summatime

summer summer summer. last year i had an early summer with no job, waiting to go to asia. then i worked the rest of the summer in a foreign country, trotting around to unknown places each weekend. this summer, i'm working full time. i wish summer was forever, but i guess it really doesn't make a ton of difference when i'm not going to school!

outdoor movie on the capitol lawn. it was actually pretty neat-o to have the capitol building all lit up behind you.

a little guitar in the car. you've got to keep yourself entertained...

oh, dinner on the balcony with wonderful roommates from the past who are almost all married and pregnant (okay, only one).

my little boys. how i adore them.

colony reunites once more. we can't get enough of each other. really.

what is with the guy in the background!? haha. included in this picture are 3 of the greatest people ever.

STEWART FALLS...i feel a need to go on this hike all the time. i don't exactly know why, but i do love it a lot. it is always so beautiful.

i look like an idiot in this picture, but andrea just looks too precious to pass up putting it on.

WINCO. it provides many entertaining possibilities.




i'll have everyone know, sam REFUSED to put his feet in the picture. i still have no idea why.

portland

i went to portland for 4 days for work. i'd been there before, but i really noticed this time how beautiful that city is.

i am sitting in an elevator shaft. it just so happens to be where a woman died as well. they made the restaurant really creepy. we had to go in twos into the bathroom because it was so dark.

keep portland weird.

i look stupid in this picture, but the important part is the voodoo donut sign. tons of weird donuts- the shapes and the toppings. some were a little inappropriate, but i won't say anything further.

this one goes out to the parking lot garden.

the rose garden. it was really peaceful and just as beautiful.

a friend i met there who is lds had a cousin who was living in portland for the summer. he took us there one of night. it is an incredibly beautiful temple. i can't wait until i can see it during the day.

some words of wisdom for one lance armstrong.

the most incredible bookstore in the world. really. i bought maybe 8 books and it cost me 19 dollars. i could have spent forever in there.

the window displays were so pretty. that might sound lame, but really, there were tons of cool displays.

some of the fun people i met.

go to portland. this is not a paid advertisement.

lots of balloons

since i was a little girl i have wanted to go to the hot air balloon part of the freedom fest. it is way early in the morning, but so worth it!

i want a cabin.

so this cabin trip happened a loooong time ago, but oh well. my friend, fenny, from taiwan is in america now and she kept stressing about getting time to see everyone. she would tell me she wished she could buy a house so everyone could just come and be together. duh! i want one too. but, i'd rather have a cabin.

it was great to be there with cait and mags. good food, reading stories, a long cold run in the morning, a late night creepy walk by the river, basketball, playing school, golf, swinging, frisbee, and milkshakes.

michael's birthday

of course it included dancing, cake, other treats, nice people, and michael.

graden is very into dancing.

michael's buddies.

who wants to go to burley?

a lot of catching up to do...

oh boy, i got to go to burley. im so lucky. my dear friend morgan was headed off to the mission field so i had to pay her one last visit. especially because she's from burley.

this is her backyard. i had a good laugh about it. the snake river, windmill, cows, and horses.

burley! morgan lives on the outskirts of town on the highway. we made sure to drive into town to see all of the highlights. the fairgrounds, albertson's, and the lone hotel proved the best highlights.

it was great to be there altogether again. these are the same girls that were with me in thailand! oh the fun we had there....

i can't forget this wonderful moment. morgan told us that we needed to drive 7 miles exactly before we would see the freeway entrance. so we drove exactly 7 miles and NOTHING. we drove a couple more and still nothing. there were no businesses anywhere to stop and ask so we did the only normal thing and stopped at a random house. turns out the freeway entrance was 18 miles. haha. 18!!

famous blogger

i wrote a blog post on the united way blog. this means that i am famous, in case you were wondering. here is the link: http://www.unitedwayuc.org/blog/ or you can read it below!

A study done by the Kaiser Foundation (featured both in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times) describes the immense hours youth spend on media related items each day and the unhealthy effects it is causing. Tweens and teens are spending 7 hours and 38 minutes on average each day. That equals out to about 53 hours a week. It’s hard to even figure out how that is possible when these same young people are in school until 3 everyday. Some of the researchers thought they were “consuming about as much media as humanly possible in the hours available.” This heavy media use is leading to many different behavior problems, obesity, and lower grades. Now imagine how much longer youth are spending consuming media during the summer!

One girl from the study argues with her mother constantly about the need for technology. Speaking about her mother she informs the researcher, “back in her day, they didn’t have that stuff. I feel like it helps us open up and learn new things…instead of sitting around at home being bored.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I love technology. My grandpa continually uses the fact that computer games are good for his brain as an excuse, so it seems it has some positive effects. It isn’t that technology and media are bad, but there are so many other worthwhile opportunities and social interactions to be had!

AND now that it’s summer, there are even more great opportunities. I’ve come up with some ideas to start to entice you (both youth and adults).

· Find a new hobby- inline skating, volleyball, basketball, photography, creative writing, reading (it is fun!), cooking, biking

· Go swimming! If you don’t have a pool, there are plenty of public pools and summer passes are usually pretty cheap. OR you can turn on the sprinklers.

· Garden- this might not sound like too much fun, but I promise that from experience, it can be so thrilling to see a little seed turn into something you can actually EAT!

· Spend more time with your siblings and parents- play games, take walks, go to the park.

· Exercise! Go on a hike, run, go to the gym, or find other inventive ways.

· SUMMER OF SERVICE- Come to our projects or do service on your own! Tutor someone, help a family member, senior citizen, stranger, or think of another way to serve. You can find more out about Summer of Service on our website or look for our group on Facebook, ‘Summer of Service 2010.’

Here are the links to the articles for further reading:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jan/20/business/la-fi-youth-media21-2010jan21

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20wired.html