Why my Jeep looks like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

ICE CAVE DAY!

I love going to the Ice Caves. It is glorious fun even before you get to the actual caves. It's non-stop fun Indiana Jones adventure from the minute you turn off the main road onto the dirt road. As David and Paige know, driving on that road scares me to death. Last time I nearly killed myself and my Jeep!  You know you doin' something wrong when you nearly kill a Jeep. Fortunately for me, I have a friend named Nathan (first one in the pic) who is a really good driver. So I always recruit him when I feel the need for an excursion out there. It rained recently, so the road was filled with puddles and muddy pools which we crashed and jostled and thundered through. We'd hit a puddle and mud/dirty water would spray up the sides of the Jeep like ocean waves when they hit the surf. I couldn't stop smiling and laughing out loud. Then the ride is over, and you have arrived at the Cave!! It was the first time for Alex's Friend (sorry friend! I forgot your name. I'll make up a new one for you. George, how's George?) and it's always fun with a first timer. George and Alex and second and third in the picture. Next time I go out there, I'll bring glow-sticks and we'll use those instead of flashlights. But we'll take them out with us and not leave our trash all over the cave unlike some jerks. Leave No Trace!!

You can't tell too well in this pic, but this is where the cave drops and you have to climb around a big ice pyramid. Some kind soul put a rope there so you can easy yourself down and not die. It is great fun.



And this is at the eld of the cave. It's a steep little hill of ice that you can climb up and slide down. It makes for a glorious good time. You have to stop yourself at the end though, or you'll slide right into a little pool of ice-cold flithy cave water.

Alex, you look like you're on drugs.

At one point Alex and Nathan decided it would be so funny to attack poor little Meagan. Even George turned against me, taking pictures of my sad fate. Only Ben was the kind one who did not try to kill. me. Ben is in the back of this picture, and in the back of the first picture. Eventually I escaped.

Then came to ride back to civilization. It was very much like the first, except for one part when we decided it was a good idea to try and drive up a sheer cliff face. We discovered that was not a wise decision.

But we lived.



Small and Wise

Shannon means "Small and Wise"

And Christine means "Christlike"

You were well named, my dear

You said the other night that there is a lot we can learn from each other.

I'll always try to be someone you can learn from.

I learn from you every day, sassy girl.

Always stong, always determined, always feisty, always beautiful, always righteous.

I've always loved you.

You are a sunbeam on a rainy day, a steel rod when I'm feeling weak, and best friend all the time.

I'm so grateful God gave me a sister like you.

In honor of Wes, Nick, Tyler, Ammon and the rest of you charmers.

You better take it from me, that boy is like a disease
You’re running, you’re trying, you’re trying to hide
And you’re wondering why you can’t get free
He’s like a curse, he’s like a drug
You get addicted to his love
You wanna get out but he’s holding you down
‘Cause you can’t live without one more touch

He’s a good time Cowboy Casanova
Leaning up against the record machine
Looks like a cool drink of water
But he’s candy-coated misery
He’s the devil in disguise
A snake with green eyes
And he only comes out at night
Gives you feelings that you don’t want to fight
You better run for your life

I see that look on your face
You ain’t hearing what I say
So I’ll say it again‘Cause I been where you been
And I know how it ends
You can’t get away
Don’t even look in his eyes
He’ll tell you nothing but lies
And you wanna believe
But you won’t be deceived
If you listen to me
And take my advice
Run run away
Don’t let him mess with your mind
He’ll tell you anything you want to hear
He’ll break your heart
It’s just a matter of time

Oh you better run for your life
That last line is for you, cowboy

*Disclaimer Shannon and I are not man-haters. Just player-haters. <3

A Scientific Experiment

I recently read in a magazine article that women might be wasting their money on high heels because men don't notice when we wear heels vs when we don't. This made the pretty little wheels in my head start to turn.
Hmmmmm... I wonder.....
Experiment time! I donned a skirt and some heels and a slick pair of nylons, and drove myself on down to our local Walmart. (By the way, if you are doing a general social experiment, Walmart is an excellent place to do it. You get people of all different ages and social standing, and people are not concerned with impressing anyone at Walmart, so they act more naturally.)

So if you are wondering if guys notice when you are wearing heels, the results are inconclusive. Here are the options; either they DO notice, or wearing heels makes you look very pathetic and lonely, and so every male store clerk feels the need to come over to see if you need help, and every male shopper thinks he'd better strike up a conversation.

I swear, the next time I feel depressed, I am slapping on a pair of stilettos and escorting myself to Walmart.
"Hey there, miss. Can I help you with anything?"

"Excuse me, miss. Do you need any help?"

"You need a little help reaching that top shelf, miss?"

"Well, hey. This is the third time we've gone down the same aisle. I notice you've got Drumstiks in your cart. That's my favorite ice cream, you know."

All of this is code, by the way. Code for 'Hey there SexyLegs. I'd like to see those legs climbin' into my pickup. I'd like to take those calves out to visit my ranch. Howz about you and me have a little lip pressin' conference after class?'
In case you are wondering, the correct response to this is
 "Oh, (smile) I'm doing fine, thanks for asking. (smile again)"
 Which is also code. Code for, 'In your dreams, pal. Not even there.'
If I had better manners, I wouldn't be nearly so pleased with myself for this discovery. All in the name of science, you know. Just helping to better the world.

Skylar Nance is my homeboy

If love were only simple, I would have it every day, if love were easy to fix, I would fix it straight away. Alas the heart holds strong for she who doesn't know, why oh why do I have love that's unable to grow.
A poem by Skylar Nance
which I think is clever

Bring it

I'm going to get so teased for this one. I can deal with that.
So now the 180th Semi-Annual General Conference is over. It was a great one!! I loved to hear from everyone, especially President Eyring and President Uchtdorf. I remember as a little little girl looking at a picture of President Eyring as the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and thinking to myself, 'He looks nice. I like him.' and I've had an affinity for him ever since. Same thing with elder Uchtdorf~ the minute I laid eyes on him, I thought, 'I like him.' So you can imagine how happy I was when President Monson called them to the First Presidency.
They both gave great sermons. Pres. Uchtdorf made me laugh so hard with his 'what does that have to do with flying an airplane?' joke. And it was interesting to me, because he started off with an analogy about tree rings. In school I have an Environmental Stewarship class and we learned about tree rings and tree cores recently. But the best talk (okay, my favorite talk) of Conference was Elder Holland's sermon on Saturday Morning. It really almost moved me to tears. I don't do that a lot. I hate it when people judge how 'spiritual' you are by how much you cry during sacrament meeting, so I try to err on the side of Scrooge rather than the former. Not that I think crying is a sure sign of weakness; look at Pres. Eyring. He tears up frequently. Anyhow, I was very affected by what Elder Holland said. He really put a lot of things into perspective. I felt like he was talking right to me. One really amazing thing about Conference is how the Holy Ghost can bear witness to you about things very personal during the sermons. I have so much peace in my heart about my mission and my second Mission President, President Kunz, with whom I've had a hard time being reconciled with because of some differences. And I am so grateful for my excellent parents, with whom I do not always see eye to eye, but whom I recognize gave it all they've got.
And then there was Elder Christofferson's talk about Consecration (amazing) President Uchtdorf's on Simplicity, President Eyring's on Trust in God, and Elder Mervyn Arnold's on the Name of Christ which I cannot wait for the Ensign to come out and to go through again.
Okay, family. Go ahead and heckle me and tell me I'm Molly Mormon. What's so bad about that anyways?

General Conference on a Saturday morning.

"Saturday Morning? Who do you think I am, a 7th-Day Adventist? We are Mormons!"
That was the general train of my thoughts this morning as I woke up from an uncomfortable sleep much earlier than I wanted to. I could smell the eggs cooking upstairs and which meant bad news for me, since my sisters future in-laws apparently don't know I'm allergic to the breakfast they're making. I know what is going to happen next; they'll suggest that I just have some cold cereal, which I also cannot have since I'm allergic to milk. GAH!! Not a promising beginning to a good morning. So I rolled out of bed with a pounding head, and trudged to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and stopped.
"What are you doing, crazy?" I wondered to myself. "Remember on your mission you used to be so excited for Conference. Why are you so cranky? You love this 'churchy stuff'. And it's probably just what you need."
So I quickly showered, curled my hair and went upstairs. It was easy to find a breakfast I could stomach, and the happy attitude made me almost excited to watch Conference. David, Paige's boyfriend, was friendly and jovial, and confided to me that he happened to know a secret about Conference. He's interning for the Ensign, and he said that 5 new temples would be announced, but would not reveal where.
So we evetually all sat down and squashed together on the couch and watched as it came on.
You know, this experience happens not infrequently, but it never fails to amaze me. As I started to take notes on the various talks, I felt like they were intended just for me. I suddenly had answers to problems I've been struggling with, happiness where I had headache, and gratitude where I had grouchiness.
Gosh I love this Gospel, and how lucky I am that there are still more sessions to go.