Quote of the Day (possibly the century)

After a long day of running errands today with my dad, we pulled into the driveway to see snow that had been melted sitting on the driveway. Now, I have been raised in the art of sidewalk shoveling. My dad raised us 6 children to keep the walks shoveled always. If you shovel in the morning, then the sun will melt the rest during the day. So automatically my dad got a shovel and got to work. I carried the groceries in and went back out and started shoveling when my dad said.....

"Mal. go inside and do....womanly things"

So I went inside and made quesadillas and quacamole

Christmas List

I just finished my last final. I got to school at 6 am this morning, wearing makeup and not wearing sweats, which was a big first for me. So now I'm done. DONE. I have this running joke with Becky, where anytime I think of something fun or otherwise awesome to do I always say (and now Becky always says too) "Let's do it over Christmas break." So Christmas break has begun officially, and since I added a blog post to the list about 15 minutes ago, I'm coming right along with my list. Also on the list: see New Moon again, eat strawberry fruities, deep fry something in my mom's (dad's) new deep frier, watch It's a Wonderful Life, journey to Newton, bake/cook something Christmassy, and watch some good SNL clips among others. So to start you off, Becky showed me this the other day and I cannot stop watching it.

Video of the Week (or of my life)

the name of the video is misleading...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtkU2ch0sRI

Three in a Row

makes me a self-proclaimed relationship expert. It only takes someone close by experiencing greater heartbreak to remind me how dramatic I really am. It's hard to watch someone go through something I went through 4 years (infinity) ago. My message is simple: he only breaks up with you when he doesn't want to date you anymore.

There's something else I'd like to talk about. Rubber rain boots. They're not appropriate to wear to church. Or to school. Or out in public. I will accept their wear for milking cows and other such farm work, gardening, or severe rainstorms. Even if they're made by Burberry.

I feel like it's only

fair that your heart gets time to heal before it gets broken again. But Generous always said life isn't fair. And she's always right.

I have fun with you,

but I'm not looking for anything serious right now. You've heard the line before, even if it wasn't directed at you, I'm sure you've seen it on an episode of Friends, Seinfeld, or the movie Hitch. I'm going to respectfully suggest that this is not what anyone really believes. What homeboy is trying to say is "nothing about having a serious relationship with you gets me really excited, so I don't really want to."

Remember how I talked about disappointment blending together? When something like this happens and I strangely just do not react like I did two years ago I can't help but think of my parents. Hear me out. I'm like whatever when I hear that. I get sad, then the next day I'm like "Who? Oh him? I don't know." Then I have to remember the boy I kissed first and how many tears I cried over the ugly ending. And I wonder how much heartache and disappointment one person will eventually go through. I have to think that my parents have had just as much heartache up until their 22 birthdays as I have, plus the 30 some additional years. Doesn't it blow your mind? I know.

I've always wanted to have the ability to avoid reacting to situations around me and I think I'm another step closer. Bring on the heartbreak.

Sentimental Girl

I've always felt like a small fish in a big big pond here in Happy Valley. I've felt like a little freshman who had confidence in spades in high school who suddenly finds her jokes completely out of touch with all these adults. Then one day, I show up to school and there are these little little girls who tell me how much they want to get married and how the game plan is to bake her boyfriend goodies until she gets a ring. And there is another little girl who cries because her roommates are super lame and I sit down and count 26 roommates I've lived with over the past 3 years and I try to convince her that one day these roommates and failed tests will blend in with all the other disappointments.

I look for jobs and so many are out of Utah, which is the only home I've ever known, and I wonder if I leave Provo single and go to some city in the Midwest have I just wasted the last 4 years? Single members come to this town from all over the world, and I am too picky to find one, and I'm about to hit up some city where my chances statistically must be reduced by an estimate of about 98.9%.

But I try to tell her that even though your dishwasher has sewage water backed up in it for the 13th time this semester, and that boy in your ward shoved your face in ice cream in a crowded Coldstone on your first date that there are still things to be happy about. I'm so happy for the mountains and the weather. And the temple and walks to school and the visits from your big brothers. And your niece just appearing in the Clyde where I spend 80% of my life. On top of that, your nephew gave you three kisses in a row on Sunday. It's kind of funny that you live in a dump and you are so poor you can't see New Moon. I get happy spending my time watching youtube videos with my friends and playing uno and volleyball. And honestly people would probably tell me I shouldn't be happy. But the thing I'm most grateful for is that my parents are married. I'm so thankful my brothers are married to my sister-in-laws and that everyone keeps trying to be a family even though we don't always say nice things to eachother. My buddy just went home for a custody battle over her younger siblings and my other little girlfriend ran away from home when she was 16. I don't really care anymore that my GPA is so low and that I don't weigh 130lbs. All I want to do is sit around the kitchen table and quote movie lines with my brothers.

And I think stuff like this every minute of every day counting day the moments to graduation when my world will really be turned upside down again. I can't help it. I want the time to slow down, and so it just keeps getting faster. I just try to enjoy every moment in apartment 16 even more.

The L3

I had to take a test this week called the L3. It stands for Level 3 [competencies.] In order to graduate with a degree in Chemical Engineering, I have to pass this test of 24 questions by answering 23 of them correctly. I get three tries, and on the second and third tries, I only have to answer a question for every competency that I missed. So the first time, most people missed between 2 and 5. If you missed 5 questions, you only have to take a test with 5 questions and if you answer 4 correctly, then you're done. If you don't pass in three tries, you have to spend another year here repeating classes.Make sense?

Well on my first try, I was completely shocked to miss 10. Yes, 10. I was pretty devastated. I took the test for the second time on Friday and finished at 8 o'clock, which under normal circumstances I would have been very upset I was on campus that late at all. I was so pumped actually, because I missed two questions this time. So my confidence in graduating in April has actually come into being. I think I'm gonna do this. And I so enjoy the feeling of knowing I'm going to graduate and not spend an extra year repeating classes like a beloved Tommy Boy.

A Sitting Success

You might think I'm the worst sitter in the world, but I watched Edward Scissor Hands with Annabelle last night. I just put her in the bouncer and she bounced the crap out of that thing for 2 and half hours. (I started Princess Diaries when Edward was over.) It was so entertaining.

I did actually pick her up while I was there, what kind of aunt do you think I am? And this is the absolute best: she cuddled with me.

I'm Super Excited

I also really like the word super right now.

I'm hanging out with Annabelle when I finally get out of school today. We're going to paint nails and talk about boys and eat brownie mix. It's definitely going to be girl's night in. Although Brian and Cathy probably don't want us talking about boys so I'll be responsible...

It feels good to be home

or back I guess. I am so excited to finally sit down and write to you. I have been enjoying life so much lately. And I want to talk about it, because I don't have anyone to really listen to me except this computer screen, but I've really been trying to focus at school and not "waste" my time on the internet so I just have a bunch of pent up happiness. The thing that's really making me all moody is that the sun is out, and it's Friday afternoon. Let's see, what has happened since Mike's birthday? (by the way, he's 29. Yeah, he's not THAT old)

Alright the most exciting thing I've done is run in a race. It was a relay race, you may have heard of the Ragnar Relay Series. The Wasatch Back from Logan to Park City had some 650 teams in June, and me and some friends went to Las Vegas for their first down there. It was last minute, and a bit of a drive, but the opportunity presented itself and I needed to take it. The race was 171 miles, covered by 12 team members. We each ran 3 times. I ran 15 miles total, and I heard in the running world, if you run some distance within in a 24 hour period it "counts" as a single run. So I ran a half marathon? Cool. I ran 4.5 easy at 11 am on Friday, which was hotter than I'm used to, but I was fresh so I was ok. My next leg was 5.7 hard and I started around 9:30 pm at Lake Mead. It had been a long hot day, and I had a splitting headache so I was pretty nervous about running. On top of that, I never work out that late (or run hard twice in a day anyway) so I was definitely stressing. I was texting Bill (trainer/second father) and he reminded me I wasn't trying to win, just finish. So right before I started up a 6 mile hill, I pretended I was trail running with Bill and Jo and I just relaxed. I got so pumped. I ran so hard. It was by far one of my best runs period. The sun had gone down, which helped tremendously. I turned off my ipod and just listened to the silence out in the Nevada dessert. The dessert scenery is pretty ghetto compared to the mountains in Utah, but at night I didn't mind it at all.

I passed the slap bracelet to Karlie Anderson, and while she was running, Chelsea and I had the time of our lives. We had our glowsticks out and we danced on the roadside in the dark cheering on all the runners. I haven't had that much energy in a long time. It was a riot. I also did that to distract myself from my stomach. My friends say "you haven't run trails, until you go to the bathroom on the trail." I think it's safe to say I HAVE run trails. Our van passed off the baton to the second van around 2 am. We then made the drive to the next exchange where I would start my third run. Around 4:30 am my body had been purged of all liquids and solids.

I ran the last 4 and half hard miles on will power and stored fat. It was a pretty weak run, but I finished. And the sun hadn't come up yet so I was thanking the heavens for the blessing. I'm addicted now. I didn't run Monday or Tuesday, and on Tuesday I crashed hard. I was super depressed. I like to think I was having endorphin withdrawals (or something) (don't correct me Mike) (just kidding.)

This race made me realize how much I love taking that beating. I have always thought marathons are overrated, but I think I'm coming around. I might run one before I turn 25. We'll see.

My team

This is what happens after being up for 36 hours and running fifteen miles. I couldn't stop it...

1 last painful mile to go

Exchange 18 with my homegirl (time: 3 am)

Exchange 6 with Karlie. We are so hot right now.

Runners from the second car. You may recognize Sarah Standing...

And another one of me during a happy time of my life

The other thing I'm excited about is job hunting. It's weird, but I am so excited to be like "look I worked for 4 years, and I have a marketable skill. Want me to work for you? Sweeten the deal..." I'm not sure why I have suddenly decided that this is not the scariest thing in the whole world that could ever happen, but I'm glad, because I tend to stress waaaaaay too much. I wish I didn't, but such is life. That's why I run. Speaking of which, I can't wait for the next one.

This is me trying to blog. My roommate left me a bag of treats because she thinks I have been working hard every night on campus. This is just another reason I run. So I can eat. A lot.

I Shouldn't be Posting...

Because I have a huge report due in a few hours. But it is a special day. Tuesday. and Mike's birthday. Happy 30th homeboy. Also, I failed to mention two other brothers that are so special they rode a special bus to school. Eric and Greg. I hope you both had very special birthdays recently. Let's watch conference together again as soon as possible. Thanks mom and dad for having me and a metric ton of laundry home for the holiday. I love being with you guys.

The Problem

with running angry is that I have to run in one direction until the anger is gone. But when the anger is enough to fuel a 4 and half mile run, I have to turn around and come back. So I'm a little sore today.

The Baby

is 18 today. I love this little guy so much. Happy Birthday Corduroy.

A lot of Firsts

I participated in a triathlon on Saturday. (300 meter swim, 11 mile bike ride, 5K run.) It was awesome. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed it. My bishop is a personal trainer and owns a gym in Orem called Elevate. I was actually on Jeffs & Jeffs Justice League team, but I got to race alongside team Elevate. My bishop has a client who in 2007 weighed 396 lbs. he got gastric bypass surgery and lost about 80 lbs. in a month, then plateaued because he was still sendentary. Then he started working with Rich my bishop. This guy was literally on his deathbed with illness. Rich told Brian that he would do this triathlon. Brian said "screw" you. Well Brian completed this triathlon. I was standing next to him in line to get in the pool for almost an hour. I didn't find out all of this until the end of the tri and I had no idea what he had been through to get to place. I was so impressed. He was such a nice guy. I am always amazed how forgiving the human body is. It can do the most incredible things no matter how it's been beaten up. Joanne has a clipping from a magazine on her refrigerator that says "if you can walk from the couch to the kitchen, you are not too old, too fat, or too slow to run." After seeing Brian do that whole thing - and I was almost literally next to him the whole time, because he and Rich passed me on the bike ride, and I passed them again during the run- I truly believe that. It's really cool how they did this too. Rich has a treadmill with a big bar over it that you can attach a harness to, and put a runner in. Joanne did it once and Rich turned up the treadmill to almost 20 miles and hour, and since she is was the harness she wouldn't fall on her face. So Brian got in this harness and they lifted enough of his weight off of him so that it was like he weighed 80 lbs. He ran on 80 lbs for a week, then they bumped it up so that 85 lbs of weight were on his legs. They did this until his legs were strong enough, and he lost enough weight to run on his own. Anyways, I just thought that was a cool story.

Joanne took this picture, and it's the only one I have. So even though I look dead sexy, here it is.

The first day of my senior year. I sent Nat a text today and told her about my first day of school, and she asked if I got a picture in my new clothes and backpack. I thought I was so original.

In separations class, we got to separate m&m's. BYU is rigorous.

And these are my dirty feet after trail running last weekend. In case you needed to be appetized.

The Ending of an Era

The era that was exactly two weeks long.

So I thought Jeremy and Jandi were coming back from Disneymaniaworld on Monday. So I have my stuff all over their house Sunday night and I invited some friends over to watch a movie on my last night in the mansion. We're sitting around it's about 6:30, we're trying to pick a movie and just chatting. I had this urge to check my phone, which I tried to ignore, since everyone I invited over (which was about 20 people) (just kidding) was already there. I walked downstairs to get it anyway and there was a text from Jandi that was about 15 minutes old: We finally landed! We're on our way home!

"Um... guys... my cousins are on their way home, so... um"

"we should probably go"

"yeah"

At this point I assigned my three friends each a room to tidy up and get my stuff out of. I was picking up stuff wildly while they were taking trips to my car with armloads. I looked like a vagrant leaving their house. At one point my friend said "Oh you're cousins went to Cottonwood too?" "Um, no..." "Why do they have this Cottonwood blanket?" "Oh!! grab that and put it in my car!" It took us 35 minutes to get everything out of the house. I still managed to leave some airborne, bob pins, seasoning, a chocolate bar, and the Mean Girls dvd in the player. Unbelievable. Jeremy and Jandi couldn't have been nicer about my less than satisfactory (awful) house sitting habits. (I love to party.) They laughed with me tonight about how I was their second choice to house sit anyway (Josh Riddle was the first, Jeremy said-- yeah right.) And how they couldn't believe they didn't tell me when they were coming back. I'm glad those two both have a good sense of humor. And I'm glad they let me live the good life for a few weeks.

Mallory the House Sitter

A couple things first:

1) Happy anniversary to Brain and Cathy, and Mom and Dad. If it weren't for you and your nuptials I wouldn't be here, or have very many friends.

2) That id that I paid 10 dollars for wouldn't work anywhere on campus for a week and half. So I went to the office where I bought it and told them my scenario. The girl said I'll just print you a new one. (?) "Do you want a new picture?" "no" so she prints me one in like 5 seconds and I walked out. They made me ten for the first one, when the girl could have probably fixed that problem with a few mouse clicks. And I was still so mad I decided to keep sticking it to them with my angry face picture. When I get tired of my picture, I am going to go back and tell them it stopped working. I'll let you know what happens.

Last Tuesday, Jeremy and Jandi went on a Disney adventure with all of the Shorts' family. So they asked their favorite cousin to house sit. They live in a pretty rough neighborhood so my services have been of great use. After I got the run down of chores I would need to take care of while they were gone, Jandi said "so you can just come move your stuff in on Tuesday" to which I responded "is it ok if I don't sleep here every night?" (Um I have a social life at the Riv) Jandi said that was fine. Then I realized how much awesomer it is to live in a house than at that hole I pay for. I don't know how I am going to go back to the Riv. I can do my laundry. My roommates don't leave rotting messes in the fridge, sink, garbage, etc, etc. I can go to sleep whenever I want. The hot water has yet to run out on me in the shower (even with both shower heads going, yeah that's right, they have two shower heads. It's like the Celestial Kingdom.) I get to park my ride in the garage. Did I mention that Jeremy the lawyer has an HDTV? um yeah. I'm bragging for them now. It's hard not to get excited about this kind of thing when you are poor poor poor and living in a dump :)

So I'm just here to tell you what a champ I am at watering the lawn, and feeding the beta, and how I am living like a queen until Monday. Thank you Jer and Jandi. Seriously.

This Is What

an ID card looks like when I am mad they are charging me 10 dollars for it, and they won't let me use the picture I took 3 months ago. (with some photshop mods to info on my card.) I guess I showed them.

Thugs

Garrett in my wife-beat

The Happiest Place On Earth

Is definitely Gunn Ho, Bear Lake. That cabin just makes me so happy. The multi-colored carpet, furniture, and cupboards hold so many memories for me. I observed how the actual building, and the lawn, and the beach could make me enjoy myself even without anything specific to do. Maybe it's just that I feel like my life is so monotonous that the change is so welcome.

I was at the Bear Lake cabin since Tuesday. I went wakeboarding every morning with the kids my age. Our moms would have brunch cooking when we got back. We played volleyball for a few hours, then headed back to the beach for sunbathing and water weenie riding. Repeat for 4 days. It was so hard to leave. I just wanted to go boating forever. And honestly I'm just venting. I can't wait until I have a boat.

I Am Exceptionally Frustrated Right Now

So what better time to post? Right. I am sitting at work waiting which just stinks. I hate waiting. And I have been waiting for a while now, and I just don't want to get into it.

This weekend was pretty decent however. I spent a large portion with Matt. And well family all around. Matt came to Provo on Friday, July 3rd to sleep out and save a spot for the parade on Saturday. I am constantly agreeing to things like this with Matt because I have this desire to be the 'coolest' big sister. Sleeping out all night on the streets with a large crowd was a golden opportunity to score more points in The Matt's Favorite Sibling Game. I don't know who had a better time though, me or Matt.
We slept on University Avenue (it's a main street in Provo, so lots of cars, plus lots of cars because it's the 3rd of July in Provo, along the parade route) I sat with a couple of my friends and we just couldn't get enough of staring into the street at the bikers, the scooter owners acting like bikers, the teenagers, the cop cars, the sirens, the projectors lining the streets with guitar hero (because if we are going to sleep out for the parade, we don't want to be bored, and we sure don't want you to show us up by bringing your cooler and tent to the street.)

I got tired around 1 and pulled a blanket over my head and went to sleep. Apparently it started raining, then pouring. I didn't notice a thing. My friends asked me in the morning, "How on earth did you sleep through the rain?... and the bikers dragging the street all night?... and those obnoxious kids playing UNO at an unreasonable noise level just two feet away?" I just shrugged. I actually don't know how. I do remember waking up two times in the night and frantically wondering where Matt was. I don't remember if I actually found out the answer to that question ... Matt is hysterical though. I woke up for good at 6 am and Matt wasn't sleeping next to me, so I sat up and called his phone, and started looking around. I saw him before he answered his phone, 20 feet away, across the sidewalk, surrounded by three girls. I almost died laughing. Matt told me the girls had dry blankets and his were saturated. I told him I was proud of him for being solutions oriented. He and I headed home at this point and slept through the parade (really, sitting in the blazing sun would be irrational.)
Eric, Matt and I spent quality time watching tv, and Brian and Cathy fed Eric and I some delicious brats for dinner. We watched fireworks with Brian and Cathy, Mom and Dad, and Wayne and Lois.

Eric and I watching fireworks

Here's the cute baby girl we love:

Matt teaching me how to nose manual:

Center of Attention

So the other day I was in the cleanroom. To give you an idea of the scenario: the room has yellow lights so that we can use light sensitive chemicals, I am wearing a "bunny" suit which is like a big onsie complete with a hood, there are fans in the ceiling making all sorts of noise, and there are loud machines. So although the room is small, it's hard to hear others, so I like to turn my ipod up pretty loud and do my own thing. (Except when Brian and I watch SNL clips on hulu) I sort of feel alone because of the dim color, and the noise, and my hood. Anyways... so this particular day I'm sitting in front of this machine waiting for it to finish doing its thing and the song that comes on just needs to be changed. I keep my ipod in my shirt while I'm in the cleanroom for easy access. So I unzip my space suit a few inches and pull out my ipod, look for a new song then put it back in my shirt and zip up. One of the best parts about the cleanroom is that along one wall there are windows into the hall, so it's sort of like an aquarium full of nerds that, well, other nerds can look at. It's the summer so that halls are usually very empty. And no one in the cleanroom ever sees me pull my ipod out of my shirt. So just for good measure I turned to look at the wall made of windows and it looked like freshman orientation in the hall. There were about 30, 18 year old boys in the hall looking in while a professor gave them a tour. Awesome.

I Could Sleep Anywhere

And I mean anywhere.

• Yesterday I was being confirmed at Mt. Timpanogas and I felt asleep and jerked my head under the two sets of hands on my head. After, I laughed and apologized and the man was so nice. "It's ok, you've been sitting there a while" Yeah a total of about 2 minutes. What a nice guy.
• Another good temple one happened in the chapel at Provo. I was leaning over just pondering away, when I dozed and started leaning forward until my head nailed the bench in front of me making a loud crack. The girls I was with could hardly contain themselves when I opened my eyes and looked around.

I have three good falling-asleep-while-kissing stories, but since my parents like to try and control what I write on here, and I'm sure my parents and brothers would love hearing details about me kissing anyone I'll keep these fairly detail deficient.

• 1st- high school. I fell asleep while actually kissing, but managed not to get noticed (nice)
• 2nd- I'm in college now, I again fell asleep while kissing, but this time did the head jerk thing. I apologized, laughed. yeah.
• 3rd- I wasn't actually kissing this time, but cuddling and as I fell asleep I continued to talk and woke up only when he said "what?!" Just for your personal enjoyment I said "just remember, we'll always be watching you at Nordstrom" (it's a long story)

And just a non-kissing, non-temple one: I was on the porch with Jay and Kyle about two weeks ago and it was really late and I started rambling about something from highschool and then I thought where was I going with this? then I opened my eyes and they were just staring at me with puzzled looks on their faces then we all got up to go to bed. It was clearly too late.

Seriously So Grateful I Grew Up in the Hood

So this week my buddy Bonnie came over. We played some volleyball in the Riv (and beat the crap out of these kids who asked if they could play with us.) Around 7, we stop playing and Bonnie moved her car to a lot behind my building where you can park after 7. We're having a good time watching the Cavalier's game- don't act so surprised- when Bonnie says "Why is that guy towing my car?!" 

A select few have witnessed the Phillips when something is, for lack of a better term, going down. This includes vandalism, or anything involving our cars parked outside my parents', including vandalism. We take it very seriously. We run. We raise our voices if neccessary... and when it's not neccessary. Because it's habit. So I run through the parking lot while my friends are still trying to figure out what is happening. I yelled and told the punk to stop, which he heard thankfully. I told him the car was parked there after 7. He was definitely surprised I knew this rule (because it's sort of secret, I found out one night after my car booted and I was finally nice to a University Parking employee) At this point Bonnie caught up and started saying everything she could think of to get this guy to give her car back. I think I could have had more fun with the guy if she hadn't said anything at all, but don't worry I still had something to bring this conversation. He keeps shaking his head and acting like we don't have a leg to stand on. He claims there was an event going on all day across the street, and her car was there all day. So I told him "Hey if you don't want to get if off the truck, we'll call the cops" He got out of that car so quick. No, no, we don't need the cops, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Yeah you will pal. He checks out the note he posted on the car when he put a boot on it before towing it. 7:10. Yeah that's not gonna fly. If you don't boot after 7, you don't boot after 7. He quickly realized that "I thought that car was there all day" wouldn't hold up well either. 

My roommate Brittany (so cute) said "but would you really have called the cops?" (frownsmile.) The answer is yes. I've seen my brothers handle many a situation involving less intelligent employees/servants of the law/thugs. You know, life was rough growing up in Taylorvsille, but once again, Heavenly Father knows how he can use our experiences. He knows he can use me to punk University Parking if worse comes to worse.

I live my life, with this simple phrase present in the back of my mind

We left Nauvoo on Monday morning, and went to Chicago. We hung out at Navy Pier until everyone arrived, and we took a boat tour up the Chicago River. The second day in Chicago, we split up into two groups. One group took it a little easier, while the rest of us tired ourselves out seeing Chicago. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry (the coolest part was going into the replica mineshaft and seeing old working mining equipment,) the Shedd aquarium, dinner at Maggiano's, the Hancock tower, a swing by Nordstrom, then back to Milwaukee. We were beat!

Navy Pier...


Boat tour...
Keeping Garrett entertained by taking a stroll on Michigan Ave while we waited for dinner
SO hungry
Museum of Science and Industry...


Kinda crappy, but cute theoretically...
I wanted to be the Engineer, but Matt refused since he is taller
Sorry Mike about the blinking, again too cute not to show
Nerd paradise (mirror maze covered in hydrocarbons) I'm just indulging the stereotype I swear
That's the Field Museum, we didn't go in, this is just on the way to the Shedd Aquarium

Nat told me "You have to kiss a lot of frogs to find prince charming."
Mike kisses lizards...

So cute!
Photos by Deb. Seriously such a good photographer. No training at all!

Too much for one title

I have been snapping pictures the last few days in a higher volume than I normally do.  The reason being that I actually have subject worthy of the energy from the rechargeable Duracell batteries.

I am in Nauvoo, Illinois (Illinoise as Cathy likes to say) with all of my immediate family.  Mike graduated from medical school on Friday, and we all flew to Milwaukee to attend his graduation ceremony and celebrate a huge accomplishment. Sometimes as I sit and mope to myself about how hard my life is and why I chose this male slash idiot dominated major, and I don’t have time to play all day, every day,  I am reminded of Mike and how he has actually done something with his life which has required even more work and sacrifice than my thermo class. Then I cry more because moping always seems like it will make me feel better. ANYWAYS…

Getting on the plane was quite “delightful” 9 adults and two babies trying to get to the airport, through security, and in seats on the plane was something special in and of itself. Just being with my family stresses me out. Because what if they get stressed out and start yelling (and they will) and what if something goes wrong (and it won't, but it will SEEM like it.)

 Random, but my favorite part about the whole experience was watching Greg. First, Greg, Matt, Eric, and I stayed up until 2 am the night before watching Zoolander, and when that was over Greg wanted to watch Shanghai Noon, I just walked away without saying a thing. Second, while watching the movie he made a paper chain, to count the days until he was back in Utah. And third, I was sitting about 4 rows behind him when we left Salt Lake for Minneanapolis. I watched Greg rest his forehead above the window and stare at the mountains and the country side we flew over. This lasted for about 15 maybe 20 minutes. Not sure why, I just loved watching my big brother enjoy something.

In the rental car leaving the Milwaukee airport.

We went to the Brewers game at Miller Park as a family on Thursday (photo op!)

Mike graduated on Friday. While the names were read for the Doctors of Philosophy, Masters of Science, and something else, I took a good nap. It took talent to get into a position where I could sleep, but my years of training 1 hour, every Sunday, for my entire life, have paid off. They read his name, “Doctor Michael R. Phillips,” he walked across the stage, got his diploma, tripped on the way down the stairs, and now he’s a doctor. He will no longer respond to any name unless it is prefaced by Doctor, so you’ve been warned. (just joking obviously.)  Afterwards we ate dinner at a charming restaurant called Osteria in downtown Milwaukee. 

I absolutely love this one of Greg and Mike

And  Mike's smile is so cute in this one

Today we got in a caravan to come to Nauvoo. I was with Brian and Cathy and we had a lot of fun. The roadtrip from Milwaukee to Nauvoo started out so exciting, then after about 4 hours our heads were pounding and we were all sick of the car. (I’m projecting my feelings, but this is a good estimate I think)

We had a wild night tonight. I think the main reason being that we are all in one hotel room. It’s actually a suite with two queen beds, and three sets of bunkbeds. Basically we are all crammed in here and it only makes every joke funnier. Garrett wiggling through everyone’s legs is also very entertaining. It is currently 11:15 PM and Nat and I are on a top bunk snuggled up with our laptops, because we both know our fans and blogs cannot wait. Some of the excitement as follows: