Finally

So I went to the dentist today, and I kid you not, this is what the hygienist said to me, "I can tell that you're brushing and flossing really well." HOLY COW. It only took me 27 years to get it right.

PS, for those of you who were wondering about my plant identification skills, I got the whole planter box turned around. The reason my lettuce seems to be growing vines is because it's really a cucumber plant, and the reason my cucumbers seem to be growing on top of themselves is because they're really lettuce! And yes, the parsley is still in the house not growing at all, the the tomatoes are doing great. You know I would have figured it out at harvest time anyway....

Deep Thinking

So I was driving home from school and heard this random song. One of the lines in the song was, "she wants to stand where no one's ever stood." That got me thinking. Have I ever stood where no one's ever stood? I've been a lot of places, but I pretty much like to follow a well-beaten path to make sure I'll come out alive in the end. I have been some places that relatively few people have been, like the Northern valleys of Moloka'i that you can only get to by 2-day hike, or boat; and my parents land in Samoa, but other people have been there too. Thinking about this made me sad. I've never really been anywhere unique. That got me thinking about one of my favorite quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Do not follow where the path may lead, instead, go where there is no path and leave a trail." If I consider the statement metaphorically, yes, I have been where no one else has been. I have done things that no one else has done. That made me feel a little better. What about you guys? Ever stood somewhere no one's ever stood?

Plant Identification

I need help from you guys. I've shown pictures of my plants before and here's an updated one. One of my bean plants actually has a FLOWER! Now that I remember back to 6th grade science, yeah, they should be flowering. But I had no idea until this morning that I would get flowers and vegetables! First timer here guys..... anyway, the other dilemma. My tomato plants haven't been growing, and my parsley plants have been doing the best. The other day I decided to smell my little plants. Silly, right? But my "parsley" plant has the very distinct smell of a tomato plant! I'm thinking I must have mixed up the seeds or something. You know what I mean, right? Tomato plants have a very distinct smell. When they're growing wild in a field, you can smell them a mile away. Should parsley plants smell this way too? I'm also uploaded pictures of both of the plants so you guys can help me decide. Did I mix up the seeds? Do I actually have problems with my parsley and NOT my tomato?

Here's the flower on my bean plant....precious.... ;)

Here's most of them. I'm thinking my beans may be "vine" and not "bush" and that's why they're all leaning over. Help with this as well?

Here's all of them. The lettuce off to the right isn't doing so well. I think our hurricane force winds broke their stems. :(

Here's a close-up of the "parsley" plants, could they be tomato?!

Here's a close-up of the "tomato" plants that still have to be in the house because they're so small. Could they really be parsley?

SNAP!!!

So I'm hoping that at least one person will be able to relate to this.... I woke up, got dressed, and went to school for my 8-o'clock class. EIGHT in the morning. This should be my first clue that I need to be extra careful before leaving the house, as I am not what you would call a "morning" person. I go to my 2-hour class and sit in the front row as usual ( I can't pay attention otherwise). After class I went to the mathlab as usual to do my homework. I sat in the mathlab for hours, getting help from math TA's who were kneeling next to me, and working with other students who were sitting right next to me. After probably 3-4 hours in the math lab, I look down in my lap while I'm getting help. My FLY was down ALL day. ALL FREAKING DAY. I'm sure EVERYONE saw, including my teacher ('cause I was in the front row), all the TA's who helped me (who's faces were RIGHT there), all the students I worked with, and everyone I passed while I was walking across campus. Great. Just great. No one said anything- I'm sure they were all very embarassed for me, then laughed later. Ever had one of those days?

Catch Up

It's been a while since my last post, and I have a bunch of pictures saved up so I've decided to put them all in one post together.

Tyler got me some construction-themed legos to put together, so we made a Sunday afternoon of it. I LOVED putting them together. The concrete truck even spun!

P.S. We LOVE cheese and crackers...

I also tried my hand at growing produce for the first time this year. I started with a planter box from Lowe's. I decided to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, lettuce, and beans. We'll see how things go...I'm generally

Can you tell which way the window was?

This is right after I transplanted them. They're a little droopy, but it didn't take the roots long to dig in.

As a research-group service project, we planted some flowers on Center Street in Provo. Our planter box is actually on the corner of Center and 5th west, one of the most prestigious! (Totally kidding- but you can see them if you exit off Provo Center St!)

Notice how there are no actual flowers on these plants? They had us snap all the flowers off... it's supposed to help them grow better.... I guess....

Mmm

We also took our friends, Kent and Cassie, on a picnic up Spanish Fork canyon. We love this little FREE campground we've found just a few minutes from our house- it's called Dry Canyon and it has fire pits, grills, and even bathrooms! It's right next to a river and we're so glad we found it. So anyway, we took Kent and Cassie up there and cooked some burgers. Then we showed them how to Geo-cache. They were naturals. I'd already found the cache, but forgot where it was- they walked RIGHT up to it. Great job!!

Now I'm well aware that this is not the most flattering picture, but I love it! Cassie, I'll gladly take it down if you want.

Our niece, Danielle, was sealed to her husband David in the Logan Temple on Saturday. This is the family party we had afterward at a park just down the street from the Temple. Doesn't the food look delicious!?


I've taken pictures, recently, of the work I do in the lab- for my research. I'll post those as soon as I get the research camera back. That way you guys can all see why I'm often covered in dirt!! That's all I've got, don't miss the post just below this!

I LOVE my diet

As many of you know, I'm a MAJOR advocate of Weight Watchers. A few years ago when my weight ballooned, Weight Watchers was the only thing I found that helped my lose over 80 pounds, and pretty much keep it off. Every once in a while, when I start filling out my "on the edge" jeans, I start going back to meetings and try to get myself back on course. Yesterday was one of those GREAT days for food. I ate TONS of food, including a lot of vegetables and fruits. This was my dessert: a bowl full of yummy vanilla ice cream, topped with delicious fresh strawberries. I LOVE MY DIET. I even had extra "points" left over when I went to bed.