PROBABLY FOR MY MOM ONLY

Baby Kate on her 1st birthday in the chair Nanna and Poppa gave her

The amazingly decorated classroom I teach in

Friends that surprised me at a birthday party my siblings set up

The twins surprised me as well

With the parents in the mission home on my birthday

The Goose Is Getting Fat

Couple things folks:

• my blog title = line from a great song about Christmas


• thank you to my siblings for the best, best most totally awesome surprise birthday party that has ever been thrown on this earth


• thanks to all the people who surprised me


• i am going to Washington in 1 day, 17 hrs, 31 minutes


• i am done with my senior thesis!


• tomorrow is Kate's 1st birthday (love you lady)


• like my new blog design? Laura's husband, Kyle, did it for me


• i totally won my roommate Leslie - she is on my side...


• i played a funny prank on someone tonight which I never do


• i am not a really awesome auntie like Jen and Heidi but i love my babies

In Search of a Story...

I received a grant from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies to go to Green River and Page to study John Wesley Powell. Holy crap, it was more work than I ever imagined. We drove to Green River early Friday morning and I expected to spend 3-4 hours in their archives. Well that didn't happen because we had breakfast with Mayor Ed Bentley instead (he also happened to manage the only breakfast joint in town). Thats right! It was the weirdest, cutest thing ever. After breaking the hearts of the Green River residents, we departed for Page. That was a totally different place. The people were rude and the city ugly. But I did get a lot of information which led me to find my story. What could I say about John Wesley Powell that is new? Well hopefully I found it and I guess we will have to see what the BYU folks say about it. I have never been at Lake Powell in November before. The water was really cold and that was a very strange feeling. Corey and I just sat on the beach for about an hour watching the sunset. It was so hard to be there but not really be there. I wasn't launching the boat the next morning, I wasn't staying on a houseboat, I wasn't going to enjoy a week at my favorite place on earth. Instead I was off to a $49 hotel room. But the Econo-lodge wasn't too bad. Free breakfast and a view of the lake and dam from our window. I also got into the biggest laughing fit that night and ended up on the floor while Corey looked on in amazement wondering what was so funny. Once I was finally done laughing after 15 minutes I honestly couldn't even remember what started the giggles. After the night in Page we went to the Grand Canyon. That was all new for me. It was not at all what I expected. A lot bigger; the name fits it well. It was beautiful. I just wish I could have seen it from Powell's perspective. After a couple hours there, we headed back for Provo. It was basically 20 hours of driving in less than 48 hours. Gross. Well I learned alot, saw a lot, and had a lot of fun.

The gorgeous Grand Canyon

View from our Econo-lodge hotel room