My Good Friend JR

 Where do I even start with this girl?  Me and Jessica have been friends for as long as I can remember. My family moved into the house we live in now when I was six months old and her family had been living in the house across the street from ours way before that.  My whole life I've tried to be as good as she is.  When she did pre-school, so did I (even though that made me do 3 years instead of the average year of pre-school).  When she did spanish immersion, so did I.  When she won the hope of america award, so did I.  And the list goes on.  I loved growing up next to her.  We made countless movies together, we had tea parties at a neighbor's house, we rode bikes, we sold pictures that we colored for candy, we "survived" off of fruit in her backyard, we broke into each others houses, we went on trips together, and much more.

Now she's going on a mission and if I continue to follow her footsteps we will not see each other for three years (our birthdays are two years and a month apart and she's leaving a little over 6 months after her 21st birthday).  I'm going to miss her a lot.  But as she reminded me we've spent two years apart before, one year when her dad taught at princeton when she was in 4th grade, and the other year when I was in Spain and she was at BYU.  I know our friendship will survive the time apart.  We have too much history for it not to last.  

Here are some pictures of our childhood...

Weren't we just adorable? I love Jessica's sweater

Hogle Zoo

My 10th Birthday
She surprised me by decorating my room

Pioneer Day 10 years ago
I don't know why we wanted to be Maori for the kids parade

2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake

Toys R Us in New York

Going to see Beckham at the Real Salt Lake vs. Real Madrid game

Fun with a Cookie Monster Cake from Macey's

Preference my sophomore year (her senior year)

Laurels Lip Sync.  We were the spice girls

Stewart Falls before Spain

New Years 2012

 This is a video my sister made of Jessica and I dancing.  To be fair, we've gotten better over the years

Thanks for being such a good friend Jessica.  Sorry I posted the video but I figure it's been long enough that it doesn't matter as much anymore.

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Rain and More Rain

This past weekend I went backpacking.  It was a blast.  We got to our destination, set up camp, ate some mountain house lasagna, and relaxed a bit.  I was reading in our hammock (that Izzy, our dog, carried in her pack) when the rain started.  So I quickly jumped into my tent.  By that time it was already 8:30 and time for bed so I changed into warm tights and fell asleep.  I'm not quite sure what time it was but late in the night the rain started to come down hard.  All night long.  Until about 8:00 when I woke up.  I ate oatmeal and hot chocolate and then started to pack up camp.  Right when everything was packed and we were ready to go, the rain started again.  Perfect timing.  By the time we got back to the car we were soaked, but we had fun!

Packing up

Alvaro, my host brother from Spain

Izzy looked adorable all weekend with her pack

I had my favorite hiking pants, shoes, and socks on

I know my pack looks short, but I promise you it was wide

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Ride, Eat, Ride, Eat, Ride

The 7th of July was the tour de donut.  Yes, you read right, donuts.  Let me explain... the tour de donut is a bike race put on by the rotary club.  It's a 21 mile ride that's split up in three laps of 7 miles. The first 7 miles my mom met up with me and I really didn't push as hard as I should have.  Then come the donuts.  After one lap, you get off your bike and shove as many donuts as you can into your stomach.  Every donut you eat is three minutes off of your time.  The tricky part is the time is still going while you're eating, so you have to be fast to make it worth it.  I personally ate four donuts on the first lap and my dad ate seven.  Then you ride another 7 miles and eat donuts again.  I was on my second donut when one of the volunteers asked how many I had eaten (they marked the number on your bib).  I told him it was my second but I was going to eat one more, so he put three down and walked away.  The problem was, after the second donut I hit the wall.  So the last donut was painful.  And then came the last 7 miles that didn't seem to end.  Overall, I ended up eating 7 donuts which got me 2nd place in women general A (or women under 35).  And I got a cool trophy with a silver donut on it.  Probably the best race I have ever done.  My dad, who ended up first in his age and ate 10 donuts, also said it was a blast.  Definitely a keeper.
Just to gross you out, the overall winner ate 33 donuts for a total time of -22 minutes.
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My Summer Has Started

I've finally reached the point where I don't just sleep after work!  I think my mono is finally gone!  But it is a possibility that I have more energy because I took a few naps in the library at work.  We're gonna go with the first statement though.

So this week my brother and my dad went on trek and my mom and two sisters went on a road trip to see the track and field olympic trials in oregon.  By the way, my cousin Jill won the shot put and she's headed to London to place.  This left me all alone.  But I was never bored.

Tuesday: Jessica's bridal shower

Wednesday: hiked up battlecreek canyon with Annie.  We realized that there's not much to see after the falls.  Made peanut butter cup cookies. Ate dinner with the Ransoms

Thursday: Early morning testing got canceled so I marinated some chicken instead. I made island chicken, a fantastic fruit salad, and just a regular salad.  Karli came over to eat it with me and then Ladd, my brother-in-law, came over later and so did my grandma.

Friday: Again, no early morning testing so I went on a run before work. Watched Jill on TV. Slept until the spanish girl, Silvia, showed up at our house. 

Saturday: Hiked Squaw peak with Annie. Made cinnamon french toast. My dad and Weston got home and we went to Taco Amigo, I think Silvia liked the name more than the food.

Pretty eventful week.  I think it's more the hiking that's making me believe it's summer again.  Annie and I still have our walk from American Fork to Provo along the bonneville shoreline to do and we're looking for sponsors to meet us along the way and feed us.  If you're interested, please call me.

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