camping recap.

so i went camping with my two brothers, sister, and their respective famblies for memorial day weekend. here is some stuff that happened:

i wore a cowboy hat one day and sang a medley of disney songs by a river.

i made friends with a child out of fear that if i didn't, he might kill me in my sleep. turns out he was a funny little kid who has a dream and the best kool-aid perma-stache i've ever seen.
kid: "when i'm twelve, i'm going to change my name to justin."
me: "oh cool. like justin bieber?"
kid: "no. i hate him."
me: (crap please don't kill me)
i drank a lot of soda and ate some stuff made over a fire.
i had a good time with the fam.

let me tell you about why i'm funny.

a few weeks ago i had to go to san francisco with a group of young elders to get our visas from the french consulate. after spending a day with these 19 year old boys, i questioned my sanity in deciding to go on a mission, but in the end i left with endearing feelings towards them. they gave me their address at the MTC and made me promise to send them a package.

"and send pictures of you and your friends too. your girl friends."

yeah ok.

oh i sent them pictures of girls alright.


i think they're gonna LOVE it!

pointing fingers

this is my dear friend megan's baby. this is a video they took while messing with him. apparently he does NOT like it when people point at him. it makes me laugh EVERY time, especially his outraged scream at 0:44. so funny.
rest assured that they're good parents and they love lil' e.j. (YEAH I SAID IT MEGAN!!) very much. as do i.

that's just how my face is.

sometimes the internet decides to freeze when you're in unfortunate facial expressions during a video chat so that the last image the other person has of you makes you look like a crazy person. no big deal.

probably will make you feel uncomfortable.

here are some questions i've posed to gmail recently:
wait what? people still chat on AIM? AIM still exists? i wonder if i can log into my old screen name from 9th grade...(bluejeanbaby373, by the way, inspired from a legacy growing up listening to neil diamond)


wait what??? what in my emails is prompting these ads? i'm pretty sure i've never mentioned anything about my cervix, to anyone, ever. in fact, i'm pretty sure before this moment in time, i've ever even thought about my cervix.

now that i've brought it up though, i guess it's pretty safe to say that gmail forced me to think about my cervix, ergo forcing all who read my blog to think about it as well. am i allowed to say cervix (4 times) on the internet??

...sorry.

in other news

got my diploma in the mail today. it's official, i graduated college.

and my nephew gave me a little baby tomato from his garden.(please excuse my lack of make-up. the only living things i've seen today have been dogs and my parents, so i didn't really feel super motivated to get ready.) the race for favorite niece or nephew is on, and gavin is throwin' down the gauntlet with this first offering. so far, surprisingly enough, this girl is in last place, because she refuses to play with me. also, my 16 year old nephew locked me out, so he's on thin ice too.

just kidding.

but seriously.

dogs.

so dogs have been on my brain a lot lately, namely because i'm consumed with a fiery hatred of my neighbor's dogs, which bark incessantly. (remember this? yes, well they still exist. and i still hate them.)

also, i've been taking care of my sister's dogs while she's out of town. she has two big ones, their breed escapes me, but they're large enough to scratch the living daylights out of my, ahem, future baby feeders when they jump on me. and then she has one little one, that might actually be capable of levitation. she got so excited to see me that she peed on me. which was cool.

not.

here's the thing. i love the idea of having a dog. in my fantasy, i have this great dog that i take on walks and play fetch with, and it lays its head in my lap as i read, and eats robbers when they try to steal my stuff. but this said dog wouldn't smell (i'm sorry, regardless of how recently you've washed a dog, it still smells like a dog. a clean dog, yes, but still a dog), wouldn't jump on me, wouldn't bark inconveniently, wouldn't pee on me/my floor, and wouldn't lick or slobber on me. the problem is, this dog does not exist, so i would be left with...this:

fancy nancy

i have very tender feelings in my heart for the wonderful woman i call mother, and today i had the chance to reflect on the things that make her so great--they are many, but here are just a few.

my mom always used to hold my hand when we crossed any and every street. before we even set foot on the pavement, she had a good grip on my lil' fingers. this continued until i was about 11, and probably only stopped because i refused to be seen holding anyone's hand crossing the street. ("moooom i'm not a baaaby!") in thinking back on this, i have to smile, because i know that she wasn't holding my hand to baby me--she just has a natural instinct to nurture and protect. something as simple as holding my hand to cross a street was her way of saying to me, "i'm here, and i love you."

my mom also always used to make me (and all of her children living at home) do chores and clean my room. every saturday was "good clean" day, where the havoc wreaked during the week (in my room only, because she somehow kept the rest of the house immaculate) had to be rectified before any sort of play could happen. every time, i thought i could outsmart her by shoving everything under my bed, in the closet, under my sister's bed, wherever--every time, she found me out (seeing as how i was the youngest of 7, she'd pretty much seen it all by the time she got to me), and always made me go back and do it right. after living with some roommates who honestly just didn't know how to take care of a living space, i am immensely grateful that my mom taught me how to wield a vacuum, a toilet brush, and those novel little things called hangers.

i've learned some stuff in college, that's not being disputed here. but at the end of the day, the things that i really need to know i learned at home, due in large part to my mom. whether it was her dragging my butt outta bed for early morning scriptures, telling me "no you cannot eat dinner at so-and-so's house because we eat as a family" for the fifty bajillionth time, coming to my 2nd grade play to watch me in my break-out role as a pancreas (digestive system unit), or firmly standing behind me in my good decisions while gently redirecting me after my bad ones, my mom has always tried to teach me what is important in life.

so here i raise my glass to nancy hansen--my mother, my teacher, my friend. i couldn't have asked for anyone better to hold my hand throughout whatever roads i cross in life. i love you.

well lookee there

when i read in my mission packet that i was allowed to bring "closed-toe sandals," i thought "yeah i think in america they call that a shoe. a closed-toe sandal is impossible."

doubt not, fear not, amy hansen. urban outfitters will provide.

new best friend

OH I MAKE IT WORK, TIM.

**post edit: this is not a depiction of dieter f. uchtdorf. even though i love him too.

here's to you, provo summer

lazy mornings
air-dried hair
watching project runway like it's my religion
reading in the sun
bike rides
roasting weiners and makin' smores
getting said smores alllllll over my face and couldn't be happier about it.

so hats off to you, provo summer. let's make the next two weeks unforgettable.