Wish List

Warning: This post is materialistic in nature.

Having been a poor college student for the last 4 years, and now a graduate with no paycheck in sight, I find myself saying, too often, "Someday..." This is usually in reference to things I would like to buy. To give you an idea of how distant "someday" actually is, my current dream and ambition is to just have the ability to save money, to set aside a little each month and watch the amount grow in the hopes of one day having enough to buy something. Here is a list of what I dream of saving for:

1. A bike
2. Some kind of hybrid car, though I would be happy with basically any kind of car
3. An iMac
4. Good kitchenware, specifically a few good knives and saucepans
5. A newer and nicer camera
6. An account with Charles Schwab


That is basically it. Not too long, right? And not very unreasonable.



But as long as I am being worldly, I am going to throw a backpacking trip across Europe on my wish list.

Summer Vacation

Here are some Highlights from my trips to Provo and Seattle.

• Being in the bookstore with John and Dakin on Tuesday at 11 am (while it was technically closed) and not feeling guilty about missing devotional
  
• Seven Peaks with Dan and John and their families
• Seeing Donna and Mark's house in Bothel for the first time
• Canoeing with Donna, Mark, Mia, and Sam, which included several misadventures with canoe steering, inhaling second-hand weed, and Sam standing up and peeing out of the canoe
• Trying to keep myself from laughing at Sam, or at least hiding the fact that I was laughing, to keep him from yelling at me. And despite that...
• Making both Mia and Sam scream most of the way home from church because I was laughing, which screaming made Donna and I both laugh to the point of tears
• Donna converting me to coupon-ing ($40-some value of groceries, $8 paid- that was the clincher), and introducing me to Seriously, So Blessed
• Literally eating my weight in pie and root beer
• Watching illegal fireworks from the driveway- there were so many that it was hard to decide which ones to watch
  
• Taking a ferry to Kingston, watching Sam do his excited-dance while he waited for the boat, and eating delicious crepes

• Nate being super cute: dancing, taking little steps, singing and gabbing, pointing at where he wanted to be taken...such an adorable kid
• Hearing Sam ask Donna, "When is that girl (aka me) going to leave?" and then his refusal to be near me while he was eating for the next two days. But we were buds when he wasn't eating.
• Turning around about 5 times in our efforts to go on a hike
• Eating at Small Fryes, where Nate peed on Donna and Sam and I ran around looking for a potty, as the porta-potty was not up to his standards
• An afternoon in Seattle and nearly missing my flight (it actually wasn't that close, but Donna and I were panicked for a few minutes while we waited in traffic to get onto the freeway)
• Finishing 3 books (In Defense of Food, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Their Eyes Were Watching God) by the time my plane landed in California
  

All in all, the trip was really fun! I had a great time visiting Donna and her family. Mia, Sam, and Nate were very entertaining, even when that fact ticked them off.

Rewind Two Weeks

During the last two weeks I decided to take a break from my fairly boring summer to have all kinds of fun (no offense to the people in Fremont, but you all have jobs and responsibilities, and not enough time to entertain me).

Starting off, two of my sisters drove down from Washington with most of their kids to, as Kristy put it, "kick butt and take names." Basically, they spent 4 days in hyper-speed packing up boxes, replacing light fixtures, organizing some areas, moving furniture around as well as out of the house, painting, and generally making the house look presentable to potential buyers. After packing up some boxes on the first day, my job primarily became a child-herder, since I didn't have the vision, the skills or the efficiency that Kristy and Donna possess. But I did my best and keeping the kids out of their way, along with our sister Suzy, who has three kids of her own. This included driving the kids to Suzy's house (not enough room in one mini-van, see), a trip to the movie theater, lunch at in'n'out, an afternoon at a "water park", bowling, a picnic in Sunol, "swimming" in the backyard, walks, feedings, etc. Here are a few pictures so you can imagine how much fun we were having.





Emily, having her version of fun, on Club Penguin, or something.

Really, can kids be cuter than this?

Now, for the benefit of those who have seen our home in the past, and especially for Dan and John, here are some pictures of the vast amount of work Kristy and Donna did. Please excuse some untidiness, I haven't done any cleaning since I got back.




































































This is what was moved out of the house.



A big thanks to Kristy and Donna for all that they did. The house really looks great!


The same morning that Kristy and Donna left (Monday the 29th), my mom and I got up very early and drove to Utah, so that she could have the big green van to bring back all kids of goodies from Grandma and Grandpa's house to put into our newly cleared-out house. Two days later, I was off to Seattle, but more on those adventures later.