Vegas and some thoughts

Went to Vegas this past weekend with my friends Thomas, Mac, and Mitch. We swam, we raced really fast go-karts, we went to the strip, we went to the outlet malls, we ate out, we swam some more, (they) played basketball and scooterball, we swam some more, I converted them to the ridiculousness of The Bachelorette (hehe) and, while we were out for an "evening stroll", we were yelled at by some old, gruff geezer who was holding something long and black who wanted to know "what the bleep we were doing?!"

Me, to myself, while shaking in my flip flops: "GULP. Is that a gun he's holding?"

Nah, it was a cane.  Much less threatening. We told him we didn't know it was private property (It was a plot of tumbleweed-filled desert with a lot of junk, like old tires and tin cans and worthless crap like that, geez) and that we would leave. So we bailed.

Anyway, because I know these boys well, I knew before the trip that they would want to be entertained the whole weekend--something I don't do when I go home. I go home to relax. And do just about nothing (which I did for the day and a half that the boys were in CA for an old roommate's wedding). But it turned out to be a super fun weekend. Michael, I wish you could have been there with us!

I also got to spend some good quality time with my mom before she left for the Dominican Republic to do humanitarian work, and also with my dad. I sure love my parents. They are good, Christian people and want what's best for me. I'm so grateful for my relationships with them.

This summer I've been able to read some great books, including The Life of Pi and Cold Sassy Tree and These is My Words. All really great books. I am reading These is My Words right now, and it is probably my favorite of the books I have read this summer. Last night I read from 12:30 to 2:30 in the morning; I couldn't put that book down. The author does an incredible job of really attaching you to characters. I've also made some new discoveries while reading scriptures, which is always cool. I'm thankful for books. They offer so much. And they keep me from watching an entire season of LOST in one day.

Lately I've gone through a period of some serious introspection. Socrates once said, "The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being." Evaluating myself--my habits, my beliefs, my behaviors toward others, my goals--though disappointing at times, is necessary for me. It helps me to be a better person. And, interestingly enough, my introspection helps me think about how I can be better at considering others and their perspectives, their needs, their beliefs. And there's always room for improvement.

Overall, though, life is good.

That's all for now.

Summer Thus Far

Summer has been:
Picnics.
Swings.
Shakes.
Hot tub.
Seven Peaks.
Dirty Dash.
Photo shoots.
Work.
Books.
Friends.
Family.
Etc.

Love this time of year.

Meet Seth

I started looking through the thousands of pictures on my computer and I started noticing a trend in a lot of the pictures and videos I have of Seth. Can you tell what it is? The kid has serious hops. Anyway, looking at pictures with Seth in them got me thinking about him. What a cool kid. So, if you haven't met him, I introduce to you my younger brother Seth, aka Pups, Puppy, Befford, and about 138 other nicknames.

Some facts about Pups:

1. Dude's got a wicked vocabulary. There have been times where he'll be using some big words and I just stand there like a dummy with a question mark over my head.

2. He's insanely athletic. My senior year of high school he ran cross country with me (he was my savior that season, though he might not know it) and he was the one who, despite the coach and captains telling us not to, would just start walking every now and then while the rest of us would be dying a thousand deaths, using every fiber of our being to not keel over and die in the middle of the dry, 120 degree hideous deserts of Las Vegas during our what seemed to be hellishly long runs. Why would he walk? Well for one thing, our lazy coach thought it a better idea to stay back at the high school and wait for the team to get back from our run, so Seth could get away with it. But in all honesty, I think Seth just got bored. "Eh, this 40-40 (run for 40 minutes out into the desert, and then run for 40 minutes back) is dull, I'm going to switch things up a little and walk." And guess what? None of us could say anything. Why? Because Seth has lightening speed. There he was, a sophomore in high school. His first time running cross country. DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO TRY that much at practice because we all knew that he would kick most people's trash in the races. And let's be real. He hated cross country (so did I), so why would he try hard? Anyway, that's just running. He's amazing at everything he tries. Was placed on the varsity volleyball team his sophomore year in high school. I was once chucking my rugby ball at him from 10 feet away with a lot of my energy, over and over, and he caught them all...ONE HANDED. I think his sweat glands in his hands also secrete glue. Basketball. Football. Soccer. You name it, he's good at it. The best thing about all of this? He's humble, so you probaby didn't know most of this.

3. Seth is an aspiring doctor and is on a very comfortable road to that goal. Smart dude.

4. Pups is getting married in August to a seriously incredible girl. Her name is Allecia.

5. He's one of the biggest goofballs this world has ever seen. He can make the weirdest and most ridiculous noises and most hideous faces, that I am frequently amazed (and disturbed) in a "where-does-this-kid-come-from?" kind of way.

6. He holds the mile run record at Leavitt Middle School in Las Vegas.

7. I could go on for hours but this post is already too long, sooooo, last, but CERTAINLY not least...

8. Seth is very Christlike. I have several examples of the incredible services he has done in his life. But, seeing as he is a true Christian, he probably would not want me to share them to the world. Seth does not just live. He lives like Christ.

Seth is one of my best friends. He's younger, but has set a huge example to me in many ways. I will forever be grateful for him. 

*Also, check out my sister's button on the side of the blog. Enter to win her awesome giveaway, and copy and paste the button to your blog to spread the word. Thanks!*

Broken

Once upon a time I was an accident-prone little child. Take this story, for example.

Picture a little four-year-old tyke with white hair walking around inside the frame of a house being built. The tyke is me and the house is my parents' home in Vegas. Construction materials are everywhere--sheet rock, staple guns, 2x4's, etc. The contractor, a small dude named Russ who has been the brunt of family jokes for years now, wants to show us the balcony (I think?). There is 1200 lbs. of sheet rock in front of the door, however. So, he tells us to stand back as some people try to move it out of the way. Well, let's just say I didn't stand back far enough. The sheet rock tipped over onto my body, and I hit my head on the ground. (If you ask me, I will show you a scar/scar tissue on my forehead that is hidden by my hair for the most part). My scraped up head was the least of the doctor's worries, because I had shattered the biggest bone in my body--my right femur. Let me remind you that this was back in the day when you couldn't use metal rods to correct a broken femur. The way to go was a body cast. So, for the next two weeks I was in the hospital, and the next four months I was in a body cast. Four months, people. Now this might sound like a crappy *expletive* situation, and I will get to that, but trust me, there were benefits. Or at least my hyper, positive, unscathed little four-year-old mind thought so. Here's why:

1. I was in the hospital over Christmas=the whole ward showered me with gifts

2. I'm pretty sure I only ate popsicles in the hospital

3. Dude, I was in a wheelchair for a short while. Wheel chair and little kid=fun

4. I was the center of attention for four months

5. Being in a stiff body cast did not stop me from moving around. I simply slithered across the floor. You know the part in the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie when the Grinch slithers out of a house that he robbed of Christmas cheer? That's what I looked like. Except I used my arms to help myself out. Anyway, my four-year-old arms were bulging (probably).

6. About 5 million more people could sign my cast because it was on my WHOLE BODY.

7. I had a legitimate excuse for not showering.

8. I could totally play the sympathy card when I didn't want to eat vegetables. All anyone would have to do was look at me. I was a pathetic little piece of plaster.

The crappy things about breaking my leg:

1. I was in the hospital for Christmas

2. Getting an itch=too bad for me. Just embrace the torture.

3. There was a big hole in the cast where that certain area of the body allows you to use the potty. So my mom made me specialized undies that went over the cast. I looked seriously white trash.

That's pretty much it. I was a happy little camper in that miserable little cast, even though I looked something like this:

The end.

Oh brother.

Things I get a kick out of:

1. Dudes cupping their pecks at the gym. Happens ALL THE TIME. Trust me, an hour on the stationary bike gives me lots of time to people watch. They might as well roll up their sleeves and kiss their biceps while they're at it.

2. The couple at the gym yesterday who was hugging and gazing into each other's eyes every second. Picture this: girlfriend is on leg press machine. Boyfriend is standing next to leg press machine, watching her. Girlfriend finishes, gets off, girlfriend and boyfriend immediately hug, and boyfriend gets on leg press machine. Not joking. And I take that back, I don't get a kick out of that. Rather, they almost got a kick from me.

3. My fast-walking skills that I inherited from my mom, especially in the winter time. Why would I walk slow when my whole body is cursing profanities at the cold weather? I blaze past everyone.

4. The fact that my Christmas tree is still up. (Although I doubt my roommates get a kick out it.) I'm taking it down soon, I promise.

5. The fact that Ben Flajnik is going to pick Kourtney on the Bachelor.

6. The fact that Ben Flajnik looks like Francine from Arthur.

7. Ben Flajnik. The guy is a joke. A really dumb joke.

And that's all for now.

Dead.

Did you know that I once died? I was four years old. I'll tell you how.

My dad's side of the family was having a family reunion at a natural oasis about 45 minutes outside of Vegas called Warm Springs. It is a natural pond with turtles and fish swimming around in it and is surrounded by palm trees. There is a rope swing, a slide, a cliff to jump from, a diving board...all the best stuff. And, just as the name of it implies, the water is warm. And crystal clear. For me and the rest of the Mitchell-side crazies, this place was too good to be true. TURTLES in the pond? Dude.

The people who bought this place built a mansion next to it and cleared out some ground for a camping area and would rent it out to families. So we camped out and the next morning all the adults started cooking breakfast in the outdoor kitchen. All 8 million of us kids jumped in the pool. Heaven forbid we wait 3o minutes to eat first and THEN swim. So I'm having a grand old time with my awesome floaties on my arms. The adults yell, "Yo, come eat yo breakfast" (or something close to that) and we all hop out and start pigging out.

Here's where it gets bad.

I took off my floaties to eat. And while I was eating I of course had a one-track mind (swimming turtles swinging fishies), so as soon as I'm done I book it on over to the diving board and jump off into the warm water.

That's when it hit me. I was already in the water when I realized that I hadn't put my pink floaties back on.

I remember panicking and opening my eyes under water and seeing the bottom of the pond.

Meanwhile, people are eating and cleaning and jumping and swimming and swinging and diving. And my dad's side of the family is pretty big. It was a zoo. So no one noticed that I had just jumped into the pond floaty-less. And I don't blame them.

A while later my mom is cleaning up the kitchen when she gets a distinct impression to come and look for me. She starts asking around, seeing if anyone has seen me. She starts to panic, as half of the group doesn't know where I am, and the other half is having fun and hasn't noticed.

She runs over to the pond and sees my body at the bottom. She screams and, fully clothed, jumps in and pulls out what she did not know at the time was my lifeless body. My body was blue and and my eyes were dilated--clinical signs of death. The party suddenly got quiet as my mom was screaming for help. My aunt Velinda, an RN, and my brother Charley, who had just learned CPR in scouts, started performing CPR on me. My mom was beside herself. People were gathered all around me. After several minutes of pumping and breathing, miraculously, I came to and started coughing up lots of water, then let out a scream..."I've never heard a more blood-curdling scream" my mom told me.

Everyone packed up and we were on our way home. I was laying down in my family's 15-passenger van and my siblings were all surrounding me and asking me if I knew their names. I did. In fact, I seemed to be just fine.

A couple hours later I was running around the house with my brothers and sisters and cousins. That night I slept in my parents' bed between my mom and dad. My mom says that I woke up early in the morning, sat straight up and said, "I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus and Santa Clause really love me." And then I went back to sleep.

She often wonders if I saw the godhead and thought the Holy Ghost was Santa Clause (long white beard=Santa. Duh.)

My mom couldn't talk about the drowning incident for a while. It was too traumatizing for her. Several months later, she was talking to my aunt Velinda who assisted in saving my life and decided she was ready to talk about it. She asked her what her thoughts were when she was doing CPR. My aunt said that she knew I was dead but did CPR anyway to instill some hope in my mom. She said that there was no doubt in her mind that it was a complete miracle that I was alive and had no brain damage or anything.

Apparently my time on earth wasn't finished.

The end.

P.s. I might be a LITTLE brain damaged...

2012

I was with my sister Laura today and we were talking about how every new year doesn't really represent "starting anew" for us, because the separation of 'the old year' and 'the new year' is one day. One day it's 2011 and the next it's 2012. Yeah, I've always made New Year's resolutions, but like Jeffrey R. Holland says, "...you only made five [resolutions] and you have already broken four. (I give that remaining one about another week.)" But, Laura said that this year is hers and John's year. She feels really good about starting fresh. And then I realized "Yeah. It's mine, too." Because I am going to MAKE it that way. (Ann, I thought of you and how you might have winced when you read that little curse word. My bad.)

So my constantly over-thinking mind's wheels have been a turnin today and I've come up with some resolutions that are going to FREAKING hard. Here are some, and only some, because many of them are private.

1. Take down some of my walls. I have walls that put the Great Wall of China to shame. Plus my walls have thick vines and layers of plaster and super glue and duct tape and chewed gum to keep 'em strong. Well they're coming down!

Hopefully!

2. Just kidding that's all I want to share.

But I swear, I have other resolutions that I intend to keep.

So the resolutions for 2012 will be good for me, but I also can't help but be stoked about:

-my Seven Peaks season pass (I've always been turned off by the stereotyped people who go to Seven Peaks, but this summer I'll be hittin it up with some siblings so it will be fun)

-my H&M gift card that's worth 50 bones, even though I hate shopping

-my Quarry membership! Wee! My hands are already torn up.

-graduation in December (it's about bloody time)

-the arrival of my fifth niece

Sweet. Even though right now the thought of completing ANOTHER semester of school and having work at 7 in the blasted morning Monday through Friday makes me want to gouge out my own eyeballs, I am going to focus on the positive.

Amen.

P.s. That quote from Elder Holland comes from this talk. Read it. Better yet, WATCH it if you can find it on the internet. I promise you it will impact you. K bye.