time well spent

before my little brother alex left on his mission about a month ago, he made me and heidi promise we would write something about him on our blogs for his birthday. it looks like heidi forgot though, so i'll be the cooler sister and write while i still have time. (there are 17 minutes left of april 24th.)

a list of things i like to do with alex:

play rock band - we kill it. i think we both got like 98% once on expert playing "welcome home." we're cool.

watch jazz games - after i moved we both watched them and texted back and forth about it. alex loves it when boozer yells things. and now, so do i.

go get ernie burgers - there is no ernie's down here. i'm deprived.

go on road trips - alex likes a lot of the same music i do, and he's not afraid to blast it either. so we have fun with that.

hang out - like everyone else in my family, alex likes to have fun and is a goofball. so even if we aren't doing anything "special," it's always fun to be around him.

i distinctly remember standing around watching when this picture was taken. the idea behind it was "thug life" and as you can see, they were very successful...

so, happy birthday to my little bro! he still has approximately two years left to go on his mission, but all of his emails are so positive and happy. i'm so proud of him, and i hope he had a fantastic birthday in the mtc!

ps heidi, don't be offended, ok? we can both be cool.

to let regret sit in my lap

i realized tonight that i don't do alone very well. with everybody else who lives here gone, i basically just counted the hours until i could go to bed.

the jazz game didn't keep me entertained like it should have.
the internet didn't keep me entertained like it should have.
the elliptical didn't keep me entertained like it should have.

i basically just bounced around between all of those things, wondering why i didn't just go to bed about fifty times. i have a mental block about going to bed before midnight though, so i had to tough it out. (i should have taken you up on your offer, jess.)

the thing is, when i am by myself my brain gets going, and i start thinking and worrying about things that really have no relevance, or things that i have already worked out and should have moved past. there is a lot i could have done, and a lot i tried to do, but my heart and brain weren't in it and i ended up just thinking myself silly... (but i also thought about the awesome dream i had last night, in which i had a hot date with dwayne wade. awesome.)

luckily, i tested the pool and it is ready. tomorrow is going to contain my very first dip of the year.

everybody fired up

basketball predictions for the first round of the playoffs, according to jenna:

cavs in four
orlando in five
hawks in seven
bulls in six (this one was a toughy. no kg for boston though... that's kind of a big deal.)

portland in six
new orleans in seven
san antonio in five
lakers in six (i had a hard time writing that. i just love those jazz.)

these predictions were pretty much all set before the first round started - there are revisions i would make after seeing the first one or two games, i think. but i wanted to record my original thoughts just to see how right i could be.

*sorry about the basketball talk. i've been watching a whole lot the past few days and i have it on the brain. i love the playoffs.*

from dark skies to wet grass

i apologize about the sad state of my blog lately - our internet was down for a long long long time, and then we got it back and i got busy. well, not "got busy," i just was busy. anyway, on with the update...

last saturday, i went golfing with my uncle, his wife, and my dad. they came to town to take my dad golfing for his birthday and had made a tee time for four, so i got to tag along. and let me tell you, it was right up there in the top five awesome days of the year so far. the golf course we went to was a fancy schmancy one up in north scottsdale, and i'm pretty sure we saw charles barkley's house. plus i was able to sharpen my skills even further and now i am pretty sure i could beat tiger with one hand tied behind my back.

despite the fact that that saturday turned out to be one out of the three days it rains down here a year, i really had an awesome time. the course was absolutely beautiful, i got to hang out with some fun people, and i didn't crash the golf cart one time. so it was a successful golf outing, i would say. plus, the girls beat the boys so bad... it was shameful, really.

i keep acquainted

last thursday morning, when i got home from teaching class, i looked outside and saw this:i stood at the door, wondering whose shoes were out there. but then i started to look closer, like this:

and upon closer examination, i realized those two shapes weren't shoes, but ducks. (don't ask me why i thought they were shoes. they were way too big for that.) i debated for a long time about going outside, because i didn't want to scare them away, (those two pictures were taken through the glass door) but finally decided to go for it. and this is what happened:

when i got home again later that afternoon, the ducks were gone and i was as sad as can be. i thought they had left forever. luckily, they liked the bread i fed them and have been back everyday since. i think they may be looking for a place for some baby ducks to live. well, that is what i'm hoping for.

take your time, think a lot

it has been a busy and fun week, and in all my busyness and fun times, my dad's birthday came and went and i neglected to post about it... whoopsy!

my dad is so cool - probably one of the coolest people i know. he has been a great example to me of a lot of things - persevering, working hard, playing hard, lots of things. he has had some rough times, but i have always known that he loves me and wants the best for me, and there isn't much more you can ask for than that. i hope he had a good birthday. love you daddy!