Ok since the family has been gone not a whole lot has happened around here. Lot’s of work, with a few slices of fun. There have been a lot of people out of town at work so I got a full schedule this week. Had a few interesting experiences there. He is just to list a few...

Power out - I don’t know what has been going on, but there have been a few unexpected power outages at work that have done some pretty messed up things to the security system and computers. The check reader won’t work, the card reader is on the ritz and the security company keeps calling to make sure everyone is alright. For not working there very long I sure have had a lot of security calls. 

Shipment - I am wondering if there are a few weird things going on at a corporate level. No one has received shipment this week. Not a single Payless in the west region got any shipment. The store is starting to look pretty bare and people are getting a little upset when we don’t have what we advertise. Wish there was something I could do about it. 

Sis Christensen - This kind lady came into work and needed a particular shoe. We didn’t have it so I offered to call another store and have them hold it for her. While in the process of waiting for the phone not to be busy we got to talking. I forget how small the Mormon world really is. Turns out her husband was the CES representative that spoke at my convocation at graduation. Then we got to talking about our interests and what I liked to do in my free time. I finally got the other store to pick up and place her shoes on hold. Then out of no where she asked if I would be willing to go on a date with her son. She got my phone number and walked out. not your everyday circumstance. 

Brent - After hearing and watching the whole thing happen with Sis Christensen, Brent (my boss) got on the phone and called his buddy from college and asked if he would be willing to go out with me on a double. It was just a message, but still, since when was I the hot topic for dates? Something weird is going on. Now this is the one to top it off!

Dave - There was a guy who came into work and wandered around for a good 20 minutes. Then he finally walked up to me and asked if he could talk to my in the corner. I walked over to the secluded corner with him and that is where he asked me out. I told him I was free Saturday night, but nothing was solidified. He left with my number and a few tentative ideas and plans. I went about my week as usual and then Saturday rolled around. I still hadn’t heard from him, however I had a few friends coming in from Idaho that needed a place to stay so I offered my house for the girls and was planning on meeting them downtown (more of that to follow). I didn’t have a way to get a hold of Dave to let him know I wasn’t going to be able to do anything because I needed to go meet my friends downtown, so I left a apologetic note with my number. I soon got a phone call. I was expecting a kind and understanding response, but what I got was a very angry man who used a few choice words and hung up... not the type of guy I would want to go out with anyway right? Ug, boys can be pretty difficult and dense sometimes!

Audrey’s friends passed the test. They called and invited me to do something with them even when Audrey wasn’t around. I guess that goes to show that we are friends too! ;) We went to Denny’s, saw the midnight showing of Transformers (which was extremely disappointing and I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone), and enjoyed the blessing of having a swimming pool now that the weather has cleared up a bit. 

I also got to hang out with Papa a little this week. What a sweet man he is. I continued my bike escapade and rode to the library to drop off a few books then headed to Papa’s. I went to get him ready and we enjoyed along walk talking about Rob and Wendy’s new baby. It is nice to spend some one on one time with him every now and then. He is such a great man and I have no doubt that he loves his family more than anything in the whole world. he can never stop talking about them. 

I offered to babysit Lily and Kylie to give me something to do. Katie and david were out looking at houses. I took the girls swimming and watched Snow White. It was Lily’s first time and she was completely mesmerized. Disney sure has a nack for keeping the attention of the little ones. 

That night I invited a girl from work over to stay the night with me. I was getting lonely and wanted a little company. we made a full dinner and then enjoyed the most recent episode of So You Think You Can Dance. It is getting pretty intense. I can’t wait until it narrows down to the top ten. 

I have such great neighbors! The scott’s across the street felt bad that I have been left alone all week, so they took me out to a nice dinner. we enjoyed some smooth jazz music with some tasty italian dinner. I will go back there any time, the problem is I can’t remember what it is called. All I know is that I loved the food and loved the atmosphere.

After dinner I picked up Mike, Cherry, and Maria and we headed out to the U for a night of dancing. I am starting to feel more comfortable around these kids and so can finally loosen up and enjoy the dancing instead of worrying so much about what my feet are doing. Mike and I had a lot of fun just experimenting with moves we weren’t quite sure how to do. 

We finally found success doing a regular dip. It takes a lot to get in and out of those things smoothly. But we did it. I just hope we can remember how next week. We went to Dee’s again this week and I shared a milkshake with Jake... something just might be in the mix. Probably not, but it is fun to wish! 

Doug was in town and I was so excited to see him. He was a bass in Vocal Union this past semester. we had so much fun on tour and he called to inform me that he was in town so we decided to meet up and do something. We were planning on maybe driving to Provo to do something with his buddy, but it was too late for that so we just stayed near my house and had our own fun. He took me to dinner and then to pass time we played arcade games at the movie theater before our movie started. The time passed far too quickly. We went to see UP which was such a cute movie. Sad, but cute. Not your typical pixar movie, but still very enjoyable. I loved it!

I met Doug and his friend Steve downtown after the whole dating mishap with Dave. We decided we would take our time to go to the Salt Lake Temple. It was just what I needed at the time. I forget how beautiful it is in there and how much I love to think that simple dreams and hands built that building. 40 years in the making and I am hoping they think it is worth it, because to me it means the World. 

After a great session at the temple we decided ice cream for Leatherby’s would be the perfect way to end the evening. I ordered a small scoop of burnt almond fudge ice cream and a few small cookies. It was amazing! I gobbled it up so fast!

We even took a little time to play the arcade games while waiting for Valerie to show up. I played a sweet game of Pinball for old times sake. I guess talent does go away when you don’t practice. Not the pinball wizard I used to be. Val got there and we went home to have the ultimate sleep over.

It was so nice to have Valerie stay for the evening. We caught up, talked, laughed, and just enjoyed being together again. I was very sad when I had to say goodbye on Sunday. Doug came to pick her up and they headed out to Emily Olsen’s farewell and I headed off to Elder Taylor’s homecoming. He did such a fantastic job. I enjoyed every minute of his talk. He took a lot from President Hinckley and his remarks about what you should bring home from a mission. He did a great job of keeping it doctrinally based rather than just spilling a bunch of stories from the mission. Such a good kid. 

I spent most of the evening at David and Katies. It is nice to have family so close. When everyone at home is gone it is a nice lugury to be able to just drive 30 minutes and still feel like I have a family. We had dinner and watched Night at the Museum. It was my first time seeing it, and I loved every minute of it. So clever and fun. I decided since I was already out there so late I would just stay the night. Little couch, here I come!!

Biking, biking, biking. I feel like that is all I have done this week. I’m not complaining, in fact I really enjoy it. I haven’t quite worked up the courage to take my car anywhere after last week so I have resorted to my new mode of transportation. I have gone to Papa’s house, the library, and to and from work. It saves gas, gives me some exercise and lets me spend more time outside, which as we all know I love! So don’t be surprised if you see me cruising down the road on my sweet 21 speed! If fact you might just see a few of us. Mom and I really enjoy our bike rides together. Good time to chat and just enjoy the beautiful weather... when it is isn’t raining. 

I worked a lot this week because of people on vacation, but I’m not complaining. I am always happy to go to work rather then sit at home and be board all week. Well, except that I had to work on Sunday. That is never fun o matter how slow the store is. It just feels wrong. Nothing all that exciting happened at work this week, except for me dropping a whole bunch of boxes and making a complete fool of myself, but other than that nothing. 

My good friend Devin Angulo from my freshman year at BYU-I called and asked if I would be her face for a Mary Kay class she was doing. I felt kind of out of place seeing how much all these girls were into make up and such. Devin and I just kind of laughed and just did what we were told. In the end, half of my face looked great. You see, so that you can see the huge difference they only do half the face. Of course I’m going to think it looks better. Oh Mary Kay, how silly you are! ;) After the class we sat and talked in the parking lot for a good 2 1/2 hours. We had 5 years of catching up to do. I love her so much. She is such a sweetheart. I hope I can keep doing things with her. There is no point in going another 5 years without talking now that we are both in Sandy. 

I made Chicken BBQ Pizza for dinner this week and it turned out delicious. I even got to share my culinary masterpiece with Mike Abrahamson and his friend Cherry. They came over before we left for swing dancing. It is fun to get a few new people to come each time. We even got Jake Lader to come. We had so much fun off in our own little corner making up new moves. We weren’t really a part of the “in crowd” so we just made our own fun clique.  Little did we know that our crazy fun behavior intrigued the others. Sooner than we knew it we were all dancing with other people and even invited to the after dance hang out! It is like high school all over, but way more fun. We followed Jake (the instructor) to Dee’s and very quickly became friends with everyone there. 

Well you think one trip to an american family diner would be enough for the week. But honestly I could never get enough of the fries and milk shakes. It was Tom’s birthday this week so we all gathered late at night and headed to Denny’s. Soon enough we will be regulars there. So many fun people came and it was a blast. I love Audrey’s friends!

So now came the time I dreaded. Taking the whole family to the airport, just to be left home alone for 11 days. I woke up super early and dropped them off. The rest of the day was filled with severe boredom and severe rain storms. Being home alone isn’t all that bad, except when Bailey acts paranoid and makes you worry about what is going on. I don’t think I have ever been so overly cautious about locking the doors, and checking them 20 times over.  

Father’s day rolled around and here I was with no father to pamper. It wouldn’t have been much better even if he was home. I had to work all day and so would have missed the festivities either way. Luckily after work Wendy called and wanted to know if I wanted to join them for dinner. Mark and Alice were coming so I decided I would join in. It made it feel just a little more like a holiday. I got to spend time with Papa and express my gratitude to him for all he has done for my family. After dinner I got a phone call from Mike and Des to invite me to their house for a little dessert and a movie. I stayed as long as I could without making it dangerous for me to drive home. I’m glad I have at least a little family around to soften the loneliness. Maybe next week won’t be so bad. 

So Audrey has quite the list of things she wants to do this summer. Personally I think it is a little too long to finish this summer, but we can try. One of those things on that  List was to tie-dye outfits for our ward sports night. So while I was at work Audrey went out and bought t-shirts with sweatbands. As soon as I got home we got to work. 

First I had to make sure that the headband fit. Obviously it fits just right, and makes me more attractive than ever!

Out to the backyard with plastic bags and all the dye. With Gloves and all we went to work. Maria was there for supervising and artistic advice.

Here we are right before we were finished dying them. It was kinda late by the time we finished. I forgot they had to sit so long. 6 hours later Audrey and I woke up at 4 AM to wash them out. They turned out pretty sweet. We went back to bed after washing them out and putting them in the washing machine for the final touch.

The next morning Mom wanted to go shopping for all of her tour needs such as shoes and blouses. we went everywhere you can imagine. She got nearly everything she needed except for a few shirts and one pair of shoes. I hardly had any time afterwards to get ready for work. I dropped Mom and Dad off at the theater so they could have their date night, grabbed a bite to eat and then went right to work. I was so happy when 9 rolled around cause then I could go home change and then head to Tom's to meet up with Audrey and her friends. 

As you can see they turned out pretty cool. We are going to be the coolest people at our sports night every week. Well I mean not to say we weren’t the coolest little group already, but this will just put the icing on the cake. 

They even look cool from the back. 

I guess Mom didn’t get what she wanted on her last shopping spree this week so we headed out once again. After a good few hours I think we finally found all that she needed for tour. On our way home I got a call from Taylor inviting me to go to the temple with her. I was so excited that I ran home, ate lunch, changed clothes and started out the door. The rain was unbelievable. The streets were flooding and there was so much water. I drove over some railroad tracks and unexpectedly hydroplaned and almost lost control of the car. I kept driving towards the temple. I then came to a corner and realized I couldn’t turn my car. Something was seriously wrong so I pulled over. Dad came to save me and then took me to the temple. As soon as I got out of the temple Taylor took me home. My car was no longer where I left it so I am assuming dad took it into Tim’s to get it fixed. Too many problems with this car I tell you!

One of my favorite missionaries is home now and came out to Utah this week so he could start school at BYU. He contacted me and we decided to get together. Turns out Audrey, Alex, Shawn, and I already had plans to go swing dancing, so we invited Mike. Mike and I hitched a ride with Mom and used our extra time in the Church History Museum. Soon Shawn came and picked us up and we headed to the Naval Science Building up by the U. 

First we had lessons for an hour. Seeing as these boys had never done this before it was really fun to help them learn. They picked it up really quickly. Soon after they started the music and all that dancing began. I had a blast! I danced with all the boys who came with me and with a few other people who were there for the fun of it. The instructor even asked me to dance. He was so good! We talked for a good ten minutes after we danced and he invited me to join the intermediate class and perhaps help teach it in a few weeks. I’m so excited! I love dancing and miss it so much. I will take every opportunity I can to dance. we are coming back next week for sure! I took Mike all the way back to provo that night and on my way back I realized I left my wallet in his backpack. Guess I’ll have to get it from him later. This is one way to ensure you don’t spend any money! ;)

I took up work at Karla’s house again. I did more of the usual gardening for a few hours. I was planning on working for quite a few hours but then got a call from Payless asking me to come in to work early. My only problem was that I didn’t have a car... so I walked home all the way from Taylor’s. It was a long walk, but I am glad I got the exercise and was extremely grateful to have my ipod at that time. I quickly ate lunch, got dropped off at work and worked as hard as I could to have the store clean and ready to go as soon as possible. I forgot I didn’t have a car so I called dad for a ride. Sadly he didn’t answer, so I started to walk home in the rain. Dad found me soaking wet on the side of the road and took me the rest of the way home. It has been raining so much here I can hardly believe it. I don’t think I have ever seen this much rain in Utah in June. It is completely unbelievable.  

Saturday finally came. I worked hard to get all my Saturday jobs done so I could go to the movies with Mom and Dad. We went to see Angels and Demons. It was a fantastic movie and I encourage everyone to go and see it. Even without reading the book I still really enjoyed the movie. After the movie we went and picked up my car from the shop expecting it to only cost about 60 to 70 dollars. After we left we were in shock. $250 to fix a silly little bracket. 

I think I am going to have to retire this car. She has taken me through a lot, but after dropping nearly $500 in one month is just is too much for my bank account to handle. Here is my tribute to Vanna Blue and a loving good bye. I guess my bike will quickly become my best friend. 

I was very proud of myself for waking up and watching the Music and Spoken Word Broadcast. It was very good and most definitely worth it. So many beautiful arrangements and what a great message about finding the good in everything and looking for the light in all situations. I had quite a bit of time to relax before church and took all the time in the world to get ready. I went to church alone this week because Audrey and all her friends had a farewell to go to. I found a few friends to sit with. While in church I realized I needed my wallet back from Mike because it had my half finished temple recommend that I needed to get finished today. I called Mike as soon as sacrament meeting was over and left right away to drive to Orem to pick it up. As soon as I got back it was family central. Everyone was over for a wonderful pot roast dinner with the most delicious fresh batch of homemade bread.

After dinner we went straight for what we now call the Sunday couch. All of us were on it at one point. It was still just as comfortable as always. 

We spent quite some time on the couch without any interruptions. Lots of fun and lots of laughs. 

After a little while we had our bellies calling for dessert. So I jumped up and offered to make berry smoothies for everyone. I guess the kids enjoyed them more then we did.

Evylee wouldn’t allow me to eat my own smoothie without giving her a bite in between  each of mine. All I kept hearing was a very sweet and quite “pees,” meaning please, and with such a cute voice I always gave in. 

Our fun quickly turned into rough housing as all the kids jumped on top of Gammie. pillows and all were used in the attack. I guess although Gammie is getting a bit older she still knows how to have fun and enjoy a good Sunday evening. 

David and Katie had borrowed my tour bag to pack for their Arizona and brought it back tonight. Obviously Evylee wasn’t quite sure what it was to be used for...

 

Potts took advantage of it and ran for the fun of it. Oh the silly things that go on at the Collier’s on a Sunday evening.  

I had to take my car in for registration this week. The whole time safety and emissions was being tested I was biting my nails and praying that it would pass. After $160 of fees and repairs it was good to go. It was mostly fine except for the muffler. If you recall sometime back in february Clint and I jimmy rigged my muffler with a hanger and bungee cord to keep it from falling off. Well it lasted until now, and would have lasted longer I am sure, but it didn’t quite pass safety that way so they had to really fix it, but hey if that is all that was wrong I am more than happy.

Mom had quite a few jobs this week so I watched papa quite a bit. wendy just had her baby so she can’t be expected to keep up with him so I took care of him when Mom couldn’t. It was nice to have someone home with me. Normally in the middle of the day everyone is at work and I am left at home alone, but this time I had papa and was still able to get quite a bit done. I made poppy seed bead for work and helped papa with his crossword puzzles. 

Work this week was a little more exciting than average. I mean I went about doing all my regular jobs like setting up new promotional posters, cleaning the store for the district manager visit in the morning and as always selling as many shoes as I could. I did get to break down 131 cases of shoes from the shipment yard. That was quite the project, but nothing compared to the rest of the events to follow. Seeing as I am pretty new to the job I don’t have a key to open or close yet... Apparently Toni didn’t either, the only problem is we didn’t know that until it was time to close. As we were closing up the building the alarm went off since we had the wrong key. I can’t tell you how much the alarm can make your heart race. I knew I didn’t do anything wrong and I had nothing to get in trouble for, but when that alarm goes off it sure can make your heart race and make you feel all sorts of anxiety. We got it turned off and I had to sit and wait for Brent to come with the real key, so I was left in the back room reading my book until 10:30. I guess the upside is that I got paid for that extra hour and didn’t have to do anything. 

I am determined to get the pool fixed and cleaned so I can finally use it. The weather has been beautiful and I haven’t taken advantage of it yet because our pool is mucky and gross. I spent a good few hours vacuuming it but some how all the guck would just got straight through the vacuum and into the pool again. Something is not right here! It was my turn to cook dinner so I quickly made ham steaks and then left with Tom to try and find the perfect outfits for the nights festivities. No luck at the mall or DI so we just went as normal folks. well some of us did.

I forgot just how much fun Classic Skating is. Here is the group of us that went and had the time of our life! Tom, Johnny, Stevie, Joey, Merrill, Maria, Audrey, Myself and 2 other girls whom I quickly became friends with, but somehow forgot their names. 

We managed to have our own little dance party while skating. Check out Maria’s sweet Crane dance move. 

Here is Audrey busting a move while only on one skate! very impressive Audrey. I wish I had your skating skills. 

We found time for tricks as well. Johnny was so talented and nimble that he could skate directly under someone’s legs. A talent I clearly do not posses. 

I tried, but only could master the top person’s job. I let Audrey slide through my legs instead. Good thing I didn’t run over her!

But also along with all the amazing skills we had a few collisions and crashes. But what is the fun of skating if you don’t take chance. I few bruises never hurt anyone...too much. 

I am so lucky that Audrey allows me to hang out with her. I have so much fun and it is extremely easy to be yourself when you are around family. We are quickly becoming inseparable. Every night is a new adventure for me!

The girlies all had a blast. We even had fun during snowball. For all of you who have never been to Classic Skating you have to know what it was the cool place to hang out in middle school when you weren’t aloud to date. Snowball is an activity that takes place once a night where the girls and boys separate to different sides of the arena and then one will ask the other to hold hands and skate around the rink while listening to a love song. It is such a funny juvenile thing, but we made the most of it. I don’t think I have ever held so many hands in one evening. ;)

After a good long evening of exercise we decided to head to Denny’s for a healthy midnight snack... or cheese fries. I swear Audrey and I are a sucker when it comes to fries, especially smothered in cheese. Don’t mind Audrey and I stuffing our faces in the back of this picture. It isn’t the most attractive thing.

Fixing the pool is taking far more time than anticipated. Luckily I was watching papa all day and had a chance to go to AquaTech and see what they could do. A few hundred dollars later and a lot of bad jokes from the manager I came home ready to do what ever it took to get the pool ready for swimming... sadly I must announce that after a long week of work it still isn’t clean enough to feel comfortable to swim. The chemicals did help, but the water is foggy and just won’t seem to clear up. I guess it will just take a little extra love and work! I will figure it out!!! 

Audrey, Mom and I have found ourselves oddly hooked to So You Think You Can Dance. After American Idol finished we needed something to fill that 3 hour void each week. The season just started but I have already picked out a few of my favorites! Right after watching some of Vegas Week we headed off to do a bit of our own dancing. Alex, Shawn, Audrey and I drove out to Provo to meet with Ashley Staib and Trent to go country swing dancing. I had done it once before but the rest of the group were complete beginners. It was so much fun. The only thing I regret is not getting any pictures next time I will, I promise! 

Not to brag, but I do want to tell you all about my clever Family Home Evening Lesson. I had been reading recently about the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi and got the idea of “burying our weapons of war.” I had each member of our family write down one of their sins that they wanted to get rid of and we went out in the back yard and literally buried our papers in the ground. Not that exciting I guess, but I was really happy I came up with it on my own.