I keep telling Kalyn that I'm a ninja, but he doesn't believe me, because I have to be the least sneaky person on the planet. I don't have the ability to lie. I don't really even know how. I get so excited about stuff that I give myself away miles before I could catch someone off guard. However, after this weekend maybe he will believe me, because I definitely surprised him. It was his birthday and I wanted to do something special for the person who is so special to me. I had planned something days before, but hadn't worked out the kinks until last minute. Here is how it happened:
I left church early to cook him dinner. He knew I was making dinner, but he thought we were eating over at my apartment. Ha! He thought wrong! I sent him a message about the time I would've been out of church saying I wanted to show him something before dinner. I think this scared him a little. It was his birthday, after all, and people have weird things done to them on birthdays. My car was still parked at his apartment complex, but I went to pick it up really quick. I had a couple of my roommates come with me to help me set out a blanket and cooler full of food in a fort on a small island in a nature park near our apartments. They stayed and watched the food to make sure no one touched it until I sent them a text saying I was on my way back.
I got to Kalyn's apartment to pick him up, and we drove out to the nature park. I told him that Amy had shown me something the other day that I wanted him to see. He didn't say much, but I think he was feeling nervous, especially when we got onto the island and I told him to close his eyes. He did so while I led him to the fort made of large branches. I turned him so his back was to it and said, "Turn around and look how cool this fort is!" When he turned he saw the blanket and cooler and it all came together. "So we are having dinner here?" He asked. He looked happy, and that made me happy. We ate dinner in the fort and then I gave him a scrapbook I made of things we have done together. It has blank pages at the end so I can add to it when we get married and have more adventures.
We went on a barefoot walk after that and spent the evening talking and laughing and looking at turtles and snakes in the park. I can only remember a few rare occasions when I felt so incredibly happy as I did then. I think it hits me more and more every day that I am going to marry this man who is my best friend. I can't wait to spend my life with him. I hope he had as good of a day as me, because everyone deserves a good day on their birthday.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Hikes, Kites, and Jumping Off Bridges
On Saturday I went hiking with my fiance and my five roommates at Kelly Canyon. I wasn't expecting anything hard, because Meesh had hiked there before and said, "It's paved pretty much the whole way." On the drive down we had a two-car caravan. Of course when you are college students, having your friends in the car behind you can be very distracting. Meesh kept sticking her head all the way out the window to yell things to Brynn, who had her head all the way out the window of the other car. We were all laughing about it. It was hard for me to drive normal since we were on back roads with no other cars around. I kept jerking the steering wheel back and forth to make sure everyone stayed awake. Meesh thought I was going to kill them, but I had it all under control.
When we got to the trail head we all got out of the cars and began our assent of the mountain. It was indeed paved... at least for the first ten minutes of walking. After that it turned into gravel, and after that a dirt trail that was hardly distinguishable and was so steep that we had to walk on our toes to get up it. Amy took one look at the steep hill made of dust and rocks, and then another look at her shoes. They were certainly appropriate for a "pretty much all paved" trail, but a dirt hill could send her sliding with every step. We convinced her to keep coming anyways, but helped her out when she needed it. We passed a pile of deer turds and I exclaimed, "Look! There is wildlife here!" Seeing animals is one of the best parts about hiking after all. We had previously seen a gecko and the foot of a deer.... only the foot and part of the leg. Who knows what happened to the rest of it?
On that note, we ate lunch on a huge rock almost at the top of the mountain, enjoying the view of green fields and tiny ant-like people who were still on the lower trails. After we felt sufficiently full of sandwiches, chips, and carrots, we started the slow decent of the hill, trying not to slip. Everyone made it safely, but we took the wrong trail on the way down and almost added a lot of distance onto our hike. Amy, Meesh, me, and my fiance, Kalyn (Cal-in), reached the bottom first. We were quickly distracted by the canal next to the parking lot while we waited for the other three. By the time the others joined us a crazy idea was entering my mind. "I kinda feel like jumping in," I said. Oops, I said that aloud! We were standing on a bridge that was about five feet over the water. "Want to?" Kalyn asked. He was getting the same crazy idea too. Next thing I know, we have removed our shoes and are hanging over the bridge counting to three. Kalyn went first, then me, followed by Abbie, then Hannah. Boy, was it chilly in that water, but since it was nearly 90 degrees outside it felt so good to be wet when we got back onto dry ground. Kalyn and I want to go swimming this weekend. I can't wait!
When we got to the trail head we all got out of the cars and began our assent of the mountain. It was indeed paved... at least for the first ten minutes of walking. After that it turned into gravel, and after that a dirt trail that was hardly distinguishable and was so steep that we had to walk on our toes to get up it. Amy took one look at the steep hill made of dust and rocks, and then another look at her shoes. They were certainly appropriate for a "pretty much all paved" trail, but a dirt hill could send her sliding with every step. We convinced her to keep coming anyways, but helped her out when she needed it. We passed a pile of deer turds and I exclaimed, "Look! There is wildlife here!" Seeing animals is one of the best parts about hiking after all. We had previously seen a gecko and the foot of a deer.... only the foot and part of the leg. Who knows what happened to the rest of it?
On that note, we ate lunch on a huge rock almost at the top of the mountain, enjoying the view of green fields and tiny ant-like people who were still on the lower trails. After we felt sufficiently full of sandwiches, chips, and carrots, we started the slow decent of the hill, trying not to slip. Everyone made it safely, but we took the wrong trail on the way down and almost added a lot of distance onto our hike. Amy, Meesh, me, and my fiance, Kalyn (Cal-in), reached the bottom first. We were quickly distracted by the canal next to the parking lot while we waited for the other three. By the time the others joined us a crazy idea was entering my mind. "I kinda feel like jumping in," I said. Oops, I said that aloud! We were standing on a bridge that was about five feet over the water. "Want to?" Kalyn asked. He was getting the same crazy idea too. Next thing I know, we have removed our shoes and are hanging over the bridge counting to three. Kalyn went first, then me, followed by Abbie, then Hannah. Boy, was it chilly in that water, but since it was nearly 90 degrees outside it felt so good to be wet when we got back onto dry ground. Kalyn and I want to go swimming this weekend. I can't wait!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Two Things
I have two things to talk about today. One is something I was thinking about in one of my classes today. Since that is a more serious topic and I try to keep this blog a little lighter and somewhat funny, I will tell a slightly embarrassing story so I stick to my goal, which is to make people smile.
First, what I was thinking about in class. It is a class called "Capstone" where we discuss issues from real life. It's designed to get people thinking about viewpoint aside from their own and develop an opinion based off of research rather than what we've heard or how we feel. It's pretty interesting sometimes, but a little tense too, because we are presented with topics such as gay marriage or illegal immigration or leaving a relationship for whatever reason. It gives you case studies where you are supposed to put yourself into the position of someone and decide what you would do if you were them. All the cases are designed so there is not one right or wrong answer.
When we discussed the case on illegal immigration the topic of racism came up. Everyone kept going on and on about how we view people of a different race different and how wrong that is, because we should all be equal. I disagreed. I feel like differences should be celebrated. Then today we were discussing gay or lesbian lifestyles. This was an interesting topic since I go to a religious school. The longer I am in this class, the more annoyed I get with the people in my class. At work tonight I was trying to figure out what was bothering me. I realized this: People are constantly talking about how "we judge that person, because he is gay and that's against our religion" or "we hate such-and-such race of people, because we notice they are different." The thought keeps coming to me that people only hate each other if they are looking for something that is wrong with them. We are afraid of the unknown, so when someone is different we treat them different. It's a natural instinct. I don't think it's fair, though, to say all Christians are being any more judgmental than someone who isn't Christian. We just judge differently. We were taught different beliefs, and naturally will use those when we are making decisions. Of course there are some Christians who automatically will dislike someone when they find out they are gay, or will judge someone for getting an abortion as a murderer. That doesn't mean all of them are like that. I feel like I am kind to everyone whether they are homeless, gay, straight, black, white, married, single, mentally challenged, etc. People simply have to choose to be kind to each other and respect each other and so many problems in this worl would be gone.
That is the end of my rant. Now let's talk about how I was running out to my car the other night and tried sticking the key in the lock with a bit of trouble. It would only go halfway in, much to my confusion. I then realized there was an unfamiliar sticker on the window. This was not my car! I looked around me to make sure no one saw me unintentionally trying to break into someone else's car, ran two more spaces down the lot, and got into my own car. Phew, no one saw me...
First, what I was thinking about in class. It is a class called "Capstone" where we discuss issues from real life. It's designed to get people thinking about viewpoint aside from their own and develop an opinion based off of research rather than what we've heard or how we feel. It's pretty interesting sometimes, but a little tense too, because we are presented with topics such as gay marriage or illegal immigration or leaving a relationship for whatever reason. It gives you case studies where you are supposed to put yourself into the position of someone and decide what you would do if you were them. All the cases are designed so there is not one right or wrong answer.
When we discussed the case on illegal immigration the topic of racism came up. Everyone kept going on and on about how we view people of a different race different and how wrong that is, because we should all be equal. I disagreed. I feel like differences should be celebrated. Then today we were discussing gay or lesbian lifestyles. This was an interesting topic since I go to a religious school. The longer I am in this class, the more annoyed I get with the people in my class. At work tonight I was trying to figure out what was bothering me. I realized this: People are constantly talking about how "we judge that person, because he is gay and that's against our religion" or "we hate such-and-such race of people, because we notice they are different." The thought keeps coming to me that people only hate each other if they are looking for something that is wrong with them. We are afraid of the unknown, so when someone is different we treat them different. It's a natural instinct. I don't think it's fair, though, to say all Christians are being any more judgmental than someone who isn't Christian. We just judge differently. We were taught different beliefs, and naturally will use those when we are making decisions. Of course there are some Christians who automatically will dislike someone when they find out they are gay, or will judge someone for getting an abortion as a murderer. That doesn't mean all of them are like that. I feel like I am kind to everyone whether they are homeless, gay, straight, black, white, married, single, mentally challenged, etc. People simply have to choose to be kind to each other and respect each other and so many problems in this worl would be gone.
That is the end of my rant. Now let's talk about how I was running out to my car the other night and tried sticking the key in the lock with a bit of trouble. It would only go halfway in, much to my confusion. I then realized there was an unfamiliar sticker on the window. This was not my car! I looked around me to make sure no one saw me unintentionally trying to break into someone else's car, ran two more spaces down the lot, and got into my own car. Phew, no one saw me...
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Applying School to Real Life?
I am taking a class called "The American Epidemic" right now. It's about lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and obesity, and how to prevent them from happening to you. Today we were discussing the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The main difference is that type 1 comes at a younger age, because for whatever reason (whether from an infection or because of heredity) the body stops producing insulin. Type 2 appears because of your choice in diet, or living a lifestyle with little to no exercise. I kept thinking to myself in class about how horrible it would be to have to watch your diet so closely all the time. I know this from experience, because I am gluten-intolerant. I feel like that is a small curse compared to diabetes though. I don't have to check my blood-sugar levels multiple times a day or give myself shots. All I have to do is eliminate foods that I wish I could eat.
After class I went home, starving. I couldn't think of anything to eat so I decided to make myself some Orville Redenbacher caramel popcorn. I ate the entire bowl single-handed. I think I should go on the Fail Blog seeing as that is the worse thing to eat after an hour lecture on how you can get diabetes. There is some room for improvement here, I think.
After class I went home, starving. I couldn't think of anything to eat so I decided to make myself some Orville Redenbacher caramel popcorn. I ate the entire bowl single-handed. I think I should go on the Fail Blog seeing as that is the worse thing to eat after an hour lecture on how you can get diabetes. There is some room for improvement here, I think.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Marathons... Ouch!
On Saturday I ran my first marathon. My roommate and my fiance ran it too. My roommate, Meesh, ran it in 4 hours and six minutes. For her first marathon that is incredible! It took me and Kalyn 5 hours and 20 minutes. Not bad for the first either. Let me tell you, running 26.2 miles is no easy task. It takes months of preparation for hours a week. You have to learn to manage your time really well. Kalyn and I went to see "The Hunger Games" later in the day after we were done running. On our way out of the movie we looked like a couple of old gimps. On an average day if I was hurting that much I would have leaned a lot of my weight on Kalyn or he would've just carried me to the car, but since he was in just as much pain as I was, we had to slowly hobble out of the theater and across the parking lot. While we were shuffling our way to the car Kalyn turned to me and said, "So this is what we will look like when we are 80." We both laughed so hard that I almost had to stop walking, because when you can't bend your knees or stand up straight, laughing and walking at the same time is a difficult task.
Today is Tuesday and my legs still hurt, but I can almost walk like a 20-year-old again. A couple hours ago I was looking at the race results. I discovered that if I ran just a little slower than my pace from high school cross country, I would have been in the top ten runners of the 10K, and the top 25 of the 5K, male or female. I couldn't help but think to myself, "What the heck did I run a flipping marathon for? I should have run the 6-mile race and won it!" Not to mention the fact that my legs would feel completely better by now and I could go out and run again. Perhaps next year...
Today is Tuesday and my legs still hurt, but I can almost walk like a 20-year-old again. A couple hours ago I was looking at the race results. I discovered that if I ran just a little slower than my pace from high school cross country, I would have been in the top ten runners of the 10K, and the top 25 of the 5K, male or female. I couldn't help but think to myself, "What the heck did I run a flipping marathon for? I should have run the 6-mile race and won it!" Not to mention the fact that my legs would feel completely better by now and I could go out and run again. Perhaps next year...
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Just Talking to Myself
Earlier this morning I was having a very in-depth conversation with myself in my head while I got ready for the day. I found myself asking myself, "You know what I mean?" when I came to a halt in the conversation. I then responded, "Well of course I know what I mean. I am talking to myself!" I then went into a fit of laughter in my head. Thank goodness no one can read my thoughts. At times like that a mind-reader would find me absolutely ridiculous. I wouldn't blame them.
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