welp, the moment has arrived. this will be my last blog post before the mish. from here on out, my blog will be managed by the lovely alison, who will be posting letters, hopefully photos, and maybe even a cartoon or two if i can figure out how to work that from across the ocean.
it's been real, guys. write me and stuff.
Sister Amy Hansen MTC Mailbox # 154 TAHI-PAP 0915 2005 N 900 E Provo, UT 84604-1793
there was this one time, when i was like 17 i think. i was doing something that i knew i shouldn't have been doing, but in my teenage omniscience had decided that the rule was stupid because i obviously knew better. anyway, i was la-dee-daing my way around, flouting my parents' rules when my dad got home. he walked in, took one look at me, and calmly said, "that's not ok." and walked away. and that's all he had to say--my heart immediately sunk to the floor, and with those simple words, i knew what an idiot i had been.
i'm not trying to say that i love my dad because he can make me feel like an idiot in 3 words or less. i'm trying to say that i love my dad because he has such a no-nonsense "you know what's right, so do it" attitude.
he is unfailingly honest and has an incredible work ethic--every labor day, he would make us go out and work in the yard all day instead of going out to play with our friends. ("that's why they call it LABOR day.") my dad has taught me so much, like how to make a budget and change a bike tire, but also how to do what i know to be right and good, even if it might not be fun or easy. my dad taught me that people make mistakes, but it's not the mistakes that make the people, but rather what they do afterwards to change.
my dad is a good man, and i love him.itty-bitty (angry) baby paul!
today my dad taught me how to change and patch bike tubes. he thought it would be irresponsible to send me off biking in the tropical wilderness without this knowledge, and i agreed, considering i had no idea that bike tubes even existed.
i used some tools and muscles and sweated and grunted and stuff. first i did my bike, with new tires, and i thought i was pretty hot stuff. then i had to do my dad's bike, and his tires are old and hard, so it took longer. but i did it, so the moral here is: i still think i'm pretty hot stuff. first i took the tire off the bike. then i took the tire off the wheel (which is harder than it might seem, hence the grimace in photo 2). then i took its guts out. then i put new guts in. then i put the tire back on the wheel. then i aired it up. then i put it back on the bike. then i rode away.
so i found this thing that teaches people how to do a crown braid and decided i needed to immediately try it, since it would help me fulfill my secret dream of looking like a von trapp child. guess that dream ain't really a secret anymore.
i got about halfway there and then i couldn't figure out how to make my left arm suddenly become my right and vice versa, and things got complicated. excuse the squirrel tail that seems to be coming out of my head.
anyway, i'll try again, of course, so i can make my dream come true. in the meantime, let's focus on how adorable this picture is:weee!
this is funny and adorable: *i suggest actually watching the video on youtube, because for some reason you can't click out of the ad on the blog. and the subtitles are prrreeeettty necessary sometimes.
so this weekend, i went with my parents up to camp verde, az. we got up at 6:30 in the morning to go out hiking in the desert and doing some geocaching, which my dad is really into.
i know what you're thinking--amy, getting up early, to do physical activity...in nature? obviously you're perplexed, because all of these things are so contrary to my fundamental principles. it's a new day, people. a new day. not really, because i still hate getting up early, doing physical activity, and nature and i have yet to form a really close bond, considering most of the sounds coming out of my mouth during the hike were "ew," "oh my gosh...", "ahhh!!", and various forms of whimpering.
like the one time my dad decided to play a joke that there was a rattlesnake next to us. which was especially funny since i had grilled him on the way there about what to do if i saw one. if screaming and peeing my pants was the standard procedure, i passed with flying colors. just kidding, of course i didn't scream.
then we kept finding these little burrow holes in the ground with which my dad was fascinated, saying that "ant lions" lived in them. right? we couldn't ever get one to come out, so i was forced to go home and google it to see if it really existed. it does, and it looks like THIS: SO GLAD THAT THINGS THAT LOOK LIKE THIS EXIST. NOT.
also, there were bugs that sounded like the first part of this led zeppelin song. i kid you not. just imagine hearing that aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhAH! in nature.
all in all, it was a great day for some fambly bonding, and my dad was able to find his milestone cache. way to go, pops!
i decided it was time to try and go to bed around 1 a.m. then i proceeded to lay in my bed until about 4:15. then i got pretty hungry and mad that i wasn't asleep. so then i ate some pasta and sat at my kitchen table for a half an hour, still mad about not being asleep but feeling good about not being hungry anymore.
oh, did i mention that i'm going on a mission in 22 days? i feel pretty great about that.
i have no idea what the crap is going on with pretty much everything else in my life, but at 4:59 a.m., it's not really having too much of an effect on me. actually, i don't think too much is currently having an effect on me considering i just spent the last half hour contentedly staring at my kitchen cupboards. when i finally do fall asleep, i'll probably wake up and delete this post, because i'm pretty sure it's worthless.
mom: "do you want some lunch?" me: "nah i'm not really hungry right now." mom, indignantly: "well did you eat breakfast?" me: "...yes." mom, skeptical: "what did you have?" me: pause, "cheese, a haagen dazs bar, and a tortilla." (run away) mom: "AMY!!!"
welp, the moment has arrived. this will be my last blog post before the mish. from here on out, my blog will be managed by the lovely alison, who will be posting letters, hopefully photos, and maybe even a cartoon or two if i can figure out how to work that from across the ocean. 
itty-bitty (angry) baby paul!
my life is pretty funny right now.
first i took the tire off the bike. then i took the tire off the wheel (which is harder than it might seem, hence the grimace in photo 2). then i took its guts out. then i put new guts in. then i put the tire back on the wheel. then i aired it up. then i put it back on the bike. then i rode away. 
guess that dream ain't really a secret anymore. 
excuse the squirrel tail that seems to be coming out of my head. 
weee!
so i went on a date with my dad last week to go see a production of "les misérables." describe it in one word, you ask? 
not really, because i still hate getting up early, doing physical activity, and nature and i have yet to form a really close bond, considering most of the sounds coming out of my mouth during the hike were "ew," "oh my gosh...", "ahhh!!", and various forms of whimpering. 
which was especially funny since i had grilled him on the way there about what to do if i saw one. if screaming and peeing my pants was the standard procedure, i passed with flying colors. just kidding, of course i didn't scream. 
right? we couldn't ever get one to come out, so i was forced to go home and google it to see if it really existed. it does, and it looks like THIS: 
SO GLAD THAT THINGS THAT LOOK LIKE THIS EXIST. NOT. 
