My family!!!

My family all arrived in Salt Lake on my birthday! It was a great birthday present even if they were here for my cousins wedding. My mom, my sister, aunts Heather and Kerry, and cousin Courtney were here. Niki was here too but she lives in Orem so she didn't have far to travel. So here we all are!

Courtney, Niki, Shannon, and MeDavid and Heatherback row: Kerry, mom, Kelly (David and Courtney's aunt on their dad's side)
front row: Niki, Shannon, David, me, and Courtney

My Cousin's Wedding

On June 26, my cousin got married. That day seems to be a big day... it's my brother's birthday, a birthday of one of my cousins, and now the anniversary of one of my cousins. Anyways... I thought I would post some pictures... so here they are!

This is the table setting from the family luncheon after the wedding. We set it up the night before (which happened to be my birthday... Happy Birthday to me!)









This is David and Leda coming out of the Salt Lake Temple just after their sealing.
















This it the wedding cake from the Reception the evening of the wedding.

"When are you getting married?"

A few weeks ago, my cousin got married. He's about a month younger than me. Actually, his birthday is today. Happy birthday, David! Anyway... I was talking to my dad a couple of days after the wedding (he was unable to come to Utah for the wedding) and he asked me when I'm getting married. What?!?! For those who don't know me that well, I have no desire to get married, at least not anytime in the near future (meaning, like, the next 10 years or so). My roommate gets mad at me whenever I say I'm never getting married, but I don't care. The male population is just stupid. As the song from Mary Poppins goes "Though we adore men individually, we agree that as a group they're rather stupid." I'm pretty sure that the only man adore is my daddy. And the other males in my family. But overall, I don't like men and at this point in my life, I have no desire to settle down with one.

My new investment

When I was at work on Sunday, I took the weekly ads home with me to look through them, see if anything jumped out at me. I'm a dork and I love looking through the office supply ads (like Staples and Office Depot). So I was looking through the Office Max ads and found that the SD cards were on sale. The 1 GB was on sale for $15 and the 2 GB was on sale for $20, the cheapest I've ever seen them. So I thought that I would get one for my phone. That way I can have free wallpapers, games, ringtones, etc. Anything I feel like downloading on my computer. So I spent $20 and it's the best $20 I've spent in a long time. I love that I can have whatever I want as my wallpaper, whatever I want as my ringtones.

RIP Cedric

It was a year ago today that I said goodbye to Cedric the Civic. Here he is at the tow lot. I loved Cedric. I still love Cedric. If I had the money, I would go buy a new Cedric tomorrow (but in stead I'm stuck with Tonks the Toyota). But I don't think anything will ever be able to replace Cedric. He was so loyal, yet gave me so many problems. There was the break in where my registration and insurance cards were stolen (and the lucky thieves also got away with a portable CD player, cell phone and iPod chargers and Il Divo's Christmas CD). Then there was the time I was getting ready to leave for work and the back passenger tire was gone, rim, lug nuts, everything. There was also the time that the battery died and I had to call AAA. I just wanted a jump, but with the tests the guy did, even my dad agreed it was time for a new battery. And then there was the accident. That gave me this bruise on my knee. I still have a weird bump on my knee that wasn't there before the accident. But I deal because I loved Cedric (and it doesn't hurt unless I hit it wrong... which is a daily thing with me...).

So a year ago today, Cedric went to the big car graveyard in the sky where he will forever be missed.

Gas Prices

I know we all hate the rising gas prices, yet we still all pay a ridiculous amount because most of us don't really have a choice. Public transportation only helps out so much (but for that little bit I'm very grateful). What really got me going the other day was an article in the newspaper.

From the time I left for Georgia to the time I was heading back to Salt Lake, the airlines changed their policy from 2 checked bags to 1. Any more than that, you had to pay. Recently, one carrier started charging for the first bag. Don't the airlines know that you really can't go on vacation without at least one bag?

But that's not what got me. This is what got me. Airlines are considering charging passengers by their weight. You read that right. The opening of the article stuck with me. "Imagine checking in for your flight. There's 2 scales, one for your baggage. The other for you." Even if every person in the world was at a healthy body weight, this isn't fair because tall people would weigh more at their healthy weight. People with children that they are going to share their seats with would then have to pay extra for them. It's things like this that really get to me.

I realize that the economy is going down the crapper, but really? Isn't is about time that the government started to do something about this? People are now spending an average of 20% of their income on gas. 20%! That's ridiculous! But then I'm reminded of the congresswoman who is suing the government for more money because she can't live on $176,000 a year. Obviously the congress has more important matters at hand...

I was told I need to update...

My mom told me that, but then she left the country. What's that about? But I guess she's right. It's been a month since I've shared anything about my life.

Once again, my mom will be happy with this news... I was accepted into the education part of my major! I will now be getting a degree in History teaching, not just history. I'll also have a minor in theater (which is what I really want to teach but the demand for full time theater teachers just isn't there).

In other news... I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!!!! This is my blog so I'm saying that instead of getting the really exciting news out there that my sister is pregnant. She's about 8 weeks along and I was the first one to find out (other than her husband). I feel so loved. I'll be honest... I'm hoping it's a boy, but I'll still be happy if it's a girl. Either way, baby Olsen (as my sister calls it) can still wear this! That's right, my neice or nephew WILL hate the Yankees and love the Braves and Red Sox. Shannon and Ross have no say in this matter. If you want to know more about baby Olsen, check out the blog my sister made for it... http://finallyfertilemyrtle.blogspot.com/

It's Here!

And I bought it when I went home. I mentioned before that when I went to the Josh Groban concert last August, that the DVD for the Awake tour was filmed. I waited for months to find out when it was coming out on DVD. Once I found that out, I still had to wait over a month to be able to buy it. And buy it I did! I didn't get to watch the DVD until I got back to Utah, but I listened to the CD. All I could think about was how amazing the show was and that I am one of the crazy screaming fans you can hear in the background. The picture I posted isn't the greatest because it was taken with my phone. As much as I love having the concert on DVD so I can watch it anytime I want, it will never replace the pictures and video I was able to take when I was actually at the concert.

Cutest Baby Ever!

I may be a little biased, but my best friend had a baby about 3 months ago and I finally got to meet him when I went home! It took me less than .2 seconds to fall in love with him. He's so cute! He loves to watch tv, not kidding. I've never seen a baby pay so much attention to a tv. He has the cutest baby tummy I've ever seen. I just wanted to eat him up!

Pain in my butt...

"It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing." ~Sean Bean as Boromir in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

What is that, you wonder? And why did I quote Boromir? That is a piece of photo paper, smaller than a pen. It didn't cause so much fear and doubt as it did anger and annoyance. Here's what happened...

When I got home from my trip, I wanted to print out a couple of pictures. I have the fun little photo printer dock for my camera that up until now, I absolutely loved. The photo paper that it uses has edges that you pull off after the picture has printed. Well, this lovely little piece of paper ripped off into my printer! I thought I would just be able to pull it out. But no! I had to take apart the entire printer! And even then, I had to dig out my tweezers. It took me almost an hour to get out this tiny peice of paper. I was not happy. But in happier news, my photo printer now works better than it ever has!