California Gurlzz

I will be the first to admit that I took growing up in California for granted.  In high school, I always thought I would never want to move back.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the weather and the beach, but I felt like too many people around me were too materialistic.  I could not count the kids I knew who were so spoiled it made me nauseous.  Actually, if I were to say that in a grammatically correct fashion, I would say I could not count the kids who were so spoiled that they nauseated me (as my good friend Edward taught me the other day.)

And while I still disagree with being materialistic and spoiling your children (which are two things that my family does not believe in either), I realized once I came to school that I had it FREAKING GOOD in California.  I would not mind in the slightest if I ended up back there someday in the near future.

For one thing, you have the beach.  I'm not a surfer or bodyboarder or kayaker or anything, but the beach is just incredible. I never thought I would miss it as much as I do when I'm at school.

Secondly, the weather is PERFECT.  I know it rains every once in a while and sometimes it can get pretty cold in the mornings, but when my mother tells me that she had to wear running tights that morning because it was in the low-60s, I know she has it pretty good there.  Especially because once it hits the forty degree zone here in Utah, everybody starts breaking out their shorts.

Thirdly, Californians know how to build roads, and how to drive on them.  Utahans do not. Anybody who has driven on I-15 between Payson and American Fork knows what I am talking about.  Why block off 15 miles of freeway lanes when you are only working on 200 yard stretches here and there? I will never understand how anyone could possibly think that was a good idea.

And as for the driving, I know a few perfectly capable Utah drivers, but the vast majority of people seem completely lost. They drive 50 mph in the fast lane, speed up with you when you are trying to change lanes, and don't seem to know that it is OK to turn right on a red as long as you yield first.

Needless to say, I was ready to take a trip back home ASAP after finals ended.  So I packed my bags and grabbed my friend Abby (also from California, but up north) and we headed down for the weekend.

I should probably explain why this post is entitled "California Gurlzz"
Abby and I went to Ecuador together last summer, and we were the only two from California.  One time we just said "California gurlzzz" super obnoxiously and high-fived, and it kind of stuck for the rest of the summer.  We try to control ourselves in public now that we are back in our own country, but every once in a while this old saying still slips out.

 Started out the road trip in the gatormobile (my VW GTI) on Thursday afternoon and drove FOREVER to get to California.  We may or may not have hit up Cafe Rio in St. George.  As much as I hate on Utah, it does still have some good things to offer. Cafe Rio is one of them.

The following day, we hit up the beach (Thousand Steps in Laguna)

We forgot that we had been living in Utah for 8 months and had very pale (and extremely sensitive) skin.  Oops.

Just a liiiiittle bit fried.  High waisted bikini bottoms can give really strange tan lines.

Abby's poor neck 

My poor legs. Notice the very visible hand print on my left leg where I must have accidentally rubbed some sunscreen leftovers.

The next day it was back to the beach with my family.  We went to Aliso Creek beach in Laguna, and there we met some characters.

The European men in extremely tiny speedos who were taking pictures of each other on an iPad

 The woman who came up to the rock where we were sitting and told us we were "beautiful angels" and proceeded to pray aloud and raise her bible to the sky.

Even Dad and little Austy were enjoying the sun that day!

In case you were wondering, we doused ourselves in sunscreen that day and therefore sustained no more third degree sunburns.

Sunday was church with the family, where I reconnected with a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a long time.  It was a delightful experience.

Sunday afternoon, Abby and I had to leave to drive back to Utah.  My roommate, Katie, informed me that she would be opening her mission call Sunday night before we were scheduled to make it back.  I made her promise to call me while she opened it so I could listen over the phone as she announced it.

Here is how that plan turned out.  Abby wanted to hear too so I tried to put my phone on speaker, but then we couldn't hear Katie at all.  Thinking we could plug my phone into the iPod connector and listen over the radio so it was louder, we tried that.  We fumbled around with the cord until we realized it wasn't going to work, and then I finally just grabbed my phone and held it up to my ear just in time to hear joyous yells coming from all of Katie's friends who were in attendance.  This was me on the phone:

Suffice it to say I was PISSED that I didn't hear where she was actually going!  I was screaming into the phone "WAIT KATIE I MISSED IT WHERE ARE YOU GOING????" but to no answer.  When I finally did get a hold of somebody, it was my roommate Jessi who informed me that Katie was going to Japan.  Woo hoo so excited for you Katie Buhler!  While I would rather have you here with me so we can buy flower hats and talk to our cats dogs, I couldn't be happier for you and for the lucky people of Fukuoka, Japan.

By the time the last few hours of the ride rolled around, Abby and I were dying of boredom, so we decided to listen to "Grown Up" by Danny Brown OVER and OVER until we learned all the words.  For those of you who haven't heard it, go have a listen.  It's a winner.

My Abby's favorite line: "Remember how for dinner all we ate was Capt'n Crunch? Now we blow big blunts on the way to brunch."

And these two photos were taken somehow during the drive. They were extremely candid which I still don't understand, but the combination of the two is just extra special.

 Missing my family and the golden state already.

But Utah isn't so bad in the summer.  It really isn't.  Not as good as California, but it'll work.

In other exciting news, I upgraded from the Gatormobile to a Mazda 2!  Isn't she a beaut?

One last thing.  While I was home, I was introduced to a new saying: YOLO- You only live once.  Apparently this saying is old news, but as I haven't been on facebook for the past couple of months and Utah is always behind on the times anyway, I just barely learned about it.  Supposedly Zac Effron has it tattooed on one of his hands and there is a song about it.  This saying is extremely stupid.  Of course you only live once.  My friend Michael always talks about a friend of his who receives "statement compliments."  A statement compliment is something such as "Your hair is parted down the middle today" or "You are wearing sandals!"  People that give out statement compliments are really dumb because they think they are giving a compliment, but all it is is a statement, which means nothing more than saying "It is raining today" or "The sky is blue."  The sky isn't flattered when you call it blue.  YOLO reminds me of a statement compliment.  Yes, you do in fact only live once.  I think it is a way of saying that you are supposed to make the most of your life, but it could also just mean that we are all going to die someday.  What an absurd statement!

Pass The Ketchup.

Soooo I took a nice little break from blogging for a couple weeks (ok, months) but I am determined to catch you all up on the exciting things that have been going on in my life lately.  I'll be honest, there haven't been TOO many mind-boggling experiences in my life recently, but I'll try to spice up the few notable things I do have to say for the sake of my dear blog readers (a group which consists almost entirely of my mother and my roommates...love you guys!)

First and foremost, my big brother graduated from BYU!  My parents and grandma, as well as Kellen's in-laws came into town to celebrate.  We first attended a large ceremony for all of the graduates on Thursday.  Kellen, who did not want to make a big deal about his graduation, and who probably wouldn't have even walked had it not been for the forceful hand of my parents, decided he would rather sit with us than don his cap and gown and sit with fellow graduates.  I was especially happy to have him sit with us so we could whisper silly comments back and forth about certain people in the crowd or things that the speaker said like we used to do when we were little (well, maybe teenagers) during church.

Friday was Kellen's smaller ceremony, the one where they announce everybody's names and it is just for the people in his specific college.  Kellen graduated in Business Management, a part of the Marriott School of Business.  **Might I just say that after looking at the word "business" twice in one sentence, I'm convinced that it cannot possibly be spelled that way, but after looking it up it certainly is!**


This ceremony was TWO AND A HALF HOURS.  Don't worry, Kellen, I'm not complaining.  All 150 minutes that I spent at your graduation were well worth my time because I support you in your endeavors.

Anyway, I am so proud of you, Kellen!  I love you and miss you already!

(For those of you who don't know, Kellen and Olivia couldn't have been happier to get the heck out of Provo. They left the very next day for California and are now living there, enjoying the sunshine, without me. I'm not bitter.)

The next notable thing I would like to share is that I am employed!  I am now working at the Intermountain Healthcare Memorial Clinic in Salt Lake as a physical therapy aide.  I didn't really have any pictures to show on this one, so I decided to take a photo booth picture with my ID badge.

So far, I absolutely love it. I've been working for about a month and it has been great.  I work about 19 hours a week and get to talk to a lot of different kinds of people who come in for therapy.  The job is really hands on so I'm gaining tons of knowledge about what I will hopefully do someday as a physical therapist!  Basically if you're having back problems or knee pain, talk to me. I'll hook you up.

Thirdly, I've come to find that Provo is a thousand times better in the spring and summer than it is fall and winter.  I've been told this time and time again, but because I've never stayed out here for the full year I never believed people.  I can now say that this is 120% true.  Here are three reasons why:

1. It is not cold.

2. I am not in school.

3. It is not cold!

Ok so reasons 1 and 3 may be somewhat similar, but they are true nonetheless.  My first weekend after finals ended was such a party I didn't even know what to do to myself.  And no, dear high school friends who like to get wasted on the weekends (and some on the weekdays, too...you know who you are), this does not mean that I spent the first couple of days after finals blitzed out of my mind.  Provo is not that kind of party.

Friday we went hiking up to Stewart Falls in Provo Canyon.  The hike itself is not very difficult or very long, so we just enjoyed the warm weather and delightful scenery as we strolled along.  I managed to snap some pics of the occasion. 

Some of the group. Notice the really dirty snow we were trekking through.

Doing the Lindsey pose

Notice how there is still snow on the ground?! It was super warm out. This is just strange.

 Some men under the falls.

By the way, that is NOT a swimsuit that Michael is wearing.  It's just a gnarly pair of shorts he found somewhere in Indiana or something.  While I'm thinking about it...

RIP Michael Petersen

Don't worry friends, he didn't ACTUALLY die (although some would argue he might as well have...)
Michael is currently in Israel studying at the BYU Jerusalem Center.  This means a few things:

1. He will have 80 new best friends when he gets home in August

2. He will have a lovely new woman in his life. They will try things out here in Provo but will shortly realize that it's just "not the same as Jerusalem."

3. You will never be able to have a conversation with him that he doesn't somehow manage to tie in with Jerusalem. 

4. He will probably have forgotten about us completely.

Anybody who knows someone who has gone to Jerusalem knows exactly what I am talking about.

I'm probably being too harsh on Jerusalem Center students.  But then again, maybe I'm not.

We miss you tons Michael.  Don't let Jerusalem change you... :)

Saturday was filled with lots of relaxing mixed in with a bike ride to the park.  The Provo River is about a mile from my apartment, and there is a lovely park that borders the river.  Sometimes I like to go there and read or just think, and that is exactly what I did.  And I slept a bit too, which was just fabulous.

Sunday was great too because we weren't freezing on our way to church!  It has probably been warm weather for a few Sundays now actually, but no one could THOROUGHLY enjoy it because school was always in the back of our minds.  After church, we saw the usuals lying out on blankets on the south end of campus.  I really hope those basketball shorts do great things for your tan.  

*Disclaimer: If you are a BYU student or alumni you probably know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. If not, you are probably not a BYU student or alumni and you probably don't live in Provo so you probably don't need to worry about that statement at all. Or it's possible that you are a basketball short tanner yourself, in which case I'm sorry if that offended you. I'm also sorry that you think it is a good idea to tan in basketball shorts.

I decided there is more that I wanted to blog about than I thought there was! Therefore I am splitting this up into multiple posts.  Stay tuned for more!