round 2

ok, so i guess i wasnt smiling the first time around. is this better???

ps. in case you're wondering, maybe one of those pairs of glasses was last worn while wearing a Nala t-shirt the day i got my braces off. i should have my mom dig up some of those pictures....

oh, hey there.

ok, so maybe i'm getting a little sentimental. i got out all of my old glasses and had a little photoshoot. i had my very last refraction today for my surgery on THURSDAY MORNING. to say i'm excited would be an understatement. i've had a few people a little dissapointed that i was having eye surgery.
"but your glasses are so cute!!"

well, thank you. don't worry, i'm sure they'll make appearances here and there.
but for now, i'd get used to this look:

ok, maybe not that exact look, but you get the point.

this is why i hate hiking.

so this week, my cousin had a grand idea to hike ensign peak. i've hiked ensign peak before...in 1996. i knew it was going to be a short hike, but heard it was kind of steep. guess what, i heard right. granted, i'm out of shape, but i felt like i was walking straight up the side of a mountain. in reality, i kind of was. you'd think i'd be able to hike .47 miles without stopping to use the bathroom (by bathroom, i mean mother nature), but that didn't seem to be my luck.

the views really were beautiful, but in all honesty, they looked the same as they did in 2006. i guess this hike/views will last me another 6 years??

 so we got to the top (yippee) and then realized that we hadn't brought any water and being on the peak, were closer to the blazing sun. a stranger offered us water and we turned him down (looking back, that was a dumb decision). we chatted, enjoyed the view, and then decided to head back down.
that's when it happened. massacreee. lindsey had a little mishap and ended up spraining both ankles, which i've actually heard is impossible. let me be the first to tell you, it is possible. all of the sudden we were at the top of ensign peak in the blazing heat of the day...and we couldn't walk down. (i've leaving out a TON of details, fyi) we called a rescue team, aka my aunt and cousin who hiked up to the top and helped up down with crutches.
perk of the peak: we did get to see the sunset, which wasn't originally planned :)

what should have taken an hour took a little over 5. i'm happy we all made it down alive, and convinced that if this would have happened anywhere else, or we didn't have a phone...someone would have found our dead bodies.

wedding bliss

when i told people my brother was getting married over the weekend, i got the same answer over and over again. "didn't your brother just get married???" well, yes he did. but this is other brother. we were so excited for another reason to get together and celebrate with family. the day was perfect. we love nathan and caitie!!

(did i mention that my sister hailie is a very talented photographer? she was good enough to sneak some of these shots. did i also mention she is extremely cute pregnant?)

my double trouble brothers. too much.

handsome boys.

love this girl. hate that she always looks like a model.

sometimes i still can't believe that this is my family. there are so many people!

i forget that we are all grown ups now. weird!!
i'm also remembering now that our photographer was having some issues with height in this picture. she said we were all the same height and so it was just so hard. i was standing in the middle, and after alot of moving around, i ended up on the end. looking at the picture now, i'm understanding it just looked weird to have the shortest person in the middle. just in case you were wondering, matthew and i measured ourselves at grandmas this week. i haven't grown at all in 10 years. matthew grew an inch in 6 months, officially making me the shortest person in my family. i guess i better get used to standing on the end in pictures....

best dad in the world. happy fathers day, dad!!!

we even had time to practice our model shots. seriously.

do i have beautiful sisters or what????? good thing i have megan and caitie... now i don't look so out of place with my dark hair :)

a taste.

let these tickle your tastebuds.

come in, and know me better man...

if you can tell me what movie that's from, you get major points. when i used to live in the sugar shack with the *best roommates in the world*, if [name withheld] was in the shower and you knocked on the door to see if you could come in (we only had one bathroom for 4 girls. we learned to share), she would say that. and i would laugh every. time. it's still funny to me.

i've been watching the bachelorette. stupid, i know. and i hate bentley as much as the next guy. and yes, i'm annoyed that ashley can't get over it...but at the same time, it's easy to understand where she's coming from. it's easy to get your eye on the prize. think of the best outcome. set high expectations....all the while not knowing what's going on behind the scenes. the only thing different is that she did it on television for everyone to see, so it makes me feel like maybe i'm not as dumb in the end. right?

tomorrow is my friday at work. thank goodness. i don't know why it's been such a long week. oh wait, it's because it has been a long week. i haven't been sleeping well this week. i know i should be in bed now, but instead i just got out of the shower and i'm sitting here with a towel on my head. whoops.

tonight i went to the mall by myself. i was looking for a certain accesory, and didn't think i'd actually find it, but decided to go anyways. the gateway is a cool mall, and i never realized how it turns into a hangout place during the summer. i guess when i lived in provo, i was content with my malls down there and so never made the trek up to salt lake to shop at the gap. there were a ton of people out. people performing on corners. restaurants with outside seating. kids playing in the water. heck, there was even a dance recital going on. it's a cool place! even though i didn't buy what i had planned to buy initially, it was fun to go and people watch. stroll. window shop. it was theraputic.

on tuesday night i joined my mom and grandma to a ward activity. they had someone come and speak on the 5 love languages. ever heard of it? i got on earlier in the day and took a little quiz to see which of the love languages i respond to, or "speak". it's really very interesting, you should look into it. on our way there, i asked my mom which one she thought i was.
"gifts. you like giving gifts, and you often are what you do for others"
interesting, because gifts was my lowest scoring love language. and then i sat through the presentation and learned a thing or two. did you know sometimes people give gifts, not because it's their love language, but because they are actually wanting something else in return? (and i don't mean another gift) she shared a story about a woman that gave gifts actually seeking words of affirmation. tricky. don't get me wrong, i love to serve and i love to give gifts....but my love language is quality time. undivided attention. i think i learned that i do alot of things for other people, not because i'm expecting service or gifts in return...but quality time. wow, if that's not confusing, i don't know what is. i guess it makes more sense if you're familiar with the 5 love languages concept, but still. it made me realize why i'm maybe a little sensitive it someone blows me off, or doesn't call, or accepts the other plans that leave me in the dust. i like spending time with people. real time. real good time. just in case you were wondering....

i get to wear jeans to work tomorrow because i donated 5 dollars to  fighting blindness. it was a good idea, i think, especially when we never get to wear jeans ever. so, for 5 dollars you get a little ribbon saying you've donated, and thus jean day at the moran was born.

today while the sun shines...

i worked my bumpies off today. but i didn't over work my bumpies today, so i was a little suprised to be so tired at the end of the day. truth be told, i didn't wear the best shoes to work today, and i think that played a part. boo. i learned my lesson (read: my hips learned their lesson).

on saturday, i met up with this crew to go to the temple. and then we went to a bridal shower for caitie...

 because in case you forgot, these two are getting married on friday. it's going to be a great great weekend.

don't worry, i got my hair cut tonight, so it won't look like the mop it does in the picture above. i came home and hopped in the shower, and then was going to sit on the couch in my housecoat and blog and watch pointless television. but no, i was lucky enough to have a secret suprise visitor. a good friend i haven't seen in a while stopped by, and then he took me on a ride in a very fast car. and we went very fast. for my fathers sake, i won't post numbers, but heaven sakes. it was great.

and now, i'm pooped. i told myself i have to go to bed on time this week so that i can bank up my energy for this weekend. :) 

let the good times roll.

its about time you knew...

ok, so i've had a few friends post videos of them singing lately. that's all fine and dandy, but i didn't want to hide my candle, you know the whole bushel thing. my fake vibrato has actually improved quite a bit from this impromtu performance video i made for my secret counselor at efy last summer [we were supposed to reveal ourselves to our secret counselor at the end of the week. aren't i creative??] i realized today that i do best fake vibrato when i sing along with carrie underwood. yes, i belted it in the car today driving down the canyon from park city. and after carrie was done singing a duet with me, i decided to sing my thoughts in weird ugly singing vibrato. wow, i know you're really sad you weren't there for that commute. in a weird way, it was kindo of theraputic to ugly sing your kind of serious thought process.

 and yes, this video serves 2 purposes...helping me get over my not doing efy blues and showcase my talents. i know it's no national anthem, or my own composition...[well, actually, i did write it...so i take that back] 

so, eat your heart out. and then remember that this is not a serious video at all. even though we practiced before we actually made it, we practiced it ugly. and dang, my hair was short. i kind of miss it.....a little bit, maybe.

ham on rye for life.

seconds, please.

i'm not talking about dinner here, people. i'm talking about cousins. i am over the top lucky when it comes to the cousin department...and not just in first cousins. i've been pen pals with these girls and been camping with them once a year since i can remember. oh, the adventures we would have "off in the woods". and maybe we bonded over having weekend crushes on other cousins. [ok, we were young and maybe didn't fully understand] these cute girls are married now and have cute little families, but it's always a riot to catch up with them over memorial day weekend at the dfc. [ps, we were at the family dance, which might explain some of the poses. i'm sure justin bieber was on...or the chicken dance or something...]

my mom made a good point at campout this year. most people spend memorial day weekend remembering the dead. visiting cememtaries. she pointed out how lucky we are to remember our heritage, our ancestors by celebrating life and family relationships. [i hope that made sense] i agree with mom on this one. i'm so grateful to belong to a family where we remember where we came from, the legacy that was left by my ancestors, and celebarte the relationships we have and the gospel that blesses our lives.

here's to family. here's to cousins. here's to seconds.

let me clarify...

• i hate the new old navy commercial. if i hear the vacay sway one more time, i'm going to [vomit]
• bentley is a j-e-r-k. so comforting to know he's from salt lake city, isn't it?
• today i met with our refractive specialist. i got really good news. and then i watched my "educational video" and took my advanced surface treatment quiz. now i just have to get a few more measurements and then i'll be ready for surgery. to say i'm getting excited is an understatement!!!
• i know people say that honesty is the best policy, but sometimes it can just be really hard to be honest with people. it always seems to be people you care most about, and it always seems to involve feelings in my case. why? sometimes i think i tell myself i'm just avoiding drama, when in reality i might actually be creating it by not being honest with my feelings. whhheewww. that's alot.
• i hate rc willey commercials. who in the world picks out paige davis' outfits? they are horrible. she is horrible.
• i llllllllloooooooooovvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeee this commercial. i laugh outloud everytime i see it.
• i ordered my future sil's bridal shower invitations on shutterfly. guess what, they NEVER came. i called to complain and get my money back. instead, they wanted to redo my order and have it overnighted to me. fantastic, except it's an invitation for a shower on saturday. i'm going to mail them on tuesday. that means people will get them on thursday. rsvp regrets only. way to go, shutterfly. you've got a customer for life.
• guess who came to visit me this week?? this guy. (sorry linz. you happen to be in one of the only normal pictures of me and ryan!) WHAT A SURPRISE!!! i'm more than happy it was a slow day in clinic. i got to clock out, and go sit and talk with my fake husband for over an hour. love this kid, and glad he lives [kind of] close.

• these girls are coming to my house on wednesday. i have a feeling there will be ice cream. alot of talking. and alot of laughing. i don't get to see these girls as often as i would like, but when we get together....watch out.

• i just started watching extreme makeover weight loss edition. i have a feeling that i am going to be weeping in about 4 minutes.
• my work has a triage clinic. it's like an ER for eyeballs. as far as i know, it's the only one of it's kind salt lake and davis county (don't quote me on that). sometimes it's really slow. sometimes it's really busy. and you never quite know what you're gonna get. i worked there this afternoon, and it was cah-razy busy. dang. that's all.
• did i mention i'm getting a little excited about getting lasik? just checking. :)

i love saturdays

this morning i woke up...on my own. no alarm. no worries of being late. no place to be. it was a good feeling. i threw on my running shoes and went for a run around the neighborhood. good thing no one was home to say "back so soon??". remember, i'm just starting to run again so i'm still working up to my full runs. :)
i came home and went out and layed in the back yard while i read my lesson (i get to teach relief society tomorrow!!!). the sun was shining. there was a nice cool breeze. it was perfect. ps...have you listened to the mormon channel? i've had the app on my phone for a while, and usually listen to the "radio" sunday mornings while i'm getting ready for church. i've heard about other things the mormon channell offers, but i had never actually listened to anything else. after i read my lesson, i listened to conversations with elder and sister bednar. it was fantastic. they mentioned a talk that sister bednar had given previously where she addressed modesty and reverence to womanhood. don't worry, i read it this afternoon and it's really good. very bold, but i think that's what us young folks need these days.
i took a hot show pow. watched some tlc, and now i get to head up to bountiful to see dear friends and see the new xmen movie. yee haw. speaking of movies....i saw source code in the dollar theater last night. holy smokes, i still don't know what to think about the whole thing. overall, i really liked it. now i just need to wait for water for elephants and something borrowed to come to the dollar theater. i guess i wasn't quick enough, and now they aren't playing anymore. boo.