The Start of Summer Break

At the end of finals week I started Billy Blanks PT 24/7 and have been kicking butt. So far I've lost 2.5 lbs and .5" off my waist, even with taking several days off because I was feeling sick. It's a crazy workout what with the resistance bands in combination with cardio. And each dvd is only 30 min so it's not time-consuming - but that makes it intense for sure! I definitely recommend it if you have the cash. We were lucky enough to get it for free from Melinda's work (woot!).

I also got a much needed haircut; my last cut was in January. I had my old roommate Caitie at Evan's hair school do it and she did a wonderful job, as usual. Now it's nice and short again and I have my bangs back!! Whitney also colored it earlier in the week and it's lookin' lots better.

I was thinking about getting a peck-a-boo streak in purple but it sounded like too much work to keep up so I'm pretty sold on getting a couple feather "extensions." Caitie gave me the number of a girl who does it far cheaper than the hair school so we shall see! :)

After I completed a huge paper that the professor said could be in the day before grades were due (I wish I hadn't heard it so I hadn't procrastinated it!), I spent the week being an apartment-wife: cleaning the whole house really well, grocery shopping, laundry, running errands in town, cooking proper meals since I hadn't been doing that for a while, and baking zucchini bread (yum!). I was also sick a lot of the week, so that didn't help me on my job quest, though I did do some searching. I also admit to playing a "few" hours of WOW and Minecraft, the latter of which which I ended up buying.

Bunches of our friends have vamoosed to prep for weddings - Richard and Ally in D.C. and Michael and Janay in San Diego - so getting together with them didn't work out too much. At least we still have Daniel and Maddy (occasionally and at least until the end of Aug, jerks are going to Jerusalem), Ryan, Chelsea, Matt, and Justin who we hung out with Wednesday and Thursday. :)

dinner at Sammy's, mmm..

Jed spent the week working full-time, though he started out the week having to miss work as he was really sick - poor thing. Work is stressful and he doesn't get paid nearly enough for all he's able to do and does do for the store. He's considered quitting so he can focus on school so hopefully he can in January if I can get a "real" job right away.

Also, there was a frustrating mix-up and even though one of Jed's classes showed he had an A for his final grade, it came through a D since some missed scores hadn't been factored in. And since he'd been on academic probation before, now if he slips up slightly he can be put on suspension .. which is exactly what happened. But the professor was kind enough to allow him to complete the missed work and that should get him off suspension. phew.

On Saturday we were able to go meet Jed's bestie from high-school, Rou-Jia, at Yellowstone National Park as she was visiting her father. I'd never been and Jed hadn't been since he was 10 so it was fun. However, since I had only really been in Olympic National Park in WA where it's practically just forest with some trails and campsites (leveled ground only kind of campsites), this drive-park-take-pictures park weirded me out. But apparently the crust is very thin and you can't go traipsing around because you can fall through and get seriously injured or die from the magma/boiling water right beneath the surface (as pictured below). Ah well, it was cool walkin' around and seeing Rou-Jia for sure.

warning sign

living dangerously

i liked this geyser better than Old Faithful

this little guy was a couple feet from us nomming the heck out of grass seeds

biggest crow we'd ever seen eyeing a lure i threw him

yay Rou-Jia!

Jed and I also both gave talks in church. I hadn't spoken since Nov 2008, so I was admittedly a little nervous, as was Jed. We were given broad topics so it was difficult to narrow down on what we wanted to focus. Mine was on 'being an example' so I focused on following the example of Jesus Christ and all of His attributes as well as being an example to LDS and non-LDS alike. Jed's talk was based on D&C 121:41 and he used several scriptural stories to demonstrate the Savior's love even when calling to repentance. They were both a little scattered, but they turned out alright.