taking the capital by storm

last week i went to washington dc.  it was supposed to be for a trial ad competition, but we all know it was an all expense paid vacation. i went with some of the coolest kids in the school, and im fairly certain we never stopped laughing.  highlights:

theme of the trip: bacon

told the entire plane to DC things about me that no one should know.  i thought i was keeping my voice down.
passed around a box of chocolates.  flavors-disgusting. flavor finder-incomprehensible.

rented a minivan that felt like an aquarium inside.

2 law students locked 4 more law students in a mini van.  could not escape.

had a panic attack when the window rolled down but couldnt figure out how to roll it back up

figured out the back seat of a mini van is called the "way back"

listened to jeff snore
im apparently a high maintanence eater.  who knew?

watched jeff cut his velociraptor toenails.  youre welcome, roxy.

discovered that jordan is the most responsible of all of us

feared that joseph's wife would have her baby.  well, we feared. he didnt.

got less than 4 hours of sleep every night

listened to eli tell crazy stories, of which he has a plethora

met up with my cousin and aunt.  made said cousin sit through 2 rounds of boring trial ad

bickered with some catholics

went to a great restaurant.  great restaurant downgraded to ok restaurant when the 50$/plate bill came...

aunt paid for my dinner :)

changed our eating schedule to 9 am, 2 pm, and 11 pm 

did a picture scavenger hunt

broke my camera while taking a pic for some asian tourists

had an allergic reaction.  to hot chocolate or jefferson's memorial.  which, i dont know.

ate seafood, halal kabobs, schawarma, brazilian churrasco, cheesecake, among other stuff.

wiggled squid tentacles in josephs face

went through a body scanner

caused a security crisis with manderin oranges

got some free girl-on-girl action with a TSA pat down

gave the rest of my friends some free girl-on-girl entertainment courtesy of the TSA pat down

tested positive for explosives

got another massage courtesy of TSA

envied jordans 1st class upgrades

after telling the old lady taking our tickets that eli didnt want to sit with us, she replied "well eli dont have a choice." 

taking a nap on the plane to discover noone was in the same seats upon waking up.

standing groggily on the curb, avoiding looking at each other, waiting for rides 

oh yeah, there WAS a competition that we participated in.  Eli, Jeff, and I went to quarterfinals and Mary Beth, Joseph, and Jordan went to semifinals. go us.

here are some pics from the adventure:

the official trial ad traveling teams pic

the official we-are-sight-seeing-on-the-schools-dime pic

the good mormon wife

i have been in utah for a while now, thanks to my being in college here, and i still refuse to say i "live" here.  this is not my domicile, thank you very much. this is due to many things, but first and foremost, the fact that utah mormons are weird.  i should know.  ive been mormon all my life, and lived here both as a child and as an adult.  

now, when i say this, i dont mean they are weird in that they teach different things.  not at all, the mormon church is the same where ever you go.  but the differences are more subtle, like their attitudes about certain things or ideas.  many people would disagree, but i think its true. even predominant themes in the church are taken to huge extremes here.  

case in point: as mormons, we really value the family and most women choose to be stay at home moms, at least for part of their lives.  but nowhere is there any sort of teaching that forbids working women/mothers-rather, that is a decision left to the individual and the family.

however, a few weeks ago we had stake conference, a sort of district church meeting, where this doctrine was totally skewed.  this is what was said:  "a woman who has a million degrees but no children or family at the end of her life has nothing compared to the woman who can take pride in raising 5, 6, 7, 8 children." the guy speaking piqued my interest with his comments, but i tried to wait before being insulted for any sort of balancing remark such as "this applies to anyone who puts careers ahead of family" or "i say women because i was just speaking about mothers" but nothing like that came.  it made no sense in the context, but i thought maybe he was just unprepared so it came out weird.  

either way though, it was insulting!  why, you might ask? because not only is an education important for women, the statement doesnt take into consideration the women who cant have children or who dont find the guy for them, and who doesnt want to sit at home doing nothing for their entire life. not to mention, everyone knows that earthly wealth isnt gonna  chill with you in heaven, and we believe the only things you are gonna be able to keep past this life in family and knowledge.  so explain to me again, how a woman with a degree(s) is screwed?  

these are the kinds of comments frequently made about mormon women, by mormon men and women alike, in utah. but ive never heard such awful interpretations anywhere else.  when i was in middle school in wa, noone there ever insinuated that women shouldnt go to college, and i certainly never heard the sentiment that women should only stay home and have babies in ca.  it is so frustrating, to feel like people admire your desire to go to law school, but oh you arent gonna work afterwards right, cuz you have been married to two years already and in 2 more years you should definitely be working on babies.

no, actually.

im gonna work.

AND have babies. 

you judge me, and ill punch you.

kidding. maybe.

still in the closet

when you think about alex, what do you think?  gnarly, rad, and dude?  beanies and snowboards? skate shoes and hoodies? if thats not what you are thinking, im not exactly sure who you think i am. but yes, im not super girlie or feminine or ladylike.  that shouldnt surprise you at all.  

but i have a secret...i kind of like to scrapbook.... 

gah!  i said it outloud!  alot of you know that i used to work for a scrapbook company called Close to my Heart, but i kind of tried to keep that fact that i was secretly thrilled to work there and get my hands on some paper on the dl.  

its kind of bad.

as a closet crafter, i dont usually announce to the world that i have a stash of paper and stamps hiding in my closet.  but i do.  

and i busted them out the other day. 

i made some cards!

ignore my dryer in the background :)

finals week

you thought law school made you smarter. 

it doesnt.

prayers for seth

tomorrow my little brother is having surgery.

seth was born with a cleft lip and palate-a condition where a babys mouth doesnt fully form, creating a gap through the lip and upper jaw, and leaving an open hole where the roof of his mouth should be.

he had a million surgeries when he was a baby but hasnt needed one since he was about 8.  he has always been so brave and as his big sister, i always thought he was perfect the way he was even without surgery.

all of his surgeries have gone fabulously, and we have been so blessed to have such caring and capable doctors and surgeons who have loved him and performed the surgeries with excellent skill.  tomorrow will hopefully be no different.

basically, the procedure is meant to adjust his mouth for his growth.  seth is 16 years old now so its totally understandable that he needs some growing room!  the surgeries that they did on the roof of his mouth has created alot of scar tissue that doesnt grow and the tension is causing the roof of his mouth to collapse and in the process is pulling his teeth inwards.  but for the retainer he wears with a fake tooth on it, his teeth and mouth would have been in far worse condition.

the procedure is super scary for us-they basically cut open his top jaw down the middle, put in an expander to hold the jaw apart, and stitch the skin closed, leaving a gap in the cut bone over the roof of his mouth.  over the following 8 weeks, the drs hope the bone with heal itself and form the bridge between the two ends, giving seth a wider upper jaw and room for him to grow.  if the bone doesnt grow on its ow, he will need to have a bone graft to help the bone marrow grow, and recovery is another 8 weeks.

please please please keep him in your prayers.  please pray that the doctors have sure hands, and that his body will recover quickly.  he is such a stud-so brave and strong and i admire him so much for choosing to have this sooner rather than later, and confronting his fears head on.

thankful turkey

in my family, every november was marked by the creation of a paper bag turkey, complete with construction paper feathers and a head that took far too much effort.  we stuff this turkey and on thanksgiving, we rip it open and destuff it.  of course, this isnt ordinary stuffing-its tons of little bits of paper, scribbled with the things we are most thankful for (usually this also includes drawings, to add to the horror of the person who drew it out).

 since getting married, i have insisted on doing a thankful turkey with brian, though i constantly have to remind him or else it will only be fun of the things im grateful for.this was last years turkey.  yes, that is scrapbook paper for feathers, yes, i am a closet paper junkie.  dont judge.

so since we had thanksgiving with my family this year, and were totally out of town, we just tore this puppy-er, turkey-up tonight, and i wanted to share with you some of the things that we are grateful for:

a nice apartment

snow (twice by brian, once by me)

a husband who makes me take care of myself

a wife who goes to the store for me

family

a fabulous family in law

my wife (brian put that in twice, that stinker)

a husband who makes sure im safe driving in the snow

good gluten free food (i put that in twice-apparently im REALLY thankful for it!)

prayer

revelation

forgiveness and the atonement

the gospel

friends who invite us over for dinner

these are just a few things we are thankful for this year, and i hope that you guys have all been able to reflect on your blessings as well.  

i know one thing:

im thankful for YOU!

do doo, do-do doo, do DI, do doo.....

harry potter is out!!!!! eeeeee!!!!! in celebration, i am gonna share with you this little gem.

the BYU bell tower, which chimes every hour, got harry potter fever too, and it made up for the fact that i didnt get to see the movie at midnight, or yesterday, or today, or any time on the horizon.