids are finding their's too. This wonderful program is Especially For Youth.
As outrageously annoying these beaming youth are, the adolescents that plague SUU's campus are far worse. They are the High School Shakespeare Competition, which, I think, can be adequately portrayed in the accurate diagram below:
Basically, the horror of the second weekend in October on SUU's campus is created by a Shakespeare/Drama/Theater/Singing/Acting crowd. (oh, the horror!)

I know.

What could be worse?

I can't think of anything.

These kids run around campus screaming lines from Macbeth and Hamlet. They stand in front of the doors to the General Classrooms Building acting out scenes from Othello and As You Like It. They scream. They yell. They laugh far too boisterously. They swear, thinking they are so awesome. They wear these horrendous costumes that Shakespeare himself would scoff at. They walk in huge groups making it impossible to pass their slooooow gaits. They are the epitome of annoying. To them, the world is a stage and all the non-drama folks are clearly the audience, despite the dirty looks they are getting.

Yeah. It is painful. So this is one situation in which BYU wins. Hands down, BYU's experience of High Schoolers is much more pleasant and much more bearable.