Nothing new

Have I ever mentioned how much I really hate traffic?

Well I do. I get massive road rage sometimes, especially if people are just being idiots for no reason. 

Yesterday this happened. I was driving home from American Fork and just cruisin along the freeway listening to some Kenny Chesney when all of a sudden BAM! massive traffic overload at Orem Center Street Exit. It took me 4 lights to even get off the off ramp and turn on to Center Street. And then there was just one lane. And it took me 45 minutes to get from the off ramp to my house, which should take about 12 minutes normally. 

Definitely not what I call a good time. 

The reason for so much traffic? CONSTRUCTION.

Oh, and I also really despise construction.

Did you that here is Utah right now there is construction EVERYWHERE? It really gets me. 

Then today, I get to school and as am walking along trying to get to class, I come across this beauty. is beauty the right word? I think not...

Don't worry. That's the way I need to go to get to my first class.

I guess I didn't really need to be on time anyway right?

More reason I hate construction. 

Then continuing on my issue of "road rage", as I walked from the PS to the LA buildings (the are connected inside by walking through the new science building and the PE building), I was almost taken out by middle school basketball players being idiots in the hall. I just need to get to class people! Why is this so difficult today??

Anyway. 

Now you know. I have road rage (maybe you already knew that though). 

and. I hate construction, 

with a passion. 

Oh thank goodness it is Friday. 

Memorial Day: Part II

So right now I am at work. And it is extraaa quiet. But that is only because the baby is asleep and the others are with their grandma. It's so weird though because I am not used to quiet, and when it is quiet, that's when I start to worry. Go figure. 

Anyway... here are the promised pictures from my awesome California trip a few weeks ago. I got there Friday afternoon and Bry picked me up from the airport and we went to lunch at this way good wrap and burger place. He was able to take a little time off to eat before he had to head back to work. So while he was at work and I was at their apartment waiting for Nereida to get off of work, I took a test. Go figure. School just NEVER ends for me. Nereida and I went shopping for some supplies for the Bridal Shower we are throwing for Nathalie next week and then we all went to dinner at this Bar and Restaurant (what is with me... I can't remember the names of anywhere today!) where we had amazing spicy avocado rolls, pizza, their specialty rootbeer, and pizookies! 

Saturday Bryan had to work so we had girls day at the beach with Nereida's friends Liz and Kim. They are seriously hilarious and I had such a great day. We started at Venice Beach and walked all around for awhile. We stopped at some sun glasses shops and tried on a thousand pairs, at least I did... until I found just the ones!

Just kidding. I did not buy either of those. I got sweet blue sunglasses though. All along the beach front are people selling medical marijuana. It was kinda crazy how many there actually were.  

We spent a long time walking around and laughing and then after getting henna tattoos we decided to lay the beach for awhile. Oh I love love love the beach. 

We then attempted to find a gas station to go to the bathroom but apparently gas stations in California don't believe in bathrooms so we ended up at McDonalds. Then we went to Santa Monica Pier for some good lovin' fun.... where I rode a ferris wheel. Now, if you don't know me that wheel then you don't know how horrible terrified I am of Ferris Wheels. Like terrified. It's bad. But I got on anyway and actually enjoyed it slightly. Probably because we could not stop laughing or because people kept changing seats while it was moving or because we were taking awesome pictures or maybe all of the above and then some, but either way, I survived. We walked the pier a bit and took more pictures and then we were off to dinner at Roscoe's where the serve waffles and chicken! What a combo. We waited outside on the curb like true Hollywood bums for about 30 minutes and then enjoyed a really awesome meal and tons more laughs. Then we spent the rest of the night walking Hollywood Blvd. Oh what interesting people you see there..... Including the creepo guy who hit on me, invited me to have beers with him when he got off work, gave me his number, and proceeded to kiss me. All while everyone else was petting a dog a ways off and while Nereida was taking pictures of this little incident! Such a sister thing to do ;) hahaha. Anyway. I had an awesome time but here are the plethora of pictures to prove it. 

Yes, we did part on Ocean Avenue. Just like the song :)

Ferris Wheel!!!!

This picture makes it look kinda like I am floating in the ocean, but it was on the Pier :)

Just chillin on the curb in Hollywood waiting for dinner, all of FB, nbd.

Memorial Day, Part I

This one time, I went to California.

But first, I stopped in St. George to visit my sister and her family.

And then I went to Vegas...

Good thing I don't live there....

More pictures coming soon of my awesome Memorial Day weekend in California :)

Life, unexpected

I have never liked death. I have never been one to feel comfortable at funerals or willingly go to viewings let alone say 'goodbye' to people in their caskets. It honestly creeps me out to see dead people. So the first time you witness someone die, and die unexpectedly, it does weird things to you.

Last Saturday I was hiking in Provo Canyon at Stewart Falls. A friend had recommended the hike and since I had never been, Laura and I decided we would go up there while she was visiting for the weekend. It was a beautiful hike - everything was so luscious green and peaceful. We made it to the waterfall and decided to take the very steep hike down to the bottom were you could actually get in the water and walk around a bit. We took in the whole experience of the place and then soon after taking some pictures decided we wanted to go up part of the fall where you can actually almost go behind the water. I'm sure that when the trail was created, this was not meant to be part of it, but over time so many people have gone up it that it was become someone of a trail - a crazy steep one at that. There were some other people up there so we figured we would be adventurous and go up.
After maybe 10 minutes or so, the other people went down and it was just me and Laura up there. We looked down and saw a group of people looking up and we thought they were looking at us since we were the only ones up there. Little did we know that someone had decided to climb up even further.... There was no trail above us by the way. It wasn't until after the fact that we realized what they were actually looking at. A short time later we heard some of the girls scream and right as I looked over to my left, I saw the man literally fall right past me and land 50 or so feet below us.

There are many details of the next hour that I witnessed as so many people tried to revive this 22 year old BYU student, but there is really no way to put in to words that hour of my life. Rescue paramedics arrived maybe 40 minutes later, and then a chopper came and left - without landing. The whole thing seemed surreal, but in fact it was very, very real. A man, one year older than me, had fallen from 20 or so feet above where I was. And died right in front of me. He was just a college student living out of state trying to enjoy his summer with some friends.

This incident made me think about life throughout the afternoon and made me question some of my own actions. But, at the same time, as horrible of an experience as it is to watch someone leave this mortal life, I feel so unaffected by it. I woke up Sunday and went on with my life, and don't think much differently or feel very different or anything.

What does that say about me though? That I can watch someone fall and die and not really be affected by it, aside from the initial shock of it. What kind of person does that make me? Life is precious. And it is meant to be lived. This is what I intend to continue to do.


*To read the short story and view pictures of the area, click here.