I've got visitors this week...

AND I COULDN'T BE MORE EXCITED!

Some of you may remember that I bought Taylor Swift tickets months ago and convinced both of my lovely sisters and my mother to come with!

So the week has finally arrived! Taylor Swift is coming which is exciting, but even more so my mom, my sister, and my lovely niece Aubrey are on their way as I write this!

I could probably be more excited for Taylor -- but probably not for my other visitors. I can't wait till they get here! 

I'll try to put up some pictures of our concert and other familial adventures -- so stay tuned reading audience! 

BEST WEEKDAY EVER! :)

I'm a HERO (again)!

Graphic Content Follows. 

Ladies and Gentlemen -- I've done it again! I donated my blood and saved 3 lives. -- Talk about giving of myself right?! It was another wonderful experience! My phlebotomist was an older lady this time so I assumed that meant better. She wasn't terrible, but I'm not quite convinced she was better.  There is a bit more of a bruise this go around and it hurt a bit more than I remembered. 

The bruise I'm speaking of is the large purple spot to the right. The small spot to the left next the line is where she actually stuck me!

But she was very nice so maybe that makes the difference. I wasn't quite as fast this time -- in the 6 minute range to get one pint of blood out. At one point, my blood flow actually slowed down/almost stopped. My phlebotomist started pumping the vein around where the needle was inserted and said things like "Don't you dare do that!" -- in an intense way. I felt like I was watching a soap opera starring my own arm -- my vein was flat-lining! Thank goodness that phlebotomist was there to save the day. 

I think I can improve upon my last hero experience because I took an undercover photo -- from the front lines!

Please note my intense phlebotomist and of course my blood flowing through that tube. 

What's Missing?

MY EARS!

Also:

1. Blog Entries -- See points 2 and 3 to see why there hasn't been any recent updates.
2. My Camera -- which suffered a tragic fall during one of the last days of camp. .. So pictures on this here blog may be scarce for the next few months.. Hopefully Santa can do something to remedy this situation. (hint. hint.)
3. My Life -- School has started. I'm taking 14 credits. I'm working 20 hours. So.. we'll see how often I get a social life. ... Assuming I'll actually make friends in my new ward. 
4. The Water in my apartment -- New management at the Riv has been working on updating their image.. Spending money on things that I personally think are a waste of money when I realize that they provide no microwave and no desk (don't worry though it's being taken care of by others!) .. One of their project though unexpectedly took away our water from 5:00 when I got home to 1:00 the next morning. ... It's a little annoying, and Stacey and I decided to go to the library until right before bed time so that we could brush our teeth and go to the bathroom. So... thank you Riv Management for your part in my adventurous evening two night ago. 

That's all the update you're getting right now.. but if anything exciting happens .. I'll let you know! 

To Zion's and Back!

So.. it's been awhile. The summer has flown by. It was in a word great. I loved it. I definitely have a lot of new friends and new memories. I'm so grateful for all the things I learned and all the people I met. What a great opportunity. I definitely suggest working there to everyone! One of my last weekends of the summer we went to Zion's to do some hiking. I thought I'd show you what we did.. So this post will be big on pictures, small on words -- hopefully! 

I road with the Ashcrofts. they had a small truck. We packed it FULL, meaning the bed of the truck was full and the cab was full -- all three seats in the front and the two bucket seats. .. . . . So much fun. 

This is the whole group. We brought 3 cars. We were waiting for the shuffle at 7:30. We were already hyper by that point (group full of BYU students hyped on time off and adventure=crazy.) We were telling each other pick up lines and laughing. Needless to say that when the shuttle pulled up the other people waiting went to the other part of the tram so they wouldn't have to listen to us. I think one of our fellow hikers asked his friend -- 'I thought BYU was far away?' or something like that. Good times. 

Here's our pre-Angel's Landing photo We went early to beat the sun -- it's not a long hike, but you hike a while on a nice path and then you reach this part where you have to hold onto chains as you climb up sandstone. It was sort of scary (and I'll admit I was panting quite a bit), but totally worth it. See the picture below. 

It's a great view and there's a huge sense of accomplishment! 

This is our after hike picture. We sang the whole way -- there and back -- No wonder we still look so cheerful! 

The next place we went

THE NARROWS!

This hike is so much fun! I loved it so much. I think this is a hike everyone should try. It's basically hiking through a river. There rocky islands and shore-lines that you hike on maybe 50 percent of the time, but a lot of it is in the water. 

I'm exaggerating how deep it is here -- the deepest it ever got was up to my armpits -- and that was just one time.   Sometimes the current is sort of strong, and you've got to muscle through it, but for the most part the water is just calm enough and just the right temperature to cool you down and keep you going without sweeping you away. 

We hiked down to this spot where the 'narrow' canyon splits into two. We went down the more narrow one -- I think it's called Orderville for maybe a half-hour and then turned back.

This picture is right after you get out of the arm-pit deep water. It so funny because it looks exactly like some survivor film. Like we're all getting out of some atomic wasteland. There are old people and young people. Parents are carrying their babies above their heads and everybody is hold their packs up to. It's hard to describe, but it was super amusing. You can see a dad on the left side of the photo holding his baby. Let me assure you that baby was being held straight over that guys head just minutes before. 

After our long day of hiking we went into St. George. We took SHOWERS (best part), ate at Cafe Rio, and watched a movie. Our sleeping accommodations were as pictured above. The only hobos in a trailer park. So great.

Overall it was a super fun trip, and I hope I'll be able to do it again sometime.

"Your Mom Goes to College!"

That's right folks call me Deb - I'm a boondoggle pro!

(This is a Napoleon Dynamite reference -- if you don't already know!)

My roommates and I decided to bond tonight by boondoggling together. It was pretty fun .. although boondoggling isn't as easy as I thought it would be... I'm still enjoying my craftiness. 

Here's my work in progress! 

You can be jealous of my skills if you want! 

I'M FAMOUS!

(if you can't see this you can view it here: http://byutv.org/watch/09314e12-3a60-414f-9f9f-70d5f36df121)

There was a special on a little known program called BYU Weekly... and I was in it! Just to share a little more about my life here at Aspen.

Inside scoop -- the engaged couple... met and got engaged in 2 months. They met on May 24th -- they will be married on September 2nd! ... Crazy.. More to come on my adventures outside the isolation I currently reside in.


Edited to add: You can find me at 8:27 I'm pretty sure and there are other moments -- you can see me poolside with the kids, eating chicken nuggets in my strawberry fusion coat! 

Burned Out!

Since this camp opened in 1963, they have experienced everything I'm sure. So somewhere along the line they learned that around mid-July the staff get super BURNED OUT!! So they've worked a couple of things to break up the monotony. They took all the stuff up the ropes course last Saturday and this week has been our staff 'Christmas in July!' This won't be a wordy post, but I thought I'd show you guys some pictures! 

On my way up the course -- it was a little bit frightening, but the whole time I was like I'm going to be a rec therapist; there's going to be tons of things I'm scared of that I'm going to have to do. After you get up you actually go around a course made from two cables -- one for your hands and one for you feet. I actually scooted around through the trees and over a river! 

Afterwords I repelled down. Super fun -- I think I might want to take up repelling! :)

We decorated our staff dorm lobby for Christmas in July -- complete with Christmas tree and lights. We had pipe-cleaners and construction paper to make the decorations and I felt like I could best contribute by making mistletoe and holly. This of course made lots of staff members ecstatic and we used the opportunity to create the fun photo above. That guy is THE nicest guy you will ever meet and I once had a guest family try to convince me to go after him. They were very impressed. 

Here's the decorating crew. It was a super fun evening, and I'm glad I get to spend my summer with all these super fun people! 

To finish off our Christmas in July week, we're having a Polar Express reading (by me) and a Polar Express ride (on our handy dandy lawn-mower train), hot chocolate and a gift exchange.

Small celebrity sighting: Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy, and Elder Lawrence of the (second quorum of the) Seventy are here this week. I have both of their grandchildren (I think -- or maybe just Elder Robbins); they are the nicest (with the exception of a few tantrums) kids! We had a great fireside by Elder Robbins and Elder Lawrence spoke on Sunday in Church. What a treat -- speaking of treats I served Elder Robbins a snow cone on Tuesday.