Happy Independence Day

Random

Please excuse the random nature of this post. I need to "blog dump" all of my old pictures and posts that I never got around to before I start with DC posts.

1. Festival of Colors.

I went to Festival of Colors at the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork this year. I had never been and I felt kind of lame that I would travel the world to go to cultural events but I never made time to go to the ones a 20-minute drive away. So I decided to go. My sister Losaunne said she was going to be there too, so we could hang out.

The parking in Spanish Fork was out of control. Unfortunately, I didn't really know where I was going and was just following the line of cars or else I would have known where to park. As it was, I parked at a place I thought must be close.

It was close, if you think that 4 miles of walking is close. I don't mind walking. I really don't. But when you have to listen to the same people's conversation as you are tripping through mud and walking around the parked cars lining the road while traffic crawls in the opposite direction, it gets a little old. Especially if your sister who is at the Festival doesn't answer her phone (left it in the car so it wouldn't get colored), so you don't even know if she is still there. (btw, does anyone else hate listening to strangers' conversations while they are walking behind you for an extended period of time, or is that just me?)

Turns out she wasn't. By the time I got to the Festival, she had left. I just walked in, snapped a few pictures, and took the long trek back to my car. Lame, I know, but at least now I've been, right?

I just wonder how they get all the color off of the temple. Maybe they leave it in and let the elements take care of it?

In any case, welcome spring!


2. Happy Birthday.

My birthday this year was kind of crazy. I have trained myself not to expect much from birthdays because my expectations are always too high and thus never met. This birthday was no different. My coworker told me happy birthday, and of course I got 100+ facebook happy birthdays from people who otherwise would have had no idea that this day was the happy celebration of my birth (I love facebook for that). I had a rehearsal that night until 11 in Salt Lake, and when I got home I was ready to crash. I was surprised and delighted to see that my roommate had left me a rose and some chocolate on the table with a happy birthday card. This was one of the best birthday gifts I have ever received because it was unexpected--and given without expectation of reciprocity! It reminded me of Elder Eyring's BYU devotional on "Gifts of Love."

(Don't worry, Mom and Dad. The camera I got for my birthday/Christmas/graduation ranks up there with the best birthday gifts ever given. The picture of the cupcakes, given to me the next day by my mother, was taken with said camera.)


3. Roommate Photo Shoot.
A couple of months ago I looked outside my window. The sun made the lighting on our balcony a soft golden glow. I knew that pictures needed to be taken that very moment to capture the magnificent lighting. I solicited my roommate and neighbors.

Isn't the lighting just beautiful?


4. My Cute Nephew.
I have three cute nephews, actually. But I did a photo shoot of this one (actually several). Isn't he adorable? (Still waiting for the day when I can do a photo shoot of my first niece. Still waiting for her to be born, actually. I just missed her birth, and now I am in Washington, DC and she will be born in Utah. Lame.)

5. Udall Photo Shoot

I feel like I do a lot of photo shoots. One of my dearest friends, Shayla, and her family are back in Provo while her husband attends law school. Her kids are so cute (and funny) that I would practically pay her to babysit them! Although a photo shoot with kids is never a completely enjoyable experience for all parties involved, I love taking pictures of them. 

Max was ready to be done almost before we started. This is him, 8 minutes in, with his desperate "cheeeeese!" face.

Like I said, photo shoots are rarely fun for everyone involved...

6. Easter Egg Hunt.

And to finish off the batch, here are some pictures of two of my nephews gathering eggs on Easter.

Valentines day. It's about...Love.

When I was a child Valentines day always meant new socks. (Who wants flowers, anyway, when you can get something practical like socks?) My mother or sisters might correct me on this one, but from what I recall, each Valentines day for several years we each got a pair of socks and a note from Mom detailing what she loved about us.

For me, socks became the defining symbol of Valentine's day and, in a larger aspect, love in general. Love = socks. Socks = love.

It was a real disappointment to come to college and no longer get socks for Valentines day. Plus, for 3 of the past 5 years on Valentines day I have been in countries where they don't even celebrate the day of love. Lame. No socks = no love in my life. (No wonder I am having such a hard time with graduating from BYU single! I need to get married so I can get socks on Valentines day!)

Anyway, just a couple of weeks ago, on Valentines day, I came home and found this waiting on my doorstep:

It's not quite like a pair of socks, but I could tell that this had been given with love, too. In fact, it was this girl (and her boyfriend) that had left this thing of beauty, this symbol of love, on my porch for me to see:

Remember that random couple from temple square on New Year's? Yeah. Actually she is my old roommate. Who just happens to also be my current next door neighbor.

Isn't that one of the most wonderful things you've ever heard? It falls in place right behind the announcement made when Kinder chocolate was available in the US and when laptops were first introduced. My (ex)roommate, who already has a boyfriend of her own and already probably got flowers on V-day, cared enough about me to get me flowers (since she knew I wasn't getting them from anywhere else!).

She's great. And I realized. V-day is not about flowers. It's not even about socks.

It's about love.

Just to celebrate, I thought I would leave you with a picture of (one of) the love(s) of my life:

My nephew. Can I just say that he just started saying my name, and now I am in love. He is even more adorable now that he wakes up and says, "Ahh-Bee?" (which is toddler for Aunt Breanne) while looking around for me.

Love that kid!

Valentine's Day Elevator

Today I got in an elevator in the library, hoping to go from the 5th floor to the 3rd floor. I was unpleasantly surprised when, a few short seconds after the doors closed, there was a grinding sound and a quick drop (during which time my stomach flew up to my mouth), and then the elevator jerked to a halt in between floors 4 and 5. At least, I think it was between 4 and 5. The doors wouldn't open and the elevator was just sitting there. After my stomach dropped back to its usual place and I realized I was stuck, I calmly pushed the 3rd floor button repeatedly, figuring that this was the best way to get the elevator to move (and not fall all the way to floor 1).

I guess it must have worked, because after about 30 seconds (I was just about to call the operator!) the elevator started moving again and stopped on the 3rd floor. I was unpleasantly surprised a second time when, after a valiant struggle, the doors opened about 3 inches and stayed there. I pushed the "door open" button repeatedly and then tried to pry the doors apart by hand (which tactic has worked every other time I have been stuck in/outside of an elevator), but once again, it was to no avail. The doors closed and I was once again stuck inside the elevator.

Thankfully someone pushed the elevator button on the 6th floor before I called the operator, so I just rode it up and then back down to the third floor. This time the doors were sluggish, but they did open wide enough for me to squeeze through.

As I reflected on this incident, I realized that the elevators must be programmed to respond to certain holidays. Since today was Valentine's day, the elevator was most likely giving the guys a chance. I mean, what could be more romantic than getting stuck in an elevator with a guy after you have almost dropped to your death and then the doors don't open? It sounds like destiny on so many levels.

The only problem though? I was alone.

Christmas: Nativities

So this Christmas my sister Kaitlyn gave my other sister an adorable Christmas Nativity advent calendar. She made it herself. Isn't it adorable?

Anyway, it made me start thinking about (and taking pictures of) nativities. My mom likes to collect nativities, and she has quite a variety.

My mother's sister once made her an adorable nativity featuring our family acting out the scene (with dogs and two children borrowed from her family). The scene she caught was one of my youngest sister climbing into the manger with my little brother while everyone reacted in ways that expressed quite well their personalities.

My mother is struggling from her kneeling position to do something about it.
My father, having just closed the Bible, is completely oblivious.


The one with the blue nails is me: "I wish I could help, but it would mess up my nails!"
My sister is rushing in to stop it.
My brother is just holding his head in despair.

My other two sisters sit on and watch with bemused expressions, while my two cousins peek out from under the cow.

Then, we have the classic nativities. First, the olive wood, carved, of course, by my good friend Omar in Jerusalem.

You can tell that he lives in the Middle East because he carved 3 camels for the three wise men, instead of the one "representative" camel that is in most nativities. He knows that three men can't share one camel!

Then you have the cutsey nativities.

And, the faceless nativities.

And then you have what I affectionately call "European Middle-Eastern," meaning European artists who did their best to make the nativities look Middle Eastern, but their features still look like they could fit right in in the hills of Germany.

This last picture is my favorite of all the nativities. Can you imagine riding a camel like this for weeks or months?