Memorial Weekend...Extended.

This was going to be a post about Memorial Weekend, but other exciting things happened, so it's slightly extended. 

First off, Thursday! It was my friend's birthday, so we hit open mic night. I was there only to support :) Look at the fancy array of instruments! It was a lot of fun.

 Friday and Saturday took me up camping at Bear Lake. The weather was quite nice during the day, but I nearly froze at night! I woke up with my teeth chattering. But the next day, we played croquet on the beach! It was fantastic. The white wickets were a little hard to see against the sand sometimes, but it was definitely the best croquet game I've ever played. There were exciting water traps that some of the group fell victim to, as well as various muddy and scummish areas. I even ended up winning, though it really was more luck than anything. I was in last place for pretty much the whole game. It was at this point that I got a bit of a wicked sunburn. I now have a lovely flip-flop sunburn line, and I've been sustaining jokes about red stockings on the back of my calves for the past few days.

 Sunday morning, I headed off with my parents and brother to the exciting land of Vernal. Below are pictures of a fabulous bridge near Flaming Gorge Dam, a faraway shot of the gorge (can't believe I didn't get a better shot!), and Navajo Cliff, near Flaming Gorge.

 After driving into Vernal, we took a detour to go by the Vernal temple. It's quite beautiful, and I hope to go inside someday (just like in the Primary song, haha). I haven't been in the majority of the temples in Utah.

 Monday it was all things Dinosaurland! We went up to the quarry, which was apparently originally funded by Andrew Carnegie (cool, right?). For those who haven't been, they have a wall of exposed fossils, housed in a visitors' center. It's really cool because you can see (and touch!) actual dinosaur fossils. There are a ton in this one location. It's called a logjam, which is a collection of fossils in a riverbed due to some kind of blockage. Super awesome. The first picture is a closeup of one of two skulls preserved in the wall. It's a little blurry, but between the blurry closeup and the clear faraway shot (the skull's at the top of the picture on the right, complete with neck), you can get a pretty good idea of how it looks. Below is a cast of an Allosaurus skull, me touching an actual dinosaur fossil in the wall, a lovely family picture, and what I believe to be a modern art interpretation of what a stegosaurus looked like (what the heck is with those colors?).

 The next two pictures are from the museum in Vernal. They have a garden outside with various dinosaur models. The picture on the right is...a dinosaur skeleton. Also, my brother on the left. The last picture is Starvation Reservoir on the way home.

Other exciting points: my brother, Bret, and I had an enlightening moment about ravens. We were discussing how a group of ravens is called a murder, and we thought that was rather silly, as we'd never heard of a group of ravens attacking anyone. Lo and behold, the very next day, Bret read on his Altoids tin that Altoids were once used for, among other things, treating raven wounds! And then it hit us: RAVENOUS!!!! Mind blown. I decided that more research was needed, so I consulted the source of all wisdom, Google and found that....it's actually a murder of crows. Quite a letdown. Ravens do come in a constable, unkindness, or conspiracy, so it wasn't a total loss.

Tuesday was rough after so much vacationing, but I made it through and got home to find a letter from my favorite missionary, Sister Nicole Fulgham. She's so far away (well, only California), but she can still make me laugh and says exactly what I need to hear. She'll be back in November and I'm so excited!

So there it is. Memorial weekend. It was awesome.

Thanks for reading.

I Like Skirts. Also, Dresses.

I like skirts. Also, dresses. They're just so pretty. And comfy. And free! Well, I guess sometimes they're not super comfy. And sometimes not so very freeing. But that's beside the point. I love skirts. Also, dresses.

Maybe it's because I'm short and have a most ridiculous time finding pants what actually fits and is made of glass. Wait, that's from Pirates of the Caribbean...

Maybe it's because I'm short and have a most ridiculous time finding pants that are the proper length. Dress pants aren't so bad, because they're generally made of fabrics that can be hemmed. Jeans are the worst, though. The shorts are too short and the averages are too long. And of course, the longs are much too long (I seem to be in an odd mood as I write this post).

Pants wear out. The hems get ripped, the color fades, and the fabric inside your thighs rubs thin, all of which are incredibly frustrating when you finally find a pair you like. I suppose that hems on long skirts could rip a bit, but the colors don't fade as quickly because, let's face it, who washes their skirts or dresses every time they wear them? (Another excellent plus: less laundry!) And I always feel pretty in a skirt, even if I'm wearing a t-shirt with a skirt.

I've taken to wearing skirts most Saturdays, unless I'm doing something particularly outdoorsy. Lately, I've really been getting sick of jeans. And pants. I wear skirts to work almost every day. They are much awesomer than the two pairs of dress pants in my possession. I have a lot of skirts. I like them. I feel that I would have done well in the fifties.

Here's a paragraph for dresses: while I love them more than skirts, I am unable to wear them as much because I would look far too fancy. But I love them. Mostly because I feel like a princess. I feel that princesses probably wear dresses a lot.If you need more evidence on the wonderfulness of dresses, just take a jaunt over to modcloth.com. Gorgeous dresses and other treasures.

Yes, this post just went in circles with me saying the same thing over and over. Yes, it is possible that I haven't convinced anyone of the superiority of skirts. No, I don't care. Yes, I still love you all.

Here's something that may be more amusing than this crazy rambling post. I occasionally think of this Harry Potter moment as I ponder my love of skirts/dresses, even though it's really not related.

What Great Saturdays Sometimes Look Like

Sooo...this last Saturday was grood. Great and good. The weather was gorgeous, and I didn't have to work (I seriously can't get over not working on Saturdays. So wonderful.) Here's what happened:

First, I finally busted out my jcp version of the Magic Bullet. I bought this on the Black Friday before last (I may or may not have hidden it under a table, due to the fact that I had to work...). Isn't it pretty? It's much more turquoise-y in real life. I was a little concerned, due to reports that others of this model had caught fire, but it turned out pretty well. Well, it did start smelling unpleasant, so I only let it run for a few seconds at a time. This worked out because of the high power nature of the appliance. This is apples and strawberries, with Crystal Lite because I was afraid of running it without liquid.

It turned out fantastically! And now I'm slightly obsessed with this thing. I love it!

After this, I took my juice outside and read on my porch for a little while. I set up my CD player to play out one of my front windows so I could hear it outside while I read. Fabulous.

As early afternoon hit, I headed up the canyon with my dad, brother, and my brother's dog. We went up to this spring that my dad and I discovered last year. Gorgeous, eh? It wasn't super green up the canyon as yet, but there was lots of lovely green mossiness.

Please note the dog clear up the hill. My dad was cautiously ascending, due to slipperiness, and Sherlock just ran right up. Four wheel drive, I guess.

 Later in the evening, I attended a fabulous Relief Society fireside featuring delicious food from Noodles  & Co and a talk from one of my favorite people in the whole world. Then it was off to a bonfire and then a little Just Dance!, though by then I was to tired to do much.

So pretty much, an amazing Saturday.

I also feel that I should mention that I went to a Parachute concert on campus. I wasn't familiar with them, but I'm so glad my friend Nicole invited me. I actually knew some of their songs, and the ones I didn't know were great! They really put on a show. There's a good chance that I may have found the lead singer slightly attractive, despite the fact that he was wearing a womanly-cut tee shirt. I tried to look beyond that ;)

 Here is a terrible picture which I took on my phone for the sake of taking a picture. The lead singer may not even be in it. I can't find him. It's like Where's Waldo!

If you haven't heard of Parachute, you've probably at least heard this song. It's quite good. I may or may not have created a Parachute-inspired Pandora station over the weekend and may or may not be deeply enjoying it.

Anyway, there it is! The beautifulness of one Saturday, and random spout about Parachute.

Thanks for reading.