Ode to Calista...and Memorial Day.

Memorial Day weekend marked a new adventure for us! Rather than stay home and watch "House", we were invited to go on a rough-and-tumble hike on Mt. Aire. Talk about beautiful. It was about a 4.5 hour hike, complete with muddy (MUDDY!) trails, gila monsters, beautiful views, fun friends, and blazing-our-own-trail-complete-with-yelps-of-pain fun times. No joke about that last one too. We still have scratches and bruises. :) We took the opportunity to have as much fun as possible. We climbed all over these mountains like little billy goats.

It's fun to be in college. :)

A Hill With a View - it was so pretty up top.

The waterfall by Joe's cabin. Taken by the amazingly talented Bryce Gandy. Nature is awesome.

More nature. I just love this lush, green stuff, ok?

Sarah and me, looking hot. Yes, she's wearing my sweater. I'm wearing Chase's. :)

Bryce, looking like an old man having a heart attack. While laughing. Man, we had so much fun!

Calista and Shana, trying not to fall. Or, they are doing Anne of Green Gables impressions. Hilarious, either way.

If anyone can name the constellation I have in freckles on my face, I will give them a dollar.
Shana, shana, shana.... Yes folks... That's a gila monster on her head. It was actually really cute. :)

All of us, at the top-ish. Pretty, pretty, pretty!


Now for something completely different:

OOOOH CALISTA! She leaves next monday for lake powell/grand canyon/oregon - and leaves ST2 forever...ish. Depression!! what was she thinking? Ok, missions are good things. But I'll still miss my friend. Fearless slayer of bees and spiders, maker of amazing cookies, companion in secret missions, laugh-inducing, brian-regan-quoting champion, goofy-running chica, flower stealing enabler, all around freaking awesome friend. First Idaho, now Russia! Why are you always leaving me?? I'll wave to you when we're in the same hemisphere again.

One month closer....

In exactly 3 months I will be on a flight to Frankfurt.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

attached

Good job Dad, you named me well! The fact that I should change my name when I get married bothers me. Is it silly for me to be as attached to my name as I am? I don't think so.

I get by with (a lot of) help from my friends

I have the best friends and family in the whole world.
Some failures are more important than success.
Not having a plan is probably better.

Hope is an incredibly good thing. Last December I felt like this:
"One drink to remember, and another to forget...could you make it strong... I don't need to think."

And now, I feel a little more like this:
"Fall down 7 times, get up 8."

I have the best friends and family.

Quotes from the Taylor Trip - Sorry, couldn't resist!

"I can't be around him... he makes my tummy tickle!" - from a 4-yr old!

"Calista would be an angry drunk, but drink in moderation. Also, she would make fun of everybody else." -Jared

"Shana is lovey-dovey drunk. And a major exhibitionist. The one dancing around with a lampshade on her head." - Jared

"Cynthia is a philosophizing, hard drinker. She can hold her liquor better than any one else as well." - Jared

"Kiss me on the neck in the morning. iiiiiiiiiiiittts MOOORNING!" - a 5-yr old!

"This pepsi heals my soul!" - Shana

"I'm just a big, dumb NOTHIN'!!!" - Pluto

Yes, we talked about what kind of drunks we would be. We've wondered that a couple times in the past, and now it's all resolved. No worries.

The Taylors and the 'Burg

This weekend we went up to see the awesome Taylors in Rexburg. Or, burnt toast land, if you prefer. Either way, we had so much fun, we just couldn't contain it. We LOOOVE the Taylors, so we knew good times were imminent. We arrived late and stayed up late (gee, that is SO unlike us...) and just had a generally good time talking and laughing (and making fun of Shana...).
Des and Shana at Red Robin. Good food, good times, lots of onions. YUM!

Totally goofy picture of Jared and us. We are patently unable to be normal in any picture.

Besides the amazing cultural mecca that is Rexburg, we are sad we missed the Potato Museum. We'll hit that next time.

MOAB!

Last weekend a big group from my ward went out to Moab to have a blast! And boy, it was fun! I'm glad that after 3 years of living in Utah, I finally went to see what its famous monument.
Delicate Arch (the one on all the Utah license plates). This is the view from the lookout. We didn't actually hike to the arch ( I KNOW, I was very upset about that....). After froliking around on acting like general college-age kids on a sugar rush, we took really fun pictures, and tried not to fall off the nearby cliff.

It's Cynthia hunting season. Shana almost got me, but I jumped and pushed Hellen out of the way too.

The walls were closing in on each other (like Star Wars). Shana and I saved the day and stopped the event with our amazing acrobatics and quads. Don't worry, crisis averted.

Up at the lookout point. Notice Delicate Arch in the back. This is our "dead family" pose. Priceless. I love it! I am so doing this when I have kids.

9 20-somethings + really tight, steep crevasse + uber strong quads + 10 seconds to get into position = Awesome picture and hilarious experience!

Moab was awesome! I can't wait to go back again.