Hence forth, Jessie and I will no longer be allowed to sit together in Sacrament Meeting...

For the summer, our ward has been combined with 3 other wards because there are so few people living in the area as of now. For this month, another ward is in charge of the sacrament meetings. Now I understand that choosing speakers and subjects is a difficult task, one that I would never want. I'm sure the bishopric of this ward was trying to get some excitement about their said subject, Missionary Work. Great...Fine...but let's be honest. When you instruct 3 college students to discuss the same topic, inevitably they will give the same talk in three different voices. Please, for the love of everything good in this world Bishop, please never do a themed sacrament meeting again.

One thing you have to understand about Jessie and I...sometimes when we haven't had enough Diet Coke, we do things we aren't proud of. This combined with the somewhat reckless decision to sleep outside the night before on the grassy knoll, cause it's just too DARN hot in our apartment, made us quite irritable yesterday. Yes, it would have been scary, sleeping outside alone, but Travis protected us girls by sleeping a good 3 feet away, cuddled up like a napkin. When I sleep, I don't mean really sleep, I mean wake up every five seconds cause bugs are crawling on you, lying on the grass, staring at the bug zapper as it eats giant winged creatures. So when we woke up the next morning I had a blinding spot dwelling in front of my left eye, and Jess had a stabbing pain just between her eyeballs.

Yes I realize that on SUNDAY there is no excuse for being grumpy at church. I mean, we brought these head pains upon ourselves with our silly fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants ideas. So I am not asking anyone to feel sorry for us. Actually, I feel sorry for everyone who had to be around us yesterday. We did however spare those who would have to sit with us in Sunday school...the caffeine monster was on my back and I could not take it anymore. (Hey jess, did you feel that, we just got judged)...

So back in sacrament meeting, Jessie and I just couldn't handle the same speeches over and over. I was going to fall asleep on the shoulder of the guy next to me, and I didn't even know him. In order to stay awake Jessie and I did what every young LDS woman does...We practiced signing our names Mrs. Megan/Jessie...... Shortly after that got boring, we did the second thing LDS women do...Wrote down baby names that we liked. Our favorite however, came from Travis who is going to name his son Espen, but spell it ESPN. I thought it was clever. We laughed and giggled all through the talks (some of our names and chosen spellings were hilarious) and for the life of me, I couldn't keep still. We also covertly awkward handed several people surrounding us, laughing because they had no idea what we were up to. We're sinners...

And then, the clincher. The one thing that could of save the meeting for us we completely blew. The choice for the last song was "Called to Serve." Our organist was playing it fast and snappy (as it should be) and we could not contain ourselves. Songs like this one bring out the primary kid in me. I began by sit-marching...making marching movements while sitting...and Jessie joined in. If you know the base line of this song, you know that there's a lot of fanfare. So we began singing the fanfare between verses, and Jessie did that thing where she slides up to the top notes right before they were to be sung. It didn't help that the people behind us were joining in. Apparently silliness is contagious in a singles ward. Looking around, a ton of people were engaged in similar actions, but none as obviously as Jessie and I. At one point I looked up and our Bishop was staring us down, although he started to laugh at the end.

I guess we won't be surprised when the Bishop asks us to speak next week.

Blink

I've never really explained my obsession with Lost before. I mean I'm sure I've mentioned it in posts gone by, but never have I admitted that in almost every situation I face in life big or small I can relate something in it to an episode of Lost.

In this case, I am reminded of an episode in Season 2 in which Kate finds the abandoned medical station. Long story short there is a light at the end of the hall that blinks and continues to blink and make that awful noise that light bulbs make when they're ready to die. This light bulb image is also seen on the disk menu of that Season. Yes I know things like that, pathetic maybe, but it has been engrained in my brain regardless. It's a flashing light at the end of a long, dingy hallway. I always think that the light will suddenly go out, but it doesn't. That lightbulb as since moved locations and now lives above my desk. Torturing me with it's awful florescent glow and screaching sounds. (If you are not familiar with Lost, but have ever seen Joe Versus the Volcano, you should know what I'm talking about.)

Of course it doesn't matter to anyone else, because my cubicle is surrounded by 4 empty cubicles, one on each side. So the possessed light doesn't affect anyone else. But I'm about 10 seconds away from shooting it with a rubber band, to put it out of it's misery forever.

So I'm pretty sure this light has decided to see how long it can keep blinking before I completely lose my mind. I could very well go into shock, have a seizure or get motion sick. I'm already seeing bluish spot whenever the light dulls. But I won't give in! You will not defeat me stupid light...you might be creepy and remind me off lost...but you will not defeat me!

Top Ten Reasons Why My Dad is Superior to All Others

Reason 10: People say my dad looks like Mel Gibson (pre-passion of the christ era). And my friends say he sounds like Kronk. A HUGE compliment!

Reason 9: He taught me how to drive a snowmobile at age 8. Though it was a painful and laborious process, he never gave up. Now when we go snowmobiling, I'm the driver, instead of the whimpy rider on the back. He also taught me the need...the need for speed. (and a love for the movie TOP GUN) Probably not always a good thing, but in this case much appreciated.

reason 8: He comes to my rescue when I pop a tire...even at 11:30 when I'm stuck in downtown Salt Lake. I hid in the backseat of my car until he came, but when he did....I don't think I've ever been so relieved. Sounds a little nuts, but I love that my dad will save me when I need him to!

ReAsOn 7: His favorite thing to ask is "Have I given you a hug today?" and even if you say "yes" he hugs you anyway.

Reason 6: He has an uncanny ability to hide 20 dollar bills in my car, where I won't notice them until I need them. Also...he seems to know exactly when I'm out of money, even when I try to hide it.

Reason 5: He somehow always manages to know when I'm having a hard day...even when I'm in Logan. On the hardest and most heart wrenching days in my life I always have either a message, an e-mail or a phone call from my dad. He always has the best advice for those situations, I value it more than anyone else's. He is so in tune with his kids.

Reason 4: He speaks Spanish to the workers at Cafe Rio, even though they look at him like " why are you talking to me you silly gringo. "

Reason 3: He's given me a pretty high standard when it comes to dating. To see the way he treats my mom, like a queen...has raised my expectations of what my future husband should be like. I won't for settle for anything less.

Reason 2: He's never missed a performance. I've performed a lot over the years, and even though it's not always my dad's favorite thing, he's always there to cheer me on. He even sang a duet with me for a Christmas Concert, even though he was super nervous. I'm sure he's filled is quota for a lifetime, but he still comes to everything important to us.

Reason 1: He's got a rock solid testimony. My dad converted to the church when he was in high school in Arizona. He turned around and went on a mission to Spain the next year with virtually no support from his family. His parents converted while he was gone, and have remained active ever since, though the rest of his family have continued to stay committed (broad term) to their other religions. Since he joined the church my dad has held many callings, fulfilled every obligation and never ever looked back. It's a trait I truly admire in him.

Writer's Block

I had an amazing idea for a blog today. It's been a few days since I last blogged, and I felt that it could use another update. The problem was, when I pulled up this page to type my amazing idea...I couldn't find the words. Do you ever get serious writer's block? I know exactly what I want to say in my brain, but whenever I go to type it, the words don't flow nor do they make sense. Maybe it's because I know what I'm going to say could upset some people...or could easily misconstrued by those who read it. Sometimes it's hard having a blog that people know about. I guess that's what journals are for, writing the things you couldn't say out loud. Places to vent...that only your posterity will read long after you're gone. No chance of repercussions there.

Speaking of repercussions...I don't always think about those when I make a decisions. I hardly ever stop and think, "is this going to come back and bite me in the butt?" and guess what? More often than not, it does! Now why does that surprise me? I guess I just get too excited at the grandness of the latest decision that I don't weigh what the outcome will be. I am easily carried away by the promises that the new decision will be. I mean, who wouldn't be right? It's new...it's exciting...To think about the negative consequences that would arise would be a downer. To constantly worry about how so and so would feel, or what I would do after, or how it would be financially possible would not be things that I think about. Especially when thinking about those things would cause me to miss out on the one thing...The BIG thing...the exciting thing!

I guess I'm selfish, but I can't stand to let something great go cause I'm worried about the repercussions.

Well, there it is I guess. It sort of came out...not in the exact way I wanted it to, but there it is.

Buenos Dias, Bonjorno and Bonjour Europe!

I have returned from my European adventure! My family spent the last two weeks traveling europe stopping in Madrid, Segovia, Barcelona, Pompei, Naples, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Nice, Monaco and Marseilles. 3 countries in 12 days. It was insanity! Honestly there isn't a blog post long enough to relay all of the amazing details of what we experienced. In these places we saw some amazing sights....that until now I'd only seen pictures of, and now, I was the one who TOOK the pictures.

The Prado The Plaza de Mayor

the academia (the site of Michaelangelo's David.)

The Goudi Church St. Peter's Basillica

The Forum The Trevy Fountain The Colosseum

La Valle de los Caidos

El Escorial

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Pompei Mt. Vesuvius

Vatican City Princess Grace's House Monte Carlo

and SO MUCH MORE!

I took this the first day at the Plaza Mayor

It's the Leaning Tower of Pisa....

The Castle in Segovia



The Ruins at Pompei



The Forum

Gelato in Italy....Does it get any better?




It was an incredible trip!