Mr. Z

June 7th, I went on my first date with a Mr. Zane O'Gwin.

We got ice cream, and went on a little walk. 

It was pretty much perfect.

But I had a boyfriend, who I liked.

{He knew I was on this date, I was honest, I swear.} 

So after the date was over, I told Zane that he was great, and I'd love to be friends, but no more one on one. 

Then a couple weeks later, and exactly a month ago today, he invited me to a BBQ with some of his friends. 

I didn't find out till much later how much effort went into finding something "groupy" Zane could ask me to do. Apparently we both felt strongly that our first date wouldn't be the last, and he made sure of it. 

This BBQ non-date was even better than our first.

And I have hardly left his side since. 

Thanks to Sagan for always snappin' secret pictures. 

Im standing on a long board, Im not taller than him I swear. 

And I thought it was time I officially introduced you.

This is the boyfriend. 

He is somethin special, and I think you'll like him a lot.
I definitely do. 

Winnie The Pooh and Harry Too

Sometimes when you are dating you fall into what I've dubbed "a movie rut".

When you see someone sometimes 6, but usually 7 days a week, you simply don't have the energy, or the means, to be doing something exciting every night.
This is where movies come in.

On our worst days as a couple, we watch 4 movies in a row...

Some, like Winnie The Pooh, and Harry Potter are actually worth watching.
Others, like 3 hours of an anime series, are not.

More often than not, one of us will fall asleep.
And more often than that, both of us fall asleep.

We could choose to go our separate ways when things get that boring, but we'd rather be bored together. And thats okay.
It seems less pathetic than if you were home by yourself asleep in front of your TV.

Needless to say, there are no pictures of this, and there isn't much to blog about either.

But life is good.

And so is Winnie The Pooh, seriously, go see it.

A boy Like Mine

Find yourself a boy like mine, and you'll get to wake up to this.

Who says a man needs an occasion to buy you your favorite flowers?

Rodeo Drive

The weekend of the fourth as come to an end, and I'm feeling a little sad.

There is always a little bitter note when holidays end, like after you open presents on Christmas.
It's the reality of having to return back to ordinary, magicless days, giving you a little pinch.

I ended my 4th with the O'Gwins at a rodeo.

I have had one prior experience with rodeos that I can remember, and it wasn't a great one. I left early actually.
I am not a huge animal cruelty activist, I'm no member of peta, but something about watching those calf's get roped around the neck and yanked to the ground tugs at my heart strings.
I understand they are okay, and that cowboys love their little farm animals, but lets be honest, it's got to hurt the cows, bulls, and horses at least a little bit.

But I was invited to a rodeo and I wasn't going to be rude and decline, so I went.
I actually had a good time!
Maybe the crowd was bigger, or the music was louder, but I couldn't hear the little calf's yelps of pain this time. And I adopted a new motto,
"if you cant hear 'em crying, then don't worry about 'em."
'em so I sound more like a cowgirl, duh.

And at the end they even had a cool fireworks show, which turns out is all it takes to keep me happy.
It was a fun way to end the holiday.

Silly pictures at the rodeo. If Zane looks like he is about to fall asleep,

 it's because he totally is. 

Bye Bye Best Friends

Lindsey got the job she interviewed for in Logan, which is pretty amazing for her, but it means that she has to move to Logan in about a week, for the rest of the summer, which basically sucks for me.
Hillary is moving to Ecuador in about a week till November, which is even more amazing, but also really sucks for me.

Granted the three of us spend a lot of our days apart from each other even when we're home, but the comfort of having them so close has been a blessing since we were neighbors in Snow Hall.
I am excited for both of them, but I am going to miss having them around so much it hurts to think about a little bit.

Luckily there are a few other people, who kind of love me, who are willing to keep me occupied for the rest of the summer...

I think Some QT with my Catherine..

And being serenaded by Zanela,

Will keep me happy enough to get by.

Sparklerzzz

I spent another night with the O'Gwin's and their fireworks last night.

This time I got to be apart of the choosing of fireworks. Naturally being the girly girl I am, I made Zane buy giant pink sparklers.
They were a hit.

I always have awkward hands..

How adorable are these boys?!

The girls with our pink sparklers, and our boys!

The boys balancing us on one leg, not as smooth as they make it look. 

I may or may not have burned Nate's head with my sparkler cause of this.

PS: Sonny helped me make my own firework bomb this time, and it was pretty much the best one EVER.

PPS: The 4th might be my new favorite holiday. 

pactuuures.

I decided the 30 days is boring me.
I will come back to it when I am desperate.

Since I quit FB, I have found my picture taking to be lacking.
So, I made a conscious effort to pick up the slack these past two days.
And I know those of you who used to creep on me are curious for a little update, and I am a people pleaser sooo.... let's talk!

Braden is near and dear to me, but since we both have our own busy lives {both meaning mostly him} we don't get together that often. Usually I get 10 min visits once a week or so, but this week I talked him into coming to dinner with my family.
Some days I'm convinced my family loves him more than they love me.
I'm okay with it.
We went to China Lilly. The food was delicious, and the company was perfect.

Hillary leaves for her cruise in 2 days, and Lindsey leaves for Lake Powell tomorrow. So I tried to get in some quality time with my besties before they deserted me in Orem.
Yogurtland with Hill obviously. It is our new addiction.

Then Lindsey and I made a little trip to Logan. She had a job interview, and didn't want to make the drive all by her lonesome, naturally being the amazing friend I am, I agreed to wake up at 7:30 and go with her. 

It wasn't bad at all, we had good car talks like always. 

Plus, it turns out Logan is really beautiful this time of year. 

And tonight I got my first taste of 4th of July fever with the O'Gwin family. 

The 4th has rarely been a big holiday for my family, we are more birthday and christmas people, but it's a big hit with the O'Gwins. 

Basically as early as it is legal, they are setting off fireworks. 

They actually take them apart, or tape them up, and turn them into little homemade bombs. 

Even though I had a deadly encounter with a homemade bomb gone wrong, {I was literally saved by a boy's quick reflex to swat a firework from hitting me in the face}, and I had a gas bomb explode all over me, I had a lot of fun.

Pretty neat huh?!

Crazy fun brothers

More on this to come...

Gone CRAZY.

I interrupt my 30 days to make an extremely important announcement.

I have gone CRAZY.

I can't really explain why it happened, or how.
But somewhere between yesterday morning and this afternoon, I went insane.

I have deleted my facebook.
I have had a tiny desire to do this for quite some time now. I am way to involved with that social networking site it's verging on disgusting.
And I suddenly hated the idea of people watching my life, and being able to twist and contort my reality into whatever they want.
And I realized I didn't want to be twisting other people's realities around, on accident or not, either.

I want to live my life without so many eyes on it.
Eye's I don't like, or don't know.

This I am sure, is a phase. I will back on FB eventually, hopefully with a healthier relationship, but as for now, I am crazy.

I also broke things off with my red head.
This one had a bigger thought process behind it, but it was still very sudden.
I didn't know that was what I needed until I woke up this morning.
I love the boy so much. He was my first friend at USU, and now he is one of my best friends.
He came into my life with such perfect timing, and brought everything I'd been needing with him.
In less than a year he has already begun to shape me into the adult I'll soon be.

The problem is, I don't know who that adult is going to be. Not yet.
And I can't let the boy shape me completely.
Some parts of me, have to be mine and mine alone.
So I woke up this morning and decided today is as good as any day to start taking a more active role is figuring out who I am, or more importantly, who I want to be.
So I very respectfully, closed the red door.
Leaving it on a question mark rather than a period though.

There is a certain someone who kind of inspired all this craziness.
Someone I hardly know at all, but I can tell already that one way or another, they are going to change me forever.
For the better.
Maybe I will introduce you one day.

Without FB, the blogosphere will be my life now.
Tune in for pictures, stories, and updates on my new crazy.

Nineteen Till I Die?

I turned the big 1-9 on Friday.

19 is really an under-appreciated age. Everyone celebrates the 16th, 18th, 21st, and 40th big, but what about 19?!
It's the last year of my teenage years and that is slightly depressing and a BIG DEAL people!

I have never been one for big, fancy plans for my birthday. I usually let them come, and go without too much of a fuss, but this year I wanted to celebrate!
And I did.

Before I left for the trip to St. George I mentioned prior to this post, I was surprised by my parents with another birthday gift besides my little road trip.
4 tickets to TAYLOR SWIFT! Tswizzle, if you will.
I could not have been more surprised, and I could not be more excited about this.

Go ahead and judge me for my taste in music. She's mainstream, I didn't discover her at some indie venue, she's country, She dances awkwardly and is tall as a string bean, but I LOVE her. Her cheesy, adorable, catchy songs could be the soundtrack to my life.
(and every other teenage girl)
I appreciate an underground band, with an oddly handsome lead singer, who's voice stands out from the rest of the crowd as much as the next girl, but I love me some Taylor Swift and I am not afraid to say it.

So a big thank you to my Mom and Dad for surprising me with this PERFECT present!




Back to the vacation at hand, St. George.
I left thursday morning with my besties, Hillary and Lindsey. 4 hours of straight rain, and 1 dead bird later, we arrived!
Unpacked in our lovely little condo, and waited for the boys to join us from Zion.
waited, waited, and waited.
They arrived relatively late and we hot tubbed and swam while we could before the pool closed for the night. Then after we all cleaned up, Lindsey made me a delicious angel food cake with strawberries at midnight to celebrate my Bday!
Sleep.

Hot tubbin 

My Strawberry Cake

Next day we woke up, made a yummy birthday breakfast of french toast and fruit that we ate on our cute little balcony. Then we made our way to the pool. Where we laid out, and procrastinated jumping into the pool. Darren thought our concerns about diving into the water were so entertaining he decided to video the process.
(working on getting that posted)
After hours at the pool, we came in, cleaned up and headed out for my birthday dinner and movie. We ate at Outback and saw Thor, which was kind of weird, and cheesy but it made me laugh and anxious for The Avengers.
Home, sleep.

The Big Breakfast

Nothin Better

My ABSOLUTE Besties! 

Saturday we were supposed to wake up and hit the pool around 10, but nobody wanted to wake up. Instead, we all slept in and rolled out of bed around noon got ready for the day and decided to make a mini trip to Vegas! 

We walked the strip for awhile, went inside Caesars Palace, visited the little aquarium, the shops and ate some dinner at The Cheese Cake Factory. We also made a trip to the outlets and did a little shopping.

Drove back to St. Geezey that night with the windows rolled down and music blasting, feeling perfectly content.

Sadly, when we got back we hung out for a little over an hour and then the boys had to drive back to Zion and the girls went to bed. 

My FAVORITES in Vegas

Cheese Cake

Caesars Palace

Shopping with the ladies

The boy enjoying the warm wind

Nasty girls goin to sleep. Wait, what what?

Sunday was simply pack up, clean up, drive home. 

It was a perfect birthday :)

I'll be impressed if you actually read through this instead of skimming and looking at pictures, I realize it was a rather lengthy entry. Sorraaay. 

I Call it D-Land, Cause We're Close like That.

So I went to Disneyland. Again.

Remember how last time I struggled to find my inner-child?

Weeeeeell,

Not much has changed. 

I had a good time, don't get me wrong.

The sun was shining, I spent time with my Sis and Braden, I rode some sweet rides, and ate two huge, delicious cinnamon rolls.

Plus, Bri has all the hook-ups so it's all free and stuff. 

But I discovered something about my inner kid self, it only comes out when I get to sleep in, and then stay up until the wee hours of the morning. 

It dies pretty fast when I have to wake up at seven and stay out till midnight.

In fact it dies right about noon and never comes back. 

Thus, 

Me + Disneyland= Not cut out to happen more than once every 2 years.

But I cannot say enough times how grateful I am to have the opportunity to go.

I loved having a break from school and snow. 

I loved the short lived moments on roller-coasters and terror towers.

So the consensus is, my weekend was Grrrreat!

My idea of vacation just involves more beach sitting and sun bathing, thats all. 

Some photos???

okay!

PS: World Of Color is AMAZING!!! It almost brought tears to my eyes.

Everyone, run to California Adventure just to see this. 

Finally, The Final Movie

So for those of you who have been dying to see it...
This is the FINAL 50's movie I did.
I can't decide if I am embarrassed...

Enjoy :)

hahahahahahahaha...
good times.

Fall Break

I am home safe and sound (BARELY) after a fun weekend in southern Utah.

Alysha, Jesse (alysha's boyfriend, braden's brother), Jill (alysha's mom), Ryan (alysha's brother), Braden and I went down to Cedar City for fall break.

Friday we went to Zions National Park and hiked Angels Landing. I am ashamed to admit I basically quit breathing at one point, but we made it to the top, and it was worth it. It was so BEAUTIFUL, and so fun! We also walked a trail by the river, a little less intense, but also very pretty.

Just starting out.

Checking out the view with Jill

Finally made it to the top!

Saturday we went to Sand Hollow, a mini Lake Powell I didn't even know existed. Alysha and Jesse did a little training for their upcoming triathlons, then we all swam, laid out in the sun, and cliff jumped the rest of the day. I was glad it was a little less strenuous than our hike friday.
Me and Braden may or may not have been the only ones with sore legs and bums.. We were a little ashamed.

Sunday we went to church in the oddest LDS church building I have ever seen, and then attempted to visit Cedar Breaks. It was freezing, raining, and then hailing. We basically barely escaped death when we tried to drive up a dirt road to a look out point.
I covered my eyes the majority of the time.
So with the bad weather ruining our last day, we decided to head home. It was probably the longest car ride in the world, and I almost killed everyone driving with me..

Long story short, we are all alive and home.

Besides burnt skin, hurt feelings, and a few brushes with death, it was such a fun trip!
I am so glad that Jill invited me to come along.

Back to school.
BLEH. :(

Last shots of the break, some of my favorites...

AMAZING

Ahh.. I miss the sun already.

The Real O.C.

I spent my Labor Day weekend in O town and visited family and friends.

At my families traditional sunday get togethers at my grandmas, my mom made a little speech about how crying is manipulative, and we should try to control it. This coming from the woman who taught me that tears and Ibuprofen fix everything made the whole family laugh. And to no surprise on my way out the door monday evening, my dear mother breaks into tears, which of course makes me start to cry too. (Dad held it together and chuckled at his tender girls as always.)
I wonder if my mother and I will ever make a weekend visit home without crying..

The point of this is really just to say that I love my family, and I loved my weekend at home..

and that I hope my parents are ready to pay for some gas :)

But it's their fault. If everyone wasn't so charming, giving, loving and extremely attractive I wouldn't feel the need to come back to them.
But they are, and I do.

Can you really blame me??

I wouldn't be being honest if I didn't mention Braden too. That little variable also makes Orem look pretty good when I'm sitting up here.

I have more to say, but I will save it for tomorrow.

unless I become addicted to blogging like I am to facebooking, then I will post again in about 30 min.

                           Everything is better with a picture.