Zions Trip

I traveled to Zions this past weekend with my brothers-in-law, Dave and Mark, my cousin Rich, and his roommate Joe. We did two hikes back to back: the Keyhole and the Subway. Keeping up with four guys took its toll by the end of the day. There were several rappels and swims (one was probably the coldest swim of my life) in both hikes, and a lot of scrambling over rocks. While I like to pretend that I am tough, I realized by the end of the day that sitting for hours in a classroom at school has not been keeping me in shape. I could barely walk the day after our hike, but it was worth it. The slot canyons were beautiful, the day was cloudless and sunny, and the company was great.

D.A.M # 5

Radio Rage n. - A blind and dangerous rage induced by listening to music on the radio.

For those of you who don't know, I drive a nearly prehistoric car. No cd player, and no, I don't own an ipod (shocking I know) so I listen to the radio when I drive. I drove to school today and inevitably the song that was playing got stuck in my head. It played in my head as I walked to class, it played over my teachers lecturing voice, and I couldn't help but humm it out loud as I walked back to my car. I thought to myself, at least there will probably be a new song on the radio to get this one out of my head. WRONG! I got in my steaming hot car, turned the key and what do you know? The same song was playing AGAIN! What are the chances? Well, actually, I've found the odds are pretty high. Most radio stations that play music have about five to ten (ten is being quite generous) songs that they repeat over and over and over and over again. Well, you could just change the station right? You might think that, but change the station and you are likely to hear the SAME songs you heard on the previous one. Honestly, with all the music out there you'd think radio stations could play a little more variety. As a recording artist I would feel the radio stations were doing me a disservice. You get one hit song on the radio and it is played so often that soon everyone in their right mind hates it with a passion and no one wants to buy your album because the one song they know they also hate, and they have never heard of any of the others. Some blame people who download music illegally for hurting the music industry---I blame the radio. Hearing the same song for the tenth time during a twenty minute drive also makes me inexplicably angry. Looking for an outlet for my anger I am often tempted to step on the gas when an innocent rodent or small animal attempts to cross the road. You hear about accidents and confrontations due to road rage, but I think many of these are due in fact to radio rage. Combine the two and we have some crazy dangerous, angry drivers on our hands. So I plead for radio stations to please stop playing the same songs over and over again. Put a limit at two times a day or something. I am sincerely worried about the safety of our fellow citizens (and small animals).

A Shoulder to Lean on

Just one reason I love my sisters.

Some Random and Maybe Weird Things I Love

1. Driving fast
2. The smell of new books
3. Maple Sugar Candies
4. Taking pictures
5. Making faces in the mirror
6. Singing in the car
7. Singing in the shower
8. Sitting on my front porch
9. Looking at the stars
10. Scaring people
11. Candlelight
12. A soft bed
13. Crying in movies
14. Getting dirty
15. Laughing
16. Making other people laugh
17. Going to plays
18. Time to think
20. The sound of Sandhill Cranes
21. Seeing the irrigation water come into the field
22. Back scratches
23. Playing with my nieces and nephews
24. Flying high in a swing
25. Sleeping outside
26. The silence when it snows
27. Looking back
28. Making hay forts
29. Finding a new favorite song
30. Pop's pork chops

Spring Things

Sometimes it is so nice to escape Provo and come up to dear old Oakley, where there is space to breathe, and run, and ENJOY!

I love my friends, and they love me too!

Kati is such a litle Betty Crocker. She made this lovely little cake for her Grandma's birthday. I cut the strawberries, if that counts for anything.

Oakley looks so green right now with all the new grass coming up. I love it!
Kati and I have renewed our status as roomates, and to celebrate I made my famous crab and cream cheese won tons. Of course Annie had to come over and try a few as well!
Although we are sophisticated College girls, we still like to be kids once and awhile and play hide and seek. Kati found a prime hiding spot....she's just lucky I didn't lock her in and turn the dryer on!

The Jazz is vs. The Jazz are

Well as most of you probably know the Lakers are coming to the Delta Center (I refuse to call it otherwise) on Friday. The truly intriguing question for me is this... if at halftime the score is 62 for The Jazz and 59 for The Lakers would I say "The Jazz is winning" or The Jazz are winning"? I have asked more than a few people this question and sparked several heated debates. Almost every guy I have talked to has immediately jumped on my back and said, "If you say The Jazz is winning then any sports fan in the world will laugh in your face." It made sense to me to say "The Jazz is" however because Jazz is not a plural word. Telling me it is plural because it is referring to a team is not a good argument in my eyes because the word "team" itself, although referring to a group of people is still a singular noun. I am in a teaching grammar and usage class right now and I even asked my professor this question and he did not have a definite answer. So I am throwing the question out there into the void of cyber space to see what kind of answers and arguments I will find. I also decided to see what sports writers use (since they probably know the best) and interestingly enough this is what I found... these two excerpts are from the same article.

"The Utah Jazz is on a roll, playing some of the most exciting basketball in the NBA." In this sentence the writer treats The Jazz as singular, but a few sentences later....

"The Jazz are serious contenders in the NBA Western Conference." In this sentence it is treated as plural!! What is going on here? I really have no idea, and I hate not having the answers to something.

If you want to see the article yourself go ahead and go to http://www.utah.com/sports/jazz.htm

Lake Mead....Indeed!

I went to Lake Mead with my cousin Rich and our friend Jared, and as expected, it was quite an adventure!