Sunday, July 31, 2011

Lake Powell

I am sure that everyone on this is aware that we were at Lake Powell for about 5 days. Most of those days were spent in a swim suit. Consequently, pictures will be absent. That's right, in case you missed it, I am a vain vain girl.

So I will just list my top ten from the vacation:

1. Reading Halo by Alexandra Adornetto. I won't lie, I was prepared to think this was the dumbest book of all time. I only read it because I told Beth Jackson, my sister in law, that I would. I really enjoyed it. It had romance like Twilight (meaning kinda dumb and over done), but that wasn't what I enjoyed. I most enjoyed the references to God and his reality and how we can bring others to him. It was unabashedly FOR our Father in Heaven. It was fantastic.

2. Cicily and Derek hooked up (I didn't know what was going on until the drive home).

3. I got to hook up with my hubby. :)

4. We took some glorious naps.

5. I started War of the Worlds by HG Wells. Yes, it is boring, but it is the original alien invasion book, so I suppose that it is worth it.

6. Did I mention glorious naps in the shade?

7. 'Noodling' around in the water. It's funny, because we were on noodles, and I said noodling.

8. Listening to Shaun and company in their witty repartee.

9. I hiked through Jay's Crack (Jameson's family's name for a specific hike). I was the biggest scaredy cat, but I made it through with flying colors.

10. I did not go cliff jumping. No one did. The boat broke down.

Overall, it was loads of fun. I am sure I can direct you to Debbie Jackson's facebook page for some real photos.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Ranchin' the Suburbs

We just got back from a wild and crazy trip to my grandfather's ranch in southern Utah. It was loads of fun.

Here is an aerial view (from the top of a log) of everyone playing in the river. I think I got some kind of disease from the river. So did Mo and Ellie.

Here is Jamie climbing an awesome wall.

Here is Jameson and I on the log. It is kinda sad, but it became quite the feat to walk across the log for the little kids. It entitled people for bragging rights.

We had a fun fun talent show (thanks to my sister). Really, it is more of a 'how do we make everyone laugh?' show. Notice the location of Lisa's hand.

Here is Chris and Lisa and Kaleb

Mom and Dad

Jameson and I

See if you can find Becky.

This is my name. Now we have rules about carving names, but this was before we made those rules.

Here are my cutie brothers :)

This is a great picture of Kevin/Caleb. Could his little fro be cuter?

I think this gives you an idea of how crazy busy that we were down there. We are TOTALLY bushed now. So I am going to go watch my hubby play soccer. And read a book.

Great show to watch: Psych. I can't even begin to tell you how great this show is.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

How Do You Determine Truth

I have been thinking on this subject a lot lately, so expect some posts along this line. There was a book I read a long time ago (I can't remember the author or title), and it was about Merlin on his quest to, you know, become Merlin. It needs to be noted here that I have an indecent love of arthurian legend. Anyway, the big conclusion to one of the books is that truth has many faces. At the time I thought this was a great epiphany. However, I disagree now. Now I think that truth is supreme, but our perception and understanding of it change. This makes it seem like the truth itself changes, but instead, we are changing and see the truth differently. I really want to reference the earth and the sun here, orbits and how our view and knowledge have changed so that we no longer think we are the center of the universe. So I think that truth does not evolve. We do.

Harry Truman once said, "Intense feeling too often obscures the truth". This is also something I disagree with. Some of the few things I know for 100% sure, no doubt involve my emotions. I know that I love my husband. I am not going to touch on religious notes here regarding truth, but I do have some pretty strong inclinations that way that are almost entirely emotional. I think that it is naive and incredibly pretentious to assume that because something is based in intense feeling and emotion, it is not true. Now, on the flip side, I sometimes work myself into a tizzy (me? never . . .) and I have to let myself calm down to analyze a particular situation. But that doesn't mean that once I have calmed down, I don't still have strong feelings regarding a subject.

I think often of how important the truth really is. Did you know that Copernicus was the first to suggest that the earth and planets revolve around the sun, however, he delayed publishing his findings because he didn't want to incur the wrath of the catholic church? So Galileo beat him to the punch, and, as we know, he ultimately died for that. (Galileo's Religion by Olaf Peterson) I sometimes wonder what the truths are that I would be willing to die for . . . hmmmmm . . .

If you have anything you would like to add, please do!

Great tv series to watch: Buffy The Vampire Slayer -- oh how I love thee, let me count the ways . . .

Thursday, July 7, 2011

I Love To Blow Things Up


As everyone knows -- we are a family that likes to blow things up. It's a good thing that I am from Wyoming (this may be a cyclical thing). Therefore, this is mostly going to pictures of our trip to Lander where we celebrated the birth of our country by lighting many fireworks. Here comes the parade.

This is my Mom and Dad at a wicked awesome bbq (we went to 3 over the weekend) with my Mom's best friend Carrie and her family. Carrie now lives in Utah, but they were super good friends all during my growing up period. I was sure that I was going to marry her son Kyle when I was five. It was straight up tragedy that struck my life when they moved away when I was six.

This is a super cute photo of me and the hubby at the Bills fireworks. They were really good. I have come to the conclusion that the Bills fireworks beat the fireworks at Taylorsville Days. But the music is way better at Taylorsville Days and we don't have to listen to political filibustering. Talk about a captive audience.

Here is Robby and his girlfriend, Nikki at the parade on the fourth. They are really nice and have really cute dogs named Rhino and Roxy.

This is a really good representation of the Lander Parade. I say no more.

This is our gloating picture of all the fireworks that we put off that night. Jameson sent it to all of his friends. Nanny Nanny Boo Boo, we have WAY more fireworks than you.

Boil, Boil Toil and Trouble . . . homemade root beer is really good.

Me and Jameson on the fourth doing fireworks.

Jameson and Morgan -- one of the Downs clan that was discovering the joy of fireworks in Wyoming.

Rob and Jameson trying to figure out how they can make bottle rockets more dangerous. Good times.

Okay, well, I am pretty well vacationed out. A few more notes:

1. I did not get the job that I applied and interviewed for. They evidently don't appreciate my charming personality . . .

2. Buffy the Vampire slayer is the BEST way to forget about reality if you are having a pity party. Also, I am really glad that we aren't living on the Hellmouth.

Good Book: Persuasion by Jane Austin. I like this book because it is a little bit sad, but very content.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Fishing For Fun

On Thursday, Jameson and I decided that we needed to get out of the house, and do something, so we headed down to the Murray community fishing pond. It was so much fun!

Here is Jameson tying the spinner to his line. He showed me how to do a basic fishing knot. I might even still remember how to do it.

Here is the handsome man actually fishing I think it is a cool picture with the sun setting in the background. It was such a cool nice night.

These were some beautiful Canadian Geese (I was later informed of what they were by my father -- I was calling them 'duckies').

I have gotten into chalk-art recently. This is because of Soul Pancake. It challenges us to: 'sum up your personal philosophy on life . . . and scrawl your message for the world to see'. This was my philosophy . . . for the day.

It was so much fun to be outside and with my hubby. It was very quiet and fun and enlightening. I have been reading Soul Pancake by Rainn Wilson. And I have actually been thinking about what it is that fuels my creativity. I have a very short list (and it includes making lists). Here it is:

1. Long, Hot Baths
2. Blogs
3. Photography
4. Making Lists

That's what I've got so far. If anyone has any other things that they think are particularly fueling to creativity -- let me know.

Great Old Movie to see: Pygmalion -- based on the book and the precursor to My Fair Lady. :)