Utah State, night 2

So as promised, I went and walked around campus again tonight. I also walked through that neat old cemetery. The trees line the small lanes inside and form a beautiful canopy. It is like out of a calender, especially in the fall when the leaves change colors and begin to drop. I went up there a little later in the evening than last night so I couldn't stay quite as long because I'm totally paranoid about strangers and dark. (Not that it even got dark, the sun was barely set when I left, but still...I'm a safety girl!!) I don't want to go every night because I don't want it to lose it's appeal. Even tonight, it wasn't as awe-envoking as last night, so I'm going to have to be very careful and make sure I switch up my routines. I do want to continue to go and run the stairs on Old Main Hill. I keep trying to count them but I always lose count around stair #63 because I'm either going up them faster than I am counting or I'm busy gasping for air, clinging on to dear life. So my estimate is that there's about 150 stairs...up a big hill. Boy am I glad it's summer so there aren't a lot of people to gawk at me while I try to get back in shape.

Utah State, Hey Aggies all the way! Go Aggies, go Aggies, Hey! Hey! Hey!

Today kicked off my 3 months of working in Logan. I'm not totally excited about working so far away, especially in the summer, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Logan! I went to college here for 2 1/2 years and I really have a place in my heart for this town.

Tonight, I drove over to the apartment where I used to live and parked my car and took a little walk. I walked up the road and up Old Main Hill, around the Quad, and all over campus. It is such a beautiful campus! I freakin love that place!!



Tomorrow I'm going to go on a walk on campus again, but probably on the other end where I lived when I was a Resident Assistant. There is also a really neat cemetery that is right by some of the student housing that I used to walk through on my way home so I'll probably take a little stroll through it too. I really do think that Logan is such a quaint little place, I can't say enough good about it! I highly recommend a summer visit to Logan for everyone!

My Memorial Day Weekend

This has really been a pretty good weekend. Friday my boss called me and asked if Adam & I wanted to play golf with some other people from our company. Of course, we are never ones to pass up free golf, so we went and had a really fun time. We haven't played together since last summer so it was really fun to get back out there and see how we would do. Pretty much I smoked Adam, even though he'll totally tell you a different story. ;)

Saturday we slept in and it was excellent. I feel a little embarassed to actually admit to people in general how late we can sleep in...but honestly, we can totally sleep till like 11:00... and sometimes later. Usually we'll both wake up at some point before then, but will either ignore it and go back to sleep or the other one will persuade the waking one to come back and snuggle for just "5 more minutes", which of course ends up being hours. People tell me that I should just be grateful that we can do that now because when we have kids that will no longer be an option, but I still do feel pretty lazy for allowing myself to waste half of an entire day in bed. Oh well, I really do love sleep, so I'll just take advantage of the opportunity while it lasts.

After we drug ourselves out of bed, we eventually went over to Adam's dad's house for dinner with the fam. One of his dad's cousins was passing through town so it was fun to see him and his son. After dinner, we went and saw "Over the Hedge". It was an ok show, but nothing I would say can't be seen in the dollar theater or rented and watched at home. The 50 year old man who sat behind us, however, would definitely differ, as his incessant laughter nearly halted his breath on more than one occasion.

Sunday we went to church and actually got there on time! (Ok, we were five minutes late, but who's counting?) Granted, our church starts at 11:00, which is by no means early for normal human beings, but I remind you to read my second paragraph and imagine how some Sunday's turn out for Adam and Kari. I swear, we really are not inactive and we really are out of town a lot and when we are here, we really do usually make it to church on time, or close to on time. I hate it when people who have been in our ward for less time than we have ask us, "Are you guys new in the ward? I don't think I've seen you before." Yes, it makes me feel like an idiot. Luckily, no one asked us that yesterday, so it was nice. Later that evening, we went back over to Adam's dad's house to watch a movie with Cousin Charles and hang out some more before they left to head back home. I was telling Peggy (Adam's step-mom) how much I wanted to so something this weekend and she suggested we go on a drive up the canyon and eat breakfast at the Silver Fork Lodge. I begged Adam and with the help of Dan & Peggy, was able to convince him that this would be a good idea.

I set my alarm and got up right on time to be ready to leave at 7:00 am, but Adam, thinking that he would be the wise teacher, did not cooperate very well with the wake-up agreement. He decided that sometimes, he wants to do things and I either say "not right now" or "I'm so tired", so he needed to show me that I can't always get what I want because he doesn't always get what he wants. He tried to exercise the "Honk-Shoe Clause" (honk-shoe= the sound for snoring) and not get out of bed. Eventually, I won by stealing all the covers and pillows and turning on the lights and singing annoying improv songs about taking me up the canyon.

I was totally hoping we would see a moose, but all we saw was a deer. It was a beautiful morning though and our breakfast was very tasty. As you might have guessed, after getting up at such an hour, we pretty much needed a nap, so we came back home and slept a little more. Then we did some shopping and went to another family function, this time with his mom's side. I have to start working in Cache Valley this week so I'm glad I got to have such a relaxing weekend.

The Evolution of Dance

Oh my gosh, you really have to watch this. I think it's way funny. You might have seen it before like in an email forward or something, but now you can watch it again! Tell me what you think.

"Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam...And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva.."

Here is a pretty professional looking picture of the beautiful bride and groom, if I do say so myself. Tara and Travis got married in the Logan temple this week (May 17) and it was tons of fun. I love weddings, I think they're great. I really could go to weddings and receptions at least once a month and still not be sick of them.

Larry, Josh, and Adam, however, do not seem to share this same sentiment.


After the wedding and luncheon, Adam & I drove to Idaho to stay at my parents' house. That night we went and attempted to go to the drive-in with Libbie & TJ, only to arrive at said drive-in and realize that it is only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday...it was not any of those days. Luckily, the movie we wanted to watch was playing at the same time inside the theater, so we were able to salvage the outing. We saw "Mission Impossible: 3" and it was pretty good. The story line, of course, is a little unbelievable, and the ending was a little weak, but there is a lot of action to keep one entertained. And Adam had wanted to go to a movie for a long time, so it made him happy.

Now back to the wedding. I'm sure you're saying to yourself, "My Kari, what big hair you have," and yes, you are right. Kind of large. But I liked it for the most part and I think it, along with my shoes, did a pretty good job distracting attention away from the dress.





Here we see our lovely couple again. I am really happy for them and I think they are going to be happy together. I really like both of them, they are such good people.


Man, I am pretty impressed with my digital camera. It works like a charm. You can do all sorts of fun stuff with the software that came with it too, like this.



Or this.


So the wedding and the long weekend I had subsequently were both lovely. It was a fun reception and it was nice to be able to spend some time with my whole family.

9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

I liked this idea I saw on Gwen's blog, so here are mine.

9 Lasts:
Last place you were on vacation: Palo Alto, California
Last cigarette: Never
Last beverage: Pepsi---ahhh!
Last movie: "Fun with Dick & Jane"
Last phone call: From a coworker asking me of all people for a wake-up call since the power is out at her house.
Last store you shopped in: Albertson's
Last CD played: All American Rejects "Move Along"
Last bubble bath: Two months ago...but don't worry, I HAVE bathed since.
Last time you cried: Yesterday at church while a cute family spoke on Mother's Day and I thought about how much I love my own mother.

8 Have-you-Evers:
Have you ever dated someone twice: Yes
Have you ever been cheated on: Well...kind of...I think my missionary found a girl on his mission that he liked a little too much. I'm sure he didn't really do anything with her, but nonetheless, our relationship didn't last after that.
Have you ever kissed somebody and regretted it: A little bit.
Have you ever fallen in love: You betcha!
Have you ever lost someone: Yes
Have you ever been depressed: Yes
Have you ever been drunk and thrown up: Nope, drinking never was for me.
Have you ever lost your keys: Yes, but luckily I've always been able to find them.

7 States you have been to:
1. Idaho
2. Utah
3. California
4. Florida
5. Wyoming
6. Colorado
7. Arizona (Big traveller, I know)

6 Things you've done today
1. Made $715.44...yay!! (Yep, I said today. Now if I could just do that every day...)
2. Made it to my 7:00 am meeting just as my manager was walking in the door.
3. Dressed really cute!
4. Watched last week's episode of "The Amazing Race" thanks to our friends Lindsey & Colby who so graciously TiVo'd it for us...well, for me really-- Adam's not a die hard like I am.
5. Went tanning...I know it's bad, but I have to do something to look cute if I'm gonna be standing next to skinny Kate whose bridesmaid dress fits her like a stinkin' glove!
6. Balanced my checkbook and paid some bills.

5 Favorite things:
1. Family
2. Food
3. Sleep
4. Summer!!!
5. Massages

4 People you can tell pretty much anything to:
1. Adam
2. Trish
3. Katie
4. Mom

3 Favorite color coordinations to wear:
1. Dress pants from Express with a Shade shirt underneath any other top and black pointy high heels.
2. Melon/coral colored tops with khaki pants, skirts, or bermuda shorts.
3. Almost anything in any shade of brown.

2 Things you want to do before you die:
1. Have babies!
2. Serve a mission with Adam.

1 Reason to Live?
Family

Things NOT To Say To A Police Officer

-No, YOU assume the position.

-Do you have any idea how much of a hurry I'm in?!

-I hope you realize you're about to ruin a perfect record.

-Sorry Officer, I didn't realize my radar detector wasn't plugged in.

-What do you mean have I been drinking? You're the trained specialist.

-Whoops, that's the fake one...here ya go, this is the one.

-You're lucky this car needs a tune up of you'd have never caught me.

-If you tried the stuff I just had, you wouldn't be so dang uptight.

-What exactly is "legally drunk"?

-So, what's a good bribe go for around here?

-Hey, can you give me one of those full body cavity searches, please?

My Encounter With The Ex-Plig

Ahhh polygamy...

So today I had an appointment to renew someone's advertising and since we were both coming from different directions in the valley, we decided to meet at Village Inn in a central location for both of us. I got there and we started talking about his company and whatnot and he gets a phone call from one of his kids. When he hung up, he told me that he has 2 children that don't live with him and that they come spend one night a week with him and his family and that tonight is that night. I then asked how many kids he has and he told me he has eleven. I didn't really think too much of it because I know lots of big families with lots of kids. He said that he has 10 brothers and sisters and his wife came from a family of 14 so again, I just thought that it was kind of a tradition.

Later, he gets another call and before answering, he looks at me and says, "I'm gonna have a story to tell you in just a minute," and kind of smiles and proceeds to take the call. I'm just sitting there kind of looking over his ads and stuff and he asks to borrow my pen and is kind of frantically looking for some paper to write on. I give him one of my papers (even though I actually needed it) and he starts writing down a phone number...followed by a name...followed by "FBI". All the while, I'm of course getting more and more curious, but I had a sneaking suspision that I knew what it was about (the thought had crossed my mind when I saw his last name on the contract, but I really didn't think he would actually be related and I wasn't about to ask).

So he continues to talk to the person on the phone and is asking if he will be flown out tomorrow morning. After a few more minutes, the conversation ends and I'm just about dying to know exactly what is going on. He says to me, "So have you been watching the news lately?" Yep, turns out I have, and the man across the table from me is a very close relative of a certain plig, most recently added to the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted List! He hasn't seen said criminal in many many years but they want him to go with one of his brothers to go see another of their brothers who is keeping quiet about information he knows regarding the whereabouts of this guy.

We continued to talk and I found out that my customer is no longer a plig...he had 3 wives at one point. He was born into the practice and was the son of the prophet at that time! Then he says, "I have to tell you something...I don't really have 11 kids...I have 20. I have 11 kids with my first wife (who he is still married to), but altogether I have sired 20 children". I totally love that he used the word "sired" and said it in all seriousness! He doesn't practice any form of formalized religion now and like I said, no longer a plig. He was a very nice man and was very interesting to me. We had to cut our meeting short due to the fact that he needed to call the FBI. Hmmm....weird how some things take precidence. I am definitely excited to meet with him again next week and see what he has in store.

California!

This weekend we went to California for the Division I National Rugby Championships. Utah was ranked 4 and played the number 1 ranked University of California Berkley. We lost 30-11, but it was a really good game. They played us last year in the championship game and killed us, so this was a much better showing. They've won 23 of the last 27 national titles so really...they're good. They ended up playing BYU in the championship this year and won again. I had mixed feelings about that game because I do think that Cal needs to be beaten, but I didn't want BYU winning because we'd hear about it all the time and I DO NOT like the BYU rugby team. You'd think that since they're a church school they'd have some standards....NOPE. They are the cheapest, dirtiest team Utah has ever played. So, I ended up being happy that Cal won again, even though I wish Utah would have kicked their butts. Plus, this was Adam's last year playing at the U so he was sad that it is all over now.


After they lost, we had more time to play and do some fun stuff so the next day we all went to the beach. It was a nice day in Palo Alto (where Stanford University is and where the games were held), but at the beach (Half Moon Bay) it was of course overcast and windy. I wasn't too excited to go play in the sand when we first stepped out of the car and all I had was a flimsy jacket, capri's, and flip flops, but once we walked down to the shore and started playing around, it was a blast. I totally felt (and acted) like a little kid letting the waves splash up on my feet and forcing Adam to play tag with me. I wrote 'K + A' in the sand with my feet and made little hearts. We built a little sand volcano since we didn't have buckets to build an actual castle with and collected sea shells. It was so much fun. I want to go back again without Adam's WHOLE ENTIRE FAMILY so we can do and see some more things we didn't have time for.


I'm sure you're asking yourself how we chose to make the adventure to California. Most people who would be taking a 3 year old and their mother-in-law would opt to fly, but for the second year in a row...we drove. The drive there actually wasn't too bad. Kailye watched DVD's and for the most part was pretty good.

(Trish & Kailye playing in the helicopter at 'King Hamburger')

It was a fun trip, even though I wish it could have lasted longer. I really like the Bay area and especially enjoy In-N-Out Burger. We only ate there once on the whole trip (as opposed to about 4 times last year) which is a bit disappointing, but still it made me very happy.



I totally love that they have only 5 things on their entire menu. I kind of wish they had In-N-Outs in Utah, but I think they might lose some of their appeal if I could eat there any time I wanted.

Yay for our trip, it was great fun!

Shoes, Shoes, Wonderful Shoes!

So yesterday the shoes that I ordered for my sister Tara's wedding came. I searched and searched for the perfect shoes and I'm SO GLAD that I like these as much as I hoped I would! Thankyouverymuch, Zappos.com.