Bahamas Pictures

I've been thinking for some time now that Lish hadn't posted any pictures from his big trip. So I thought I would post some for him. I know it's been a while. Better late than never, right? The last few are from his trip to West Virginia to visit his grandparents. (In the crazy one, he was seeing how many napkin rings he could put on his face...and ears.)

I've Come to Realize...

1. I've come to realize that my toes...
really like getting pedicures.

2. I've come to realize that my job...
is not so bad when I think positively.

3. I've come to realize that when I'm driving...
I should pay more attention to the road when I’m by myself.

4. I've come to realize that I need...
more sleep. I get a good amount, but I could use more.

5. I've come to realize that I have lost...
my belief in some people.

6. I've come to realize that I hate it when...
people complain and don’t do anything to fix the problem.

7. I've come to realize that if I'm drunk...
I’ll know something has gone seriously wrong.

8. I've come to realize that money...
sometimes doesn’t come fast enough.

9. I've come to realize that certain people...
like things done a certain way, even if that means its different from me.

10. I've come to realize that I'll always...
have my imperfections.

11. I've come to realize that my sibling(s)...
are some of my best friends.

12. I've come to realize that my mom...
is an incredible, hard working and strong woman.

13. I've come to realize that my cell phone...
has become a part of me, but not an obsessive part.

14. I've come to realize that when I woke up this morning...
I was still tired, after my 2 ½ hour nap yesterday and over 7 hours of sleep last night.

15. I've come to realize that last night before I went to sleep...
I just wanted to stay up talking to my husband.

16. I've come to realize that right now I am thinking...
am I on hold or did they hang up on me?

17. I've come to realize that my dad...
has always been supportive and caring.

18. I've come to realize that when I get on Facebook or Blogger...
I am addicted.

19. I've come to realize that today...
is leading me another step closer to being where I want to be.

20. I've come to realize that tonight...
I get to dance my heart out for 90 minutes.

21. I've come to realize that tomorrow...
I’ve got a lot to get done.

22. I've come to realize that I really want to...
live closer to family.

23. I've come to realize that the person who is most likely to repost this is...
probably going to think this statement is stupid.

24. I've come to realize that life...
has its ups and downs, but is completely worth living each and every day.

25. I've come to realize that this weekend...
I get to go to the beach and spend time with some friends whom we haven’t seen in months!

26.I've come to realize that marriage...
is one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me.

27. I've come to realize that my friends...
are my support group.

28. I've come to realize that this year...
has gone by too quickly.

29. I've come to realize that my ex...
is a great person, just wasn’t great for me.

30. I've come to realize that maybe I should...
call old friends more often.

31. I've come to realize that I love...
way too many things to count on just my fingers and my toes.

32. I've come to realize that I don't understand...
why some people do the things they do.

33. I've come to realize my past...
is gone and there’s nothing I can do to change it.

34. I've come to realize that parties...
are still awesome with the right people.

35. I've come to realize that I'm totally terrified...
of cockroaches. Ew!

36. I've come to realize that my life...
is full of blessings.

This Morning I...

Tallahassee has had some hot weather lately. It's summertime, so this comes as no surprise. It's hot, it's humid, you can't walk outside long before you start "glistening." Ah, the south. However, yesterday morning when I got up to exercise, I pulled out Lish's iTouch to see what the weather would be like for the day. Do you know what the temperature was? 59. Before I left for work, it had gone up to 62. The low 60's! I loved it!

Hoping that it would be cool again, I decided to go for a run this morning. My hopes were fulfilled. Cool weather again. Had my iPod. My knee brace. I was set. And it was one of the most amazing runs I've ever had! I was out before the sun came up, so I got to see the sunrise. Snow Patrol was running along with me, keeping me from getting bored. I ran a route that I've run before, but I decided to keep going. I ran up a hill, turned down a street I hadn't been down yet, and I got lost. But I didn't turn around. I just kept running. I found my way out eventually. It was a beautiful and quiet neighborhood. I would like to get lost in it again.

I was getting worried about the time, knowing I had to be to work on time today. I headed home to find out I had been gone for only 40 minutes. This story probably made it seem longer. I haven't run for weeks though. And I haven't run that long for months. And even though my iPod froze while I was in the unknown neighborhood, the run was rejuvenating.

Plus, I feel like my arms look skinnier than they did yesterday.

America's Birthday

Next, our July 4th weekend. Lish and I had both gotten home from our trips that Sunday before the holiday. I didn't know I'd have July 3rd off, so we hadn't really planned on doing much. When I found out I did get Friday off, we were invited by Jen and Trevor to go down to Jen's mom's house in Jupiter, FL. Now if this location sounds familiar, that's because it is. It's also where Lish's grandparents live for half of the year, so we go down there for Thanksgiving.

Anyway, we packed up our stuff and the pooches on Thursday after work and made the drive down. We didn't get in until late, but we played at the beach on Friday and Saturday. Watched some fireworks down at Palm Beach. Ate some delicious fish. Swam at the pool. And slept. It was a fabulous weekend! We had such a blast!

(Excuse the jumbled mess that is our pictures.)

Brooke Shoes

I'm playing a little "blog catch-up" here. I've gotten behind.

Here are my 2009 Brooke Shoes, for those of you who were anticipating them. They're so cute and I love them.

Love and miss you Brooke!

Happy Belated B-day Mitch!

So, forgive me for I am a slacker. Yesterday was my father-in-laws 60th birthday! For his birthday, Lish and his sister made him a playlist of 3 songs from every year he has been alive. That's a lot of songs. He loved it!

I remember the first time I met Lish's dad. I'm not gonna lie, I felt awkward. Lish and I had just started dating about 3 months earlier and decided to take a roadtrip out to California. Lish was telling me that his dad had never met a girl he was dating before, so I felt that the pressure was on. But it worked out great! Mitch is such an easy person to be around. He's so personable. And funny. He really goes out of his way to mess with people, mostly his wife. (Lucky you Bev!) He is such a great entertainer, and a fabulous cook of chicken, fish, and frozen pizzas.

The more time I spend with Mitch and Lish, the more I realize how similar they are. Mitch has some very wonderful qualities that were passed on to Lish, such as his ability to get along with anybody and his sense of humor. Lish also got the teasing attribute from his father, and I get the grunt of that, so... don't expect any thank you's for that here.

Mitch, thank you for being such a fabulous father-in-law! I wish we didn't live so far away, because we love getting to spend time with you. Happy (belated) birthday! We love you!

Mom's Day!

Happy birthday Mom! Today is my mom's birthday. I'm sure you caught that by now. Sadly I cannot be out there to celebrate it with her again, but it was great getting to see her a couple weeks ago.


Now, what do I say about my mother? She's amazing. Anyone who has met her can testify to this. There are so many great qualities that describe my mother, so I'll just name a few.

She's always put her children first. When we were younger, she did a great job at making sure we learned what we needed to for our life's journey. She was and still is a fantastic teacher. She has always put her children's happiness very up high on her priority list. If her children are happy, she's happy. She has always wanted the best for her children. She has been such a great example to me about how to be a good friend and a loving mother. I love being able to consider my mother one of my best friends. I am so grateful for all the hard work she did to help raise us. I know it wasn't easy for her, but she kept at it day in and day out.


She is a very strong woman. She is very caring and compassionate. She is hard working and driven. She does a fantastic job at making us laugh, even if we're mostly laughing at her. She has a great ability of not taking things too seriously. She's got a wonderful sense of humor. She's easy to get along with, because she will accept people as they are, faults and all. Like I said, she's pretty much amazing!

I love spending time with my mom. I love our phone conversations and getting emails from her. I love knowing how much she cares about me because she doesn't let me forget it. I love hearing from her, even if it's just saying, "I was just thinking about you." I hope she know how much I care about her. I hope she knows how amazing I think she is.

I love you Mom! Thanks for everything! I wouldn't trade you or anything about you for the world!

Addiction Dance

If you haven't had the chance to watch this dance yet, please do. It is absolutely amazing. I have never felt so much emotion during a dance before. Mia Michaels is a brilliant choreographer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhKjA6u27xQ#watch-main-area

South for the Summer...?

(Note: Click on the links to see more pictures of what I am talking about) It has been a while since I took the time to launch the details of my life into cyberspace. I suppose I could blame it on the mundaneness I feel within the confines of my own life, but I seriously busted out of those a few weeks ago, so a post is certainly in order. This is not because Whitney told me she would flog me mercilessly if I did not write a post about my trip. Ok, maybe its partially because of that. She is stronger that she looks.

This story starts in the early 90's when people still had yet to let go of the big hair from the 80's, namely my Dad's great quasi-mullet, and people only assumed Paula Abdul was crazy. My Dad and some of his colleagues from the CSL (Comparative Sedimentology Lab) at the University of Miami started taking students on field trips to the Bahamas to study the unique aspects of sand and subsequent island formation that happens there. My Dad was specially qualified to help on these trips because he did his dissertation studying ooid (a particular type of sand grain) formation and such in a place in the Bahamas called Joulter's Cay. The fact that he used to enjoyed bouncing around the Bahamas in a speedo was just icing on the cake (key words in sentence: used to).

So when I felt grown up enough to ask (I think I was about 15), I started harassing my Dad to take me on one of his field trips. After only 12 years of bugging him, he relented. Maybe I needed those extra 12 years to grow up a little more. Although I would like to make it clear that I still have a very juvenile sense of humor. In fact, bodily functions are funnier now than they were when I was 15 because no one gets mad at me for laughing anymore (MAGGIE!). And so I accompanied a bunch of rock nerds on their week long exploration of the Great Bahama Bank.

I flew to Miami on June 14th and met up with my Dad. We spent that night and the following day and night in Miami. The field trip officially started on the 15th with a day of lectures. I sat through a majority of them, but I didn't really get all of the discussion. Either way, it was fun to see my Dad lecture in front of some students. It was enlightening. I say this because he does so many things I do when I lecture. Like father, like son I suppose. And the students on the trip were from all over the world. Don't believe me? Here is a list of the countries represented by the eleven students: USA, Venezuela, Brazil, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Japan, Algeria, and Indonesia. So I may not have been the only one that didn't fully understand the lectures.

The morning of the 16th we flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Bimini, which is a little island right off the east coast of Florida. There we met up with our boat Captain, Captain John (one of my new favorite people) and jumped on the research vessel Coral Reef 2. It is an 80 foot boat owned by the University of Chicago that they use to catch fish for the Shedd Aquarium. We got onto our home for the next 5 days and headed off into the great blue. Seriously, the color of the water was unbelievable.

Starting that Tuesday through Friday, we traveled from Bimini to New Providence Island (where Nassau is located). We went across the Great Bahama Bank and snorkeled all around looking at the sand and other rocks. We walked along sections of the isolated coast lines on Andros Island and at Joulter's Cay. We swam all over the place and walked in places where nobody else walks. It was fantastic. We also swam around some beautiful patch reefs and the Andros barrier reef, which is the 3rd largest barrier reef in the world. I encountered fish of all kinds, beautiful rays including 2 spotted eagle rays, and a handful of sharks (my dive buddy and I were approached by 3 black tip sharks and we also saw a Caribbean reef shark and a nurse shark). The diving was astounding. It was 4 days at sea, living, eating (lots of this due to the chef onboard), and sleeping on the boat. I tried my best to soak up as much of it as I could and wish I would have had more time on the boat to eat even more of it up.

Although the surroundings were breathtaking and the marine life was extraordinary, my favorite part of the trip was spending that time with my Dad. At the chance of sounding sappy, I really felt like I became good friends with him. Maybe it has been because of physical distance or because of a lack of time spent in circumstances like these, but I grew to see and respect my Dad in new ways. I am not sure if he feels the same way (note: see the comment about my 14 year old sense of humor), but I hope this trip can serve as a strength to our relationship for the rest of our lives.

After the field trip ended, we stayed in Nassau for a few days to help scour the island for more rocks to help a master's student at the CSL with his thesis and then we made a quick trip to Wierton, WV to visit my Dad's family. Both of these legs of the trip were great too, but I would be lying if I didn't say they paled in comparison to the week spent at sea. I will always remember this trip and hope I can bug my Dad to take me again. And if I play my cards right, maybe it won't take another 12 years.

Utah Vacation

Alright everyone, this is going to be a long post. I had the opportunity to go out to Utah to visit my family 2 weeks ago. It was fabulous! I got to see some friends and lots of family. So thanks to everyone I saw for making an effort to come see me!

The day after I flew in, my dad hosted a BBQ swim party. We didn't get to swim much because it was raining, but I got to see some friends and family that day, so I wasn't upset.

On Sunday I headed up to my mom's to go to church with her. There was a girl I had grown up with who was leaving on her mission, so I got to see a lot of old friends from high school. President Uchtdorf was also presiding, so that was pretty amazing. I got to go up and shake his hand afterwards. Then I headed back down to my dad's to celebrate Father's Day.
On Monday my dad and I headed up to Idaho to spend a little time at the family cabin. It was amazing. I love it up there. I got to spend some time with my grandparents and with Troy. We headed back on Tuesday, after a round of golf and getting to see where Troy lives.
My dad dropped me off in Bountiful that night, and Kyle had just gotten home from California a couple hours before I got there. It was nice to just relax and catch up with him and Courtney a little. On Wednesday, my mom and I started working on a little craft project. Then she took me out to get a pedicure. It was nice. She drove me into Salt Lake so I could meet up with my dad for dinner that night. I met up with him and we went out to eat with Alisia, Dallas, and Ashley. I stayed with them that night and headed back up to Bountiful on Thursday morning.On Thursday, my mom and I finished that project. I had another friend come visit me that afternoon. That evening I headed into Salt Lake again to take Courtney out for dinner. We went to the Cheesecake Factory, and it was delicious! When we got back up to Bountiful, we had a girls night game night with some of my mom's friends and Shelly. It was a lot of fun!
On Friday, my mom and I ran some errands, then headed into Salt Lake one more time to meet up with Karen and Stephanie for lunch. After lunch, she dropped me off so I could meet up with Brittany and Trisha. We bought our "Brooke Shoes" and then just sat and visited for a while. That night, we headed down to Brian and Shelly's for dinner and games, and to spend more time with Hunter and Kaitlyn.
The last full day I was there, Saturday, my mom, Kyle, and I went to the temple and did a session. Then we headed up to my grandparents place. We went to see the movie "Up" in 3D. Then we went back to their house for dinner and dessert and games. (We are a game playing family, can you tell?) It was such a great trip! I love getting to spend some quality time with my family, and the trip was definitely full of quality time. I certainly love my family and my friends. It was an amazing vacation, but it's so nice to be back with my hubby!