Whew!

Okay, so feet are KILLING me after walking 5 miles in 90 degree weather for work...yeah, the stupid things I'll do for money!

I finally got a class I need added, and found out that the ONLY teacher for another is the one I hate, so I'll just have to suck it up and pretend to be a non-thinking record-n'-repeat robot for the semester. This means that I only have 1 more add/drop to do (switching days on a class). Also, my schedule is going to be great! No more getting up for class at 8 (except for Fridays)! I also got my books ordered and on their way, for 300 dollars less than I "should" be paying...this is a good day.

Oh, yeah, and the family is having spaghetti for dinner.

I felt oddly lonely at work today. EVERYONE there has either a sibling, a boyfriend, or a best friend working there now...except me. Lesa even has a best friend AND a boyfriend! Which means they all are engrossed in coversations and guess who gets to help the customer-with-2--boxes-full-of-odd-size-paper-she-wants-copied-with-every-2-pieces-stapled-who-doesn't-want-to-take-out-the-staples-herself? Yep, me! And it means I don't get to be good friends with anyone, because they already have friends there. I mean, Kara and I and Julia and I got to be GREAT friends! I miss them. Other than that, my job is really a FANTASTIC one. And Fred is so great. He was so concerned about me when I walked in with a purple face from the heat. He even bought me a water bottle!

Man, today my family is watching The Mountain of the Lord for Family Home Evening. Don't get me wrong, it's a good video full of history about the building of the Salt Lake Temple. It's amazing what those people did and sacrificed! But we've seen that movie, like, a million times, and it's really rather depressing. And scary. And I really don't want to watch it again.

*sigh*

Anyway, spaghetti time!

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Last Weekend and Iowa Fujas

Last Weekend
Last weekend, my family went to a family reunion in Idaho. I stayed behind to pick Gordon up from his week-long camp in the High Uintas. I packed up and headed over to my house Friday afternoon. It was beautiful and clean--ready for the guests on Monday. I had a good night watching Dick Van Dyke. Then I was up really late sanding a banister.

A few days before, I had been home and seen our downstairs banister. I don't think that thing had ever had a decent cleaning since we moved into our house! That poor handrail was positively gray! I had called up to my family that it needed a cleaning, and my father did his usual, "I think somebody is volunteering." I thought I'd surprise my family by cleaning the banister while they were away. I took a rag and Comet to the banister, cleaning off the gunk, after which the rag was black and the handrail was--white. Sort of. Underneath all that grease and grime, there were only spots of varnish left! So I decided there was nothing for me to do except sand down the banister and re-varnish it. I took down the banister from its rusted brackets and took turns sanding the railing down and sanding the rust off of the brackets all night and into the morning. I got about 1/4 of the way done with the banister, and got most of the rust off the brackets.

When I woke up later I went to the store to pick up some coarse sandpaper, new finish for the brackets and some varnish for the banister. Getting back, I was just in time to refinish the brackets and pick Gordon up from his week-long.

Going over there, I was honestly pretty shocked. The poor kid was COVERED in mosquito bites! Apparently the mosquitoes were so thick that practically bathing in bug spray didn't help the scouts. And I guess Gordon is a bit allergic to mosquitoes. So I got him home and made him an oatmeal bath. He kept insisting he wasn't the least bit tired, so after a quick trip to Walmart for some Benadryl I put him to work helping me sand the banister. The work went a lot quicker with his help, and we had lots of fun singing together with songs from my iPod. He and Catherine are my only siblings who don't tell me to be quiet when I sing along with songs, so it was great!

In two hours we had the whole thing sanded and were putting on the first coat of varnish. We did this about 3 more times before going to Wendys and getting a fantastic supper. Mommy called and asked me to have Gordon mow the lawn and to weed the rosebed. I nearly laughed hysterically, as she didn't know what work we had been doing all day and Gordon was now fast asleep on the couch. I cleaned the house quickly of what mess had been made by the banister work, weeded the flower bed and tried (and failed) to start the lawn mower. I had to wake Gordon to get him to try (and fail) to start the mower, but that was okay because the neighbors came over and asked him to watch their children while they went to the store so he would have had to be up anyway. I was just putting the last coat of finish on when the family pulled into the driveway. I had meant to have the banister up by then, so I just ran inside and looked like I didn't know WHAT the banister was doing in the driveway...of course they had seen me putting on the last coat so they knew I had something to do with it. Mommy told me I was silly and to get home--apparently Grandma had been sick in the car--and that was all the thanks I got, but compared to the grungy thing it used to be. When I went back for Andrew's shindig I ran my hand down it and realized that the finish had bubbled in the heat while it was drying, so I'll have to use some finishing sandpaper and smooth it over. Otherwise, for having only used my internet research and my common sense, I think it came out really well! I was proud of how beautiful the banister looked Gordon's mosquito bites are now healing, so we're grateful for that too.

Iowa Fujas and Photo Dump!

When I got home from the weekend, I first wondered why there were all these vans in the driveway. I knew Randy was coming down for Andrew's farewell, but I didn't see how he could have brought 2 vans. Then I saw Andrew standing by one of the vans holding a baby and was even more confused. Had one of Andrew's friends--one with a baby--stopped by? As he turned and walked into the house I realized that it wasn't Andrew...it was Tannin! I got all excited, slammed the door, started to run into the house, ran back to turn my headlights off, and ran into the house in time to greet Megan and Cumorah! What a great surprise! It's been a fantastic week with them. They were at the farewell, and had fun playing with Shayna's kids afterwards.

Monday my family came over and had a ball playing with Tayton, Hunter and Cumorah. I took lots of pictures, so get ready, get set...PHOTO DUMP!

Andrew and Tayton playing ping pong

Me and Cumorah playing on the rug

Catherine and Hunter playing "I'm gonna getcha!"--That kid can run!

Tayton and Gordon play Hide and Seek--When I took this, Tayton still hadn't
realized Gordon was sitting right behind him!

Gordon and Tayton playing football

Everyone playing together

After the play we had a fantastic barbeque with brats and steak.

Tuesday we all went up to BYU. We went to the stadium (where Tayton was totally in awe), then to the Bean Museum and to the Bell Tower to feed ducks. Then we went to get ice cream at Sugar and Spice! And, of course, I took pictures! ;D

Tayton, Hunter, Gordon and Andrew at the Stadium

Cumorah at the Stadium

Mommy, Catherine, Rebecca, Tayton and Megan
at the Bell Tower

At the duck pond
(Front to back: Rebecca, Janette, Andrew,
Catherine, Tannin and Tayton)

Tannin and Tayton

Tayton and Gordon running down the hill by the Library

Aren't they just so cute? Incidentally, the first set of pictures was taken with my camera, the second with my camera phone. So...I guess my phone has as good quality as my handheld camera? :D

Wednesday, everyone went to a surprise 50th bday party for Uncle Randy. I had school and work so I didn't get to go, but I stayed and took care of Grandma. I hear the party went really well and that everyone had fun!

Anyway, they all left on Thursday to visit a few of Megan's relatives. And today Wendy is going to arrive! We're so excited and feel so blessed to be able to spend so much time this summer with those we love. Andrew goes into the MTC on Wednesday, I think, and we'll miss him, but it's good to know he'll be doing the Lord's work!

Thanks for being patient with these long posts, take care!

UPDATE 7/15/09: Iowa Fujas, Andrew's "Farewell," Oregonians, and 4th of July!

Okay, Massive Update!

I'll add pictures later as I go, because they're scattered all over the place and I'll be lucky if I get to everything in text today.

Hortons!

Okay, so the Hortons came over for about...2 weeks, I think. We had so much fun and it was great to see them! I can hardly believe Madison is going to be going to college in the fall (it is in the fall, right?). They are very outdoorsy people, and we tried some great new foods with them (by the way, Aunt Danette, did you give my mom the recipe for your pickle dip?). I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked (school and work), but they hiked the Y and played lots of games with us. One day we went to the Scera pool, and I had fun playing with Erin, Catherine, and Jacob. Matt and Gordon "played" too...mostly by splashing us girls until we had squealed enough to satisfy them! ;D Another day we went laser-tagging, and I fulfilled my life's role of making sure no one else has to place last. Heehee! I love laser-tagging, but--let's face it--my aim is horrible and my hiding skills are worse. Anyway...I think everyone had fun and I had a wonderful surprise clean shower after the fun (Thanks again, Madison)!

4th of July and Balloon Handling

During that time was the 4th of July. I had the difficult decision of whether to help rehydrate the Marching Band (which I LOVE), or be a big balloon carrier. I finally decided on the balloon because my family is likely to be doing marching band for a while yet, and who knows when I will next have the opportunity to hold a rope attached to a big balloon? So I got up at about 6:30, and waited around until they started blowing up my ward's balloon. It took until 9, because the helium company hadn't brought enough hoses, but we eventually got "the Lady herself" (our affectionate name for our Madeline balloon) on her feet. In all the shuffle I ended up with a rope that attached to the top brim of her hat. This meant that I was on the very outside of about 30 people who handling the Lady. Starting down the parade route, I thought, "Man, this is so much easier than rehydrating!" I still missed the band, but I got to chat with Mr. LeVar (former band director) before the parade, as the Lehi High band was right in back of us. Then we started down the route in earnest...and I realized I was in trouble. People ask you to spin the big balloons, and...I died. You see, I'm not in the best shape, and I have short legs. Being on the outside, I had the longest distance around the circle to run. And I mean RUN. When the balloon is capable of pulling you off your feet if you don't keep up, you tend to do things like that.

Illustration of my position in the group

In addition to this, the people who were deciding to spin the balloon were in the middle of the group, so they had no idea how tired the rest of us were. And when the people chanted for us to spin the Lady even though we had just finished spinning her...they figured, what's the harm? They did, however, say no to the one guy who was yelling, "Flip her! Flip her!" :) By the end of the parade I was just praying I wouldn't faint in front of all these people. But I made it, took a short rest to help deflate the balloon, then ran back to try and catch the Timpanogos Marching Band. I didn't make it (I made it just as they were finishing), but Janette was good enough to play "Yankee Doodle" for me.

I rode the bus home with the band and yelled "Hi!" to everyone we passed. We passed some missionaries, and I think they got a kick out of a bus full of kids singing "Called to Serve." XD Then I went home and slept. I hadn't known I was going to the family home, so I hadn't brought my contacts...so Daddy was good enough to go get me a contact case (which turned out to be awesomely glow-in-the-dark) and solution to stay at the house. That way I got to sleep. After that we had a fantastic dinner and fireworks with the Hortons. I'll spare you my rant on people who think they're too good for the law and don't care about burning down other peoples' houses with their illegal fireworks (heehee;D) and just say it was fun. It's weird to think this is the last time Andrew will be doing our fireworks for 2 whole years! By the time we got to bed I was totally beat.

Okay, what have I yet to talk about?

Oh, yeah!

Andrew's Farewell

We had a whole bunch of people here! Wyoming Fujas (by the way, that Seussical dvd was awesome and I want to actually see the play now) and California Bells came, Iowa Fujas, Grandma Bowns, and a whole slew of friends! Andrew gave an amazing talk on being a tool in the Lord's hands. I wish we had taped it. Mommy cried and even Daddy teared up a little! I got to sing "Armies of Helaman" with the choir, too. After Sacrament Meeting, I had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with my friend Becca. We both agreed that life is a lot harder after high school, and that there's something wrong with men "our age" (she's about a year younger than I am). ;D

We then went home and had a delicious Hawaiian haystack dinner with the Alvarez family and other family members. It was fun to see them again. The Uncles gave Andrew special mission ties and a few words of advice, which was great to see. We then went to an "openhouse" at the Bowns home. Andrews friends came and played games, and everyone signed his tablecloth. Tayton, Hunter and Cumorah did their job of charming the pants (or skirts) off of everyone they met, even though they were very tired and hot. After that...came home and collapsed into bed, nervous for a Spanish test the next day (I did okay on it, don't worry ;D).

Well, that's it for today. I'll talk more about Iowa Fujas tomorrow. Get ready for picture pandemonium! :D

To Everyone.

I am sorry to anyone who's feelings were hurt by my most recent entry. I have another journal where I vent my more private feelings, and it has an option to cross-post into this blog. I thought I had turned off that option with that post, but apparently it didn't happen. I have edited the entry to make my feelings a little clearer, and will post and perhaps elaborate on the edit here.

EDIT: I do realize that this makes me sound hateful toward my family, so let me clarify. I do love these people, but it bothers me that the majority is bending to the few because they're afraid the few will be offended if they don't. I don't approve of letting them steamroll over all of us. Uncles and aunts who like the tradition say "Grandma and Grandpa decided this, so we deal with it, and you deal with it because you were born a cousin." Well, I know that "Grandma and Grandpa" only said "okay" to the idea because they were afraid some uncles/aunts would get offended and have major family fallout if they didn't. So basically, the majority of uncles/aunts, cousins AND grandma/grandpa are keeping quiet and being run over by a few for the sake of "family unity." And I don't approve of that. It seems too much like what's happening in the world today. As my mom says often, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." Well, then why don't the rest of us be a little more squeaky about this situation instead of just saying "Well, I guess, whatever..." THAT'S what's bothering me. That and this whole, "You were born this way (a cousin), so you don't get a vote." Yeah, that just great. You know, this is like taxation w/o representation! Grr. I love these people, and love to spend time with them, but it seems like they don't want to think about or spend time with the family, and I know others share the feeling.

That being said, I apologize if the way I feel offends you. I felt I had to vent and did so in what I thought was a private way. I will not apologize for my feelings, as they are based on what I have seen and experienced. If some other evidence comes to light or is explained to me, I will consider it and revise my opinion accordingly. Until then, I hope you all will know that I love you--but that I am human, and have things to work on like everyone else.
If you have trouble with my feelings and opinions, let that trouble be with me and no one else.
Happy Birthday.

PS To the people who are coming here soon (you know who you are), I am sooooo excited! I'm counting the days!

PPS I hope to start updating this blog more--with more mundane posts and perhaps some pictures--so keep watching!

Oh, BROTHER! Or rather...UNCLE.

4th of July. We and the Hortons get together, and someone suggests we draw Christmas names now. Let me explain to you: It has been a tradition that we get together, put everyone's names in a hat or bowl (grandma, grandpa, uncles and aunts, and cousins) and draw names for Christmas. You get a person's name, you buy them a little gift for the family Christmas party. Those who are unable to make it to the part mail their gifts and get their gifts in the mail. It's a nice little tradition that helped you think of the people in the family, think of what they might like. The anticipation of surprising the person you drew and of the surprise you might receive always extended the Christmas feeling a little more, and since the drawing was always random and fair, and it was a surprise who you got.

Until...

Some people decided they were drawing other people "too often." These people tried to devise a "rotating schedule" to ensure that they didn't get those people. They also felt that what certain people gave and what they got was unequal ("It's the thought that counts" apparently isn't enough). When that didn't work, all heck broke loose. It was decided (among the aunts and uncles, some talking until they were blue in the face to prove their point, the others who didn't really care not standing up and caring...and NOBODY asked the cousins) that instead of drawing names and giving individual gifts "we" would put money into a bank account or some such thing and do a big "family reunion" every 3 or 4 years...or was it every other year? That way, you don't actually have to think about any individual person, you don't have to give your family any more thought than just writing a check. In addition, the families who can't come to the reunion...well, they don't have to deal with it at all! And let's face it...people are more likely to have Christmas free for a family party of a few days than the a week in the summer (when there are sports camps, marching band practices, summer jobs...) The cousins who were upset by this were given talking-tos by the uncles and aunts.

The first year, a few cousins and a few of the uncles and aunts who actually liked the tradition drew names on their own and exchanged gifts, as well as putting money into the bank. The reunion was lovely and all had fun. And although it was not the same, it was good. The second year the same thing happened, minus the reunion because it was not the year for it.

Then came July 4th, 2009. Someone asks the innocent question: "So, are we drawing names now?" And all of a sudden there's a big discussion. Since this year was supposedly a year for a reunion (and thus we see how well THAT is working, since there has been no reunion...families are busy with their own stuff), people are concerned that someone--who came up with the idea for both the rotating schedule and cutting out drawing names-- will be upset if we draw names anyway. So what do we do?

We do NOTHING. Yep, that's right! No reunion, no drawing names. No Christmas tradition whatsoever, not even a semblance of the thing. The architects of the whole thing are so lucky--they no longer have to even deal with the family by even writing a check! I bet they're so happy!

I, however, am not. And I know a few cousins who are not happy, either. But then again, we're only "children." We don't count.

Happy Christmas.

EDIT: I do realize that this makes me sound hateful toward my family, so let me clarify. I do love these people, but it bothers me that the majority is bending to the few because they're afraid the few will be offended if they don't. I don't approve of letting them steamroll over all of us. Uncles and aunts who like the tradition say "Grandma and Grandpa decided this, so we deal with it, and you deal with it because you were born a cousin." Well, I know that "Grandma and Grandpa" only said "okay" to the idea because they were afraid some uncles/aunts would get offended and have major family fallout if they didn't. So basically, the majority of uncles/aunts, cousins AND grandma/grandpa are keeping quiet and being run over by a few for the sake of "family unity." And I don't approve of that. It seems too much like what's happening in the world today. As my mom says, "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." Well, then why don't the rest of us be a little more squeaky about this situation instead of just saying "Well, I guess, whatever..." THAT'S what's bothering me. That and this whole, "You were born this way (a cousin), so you don't get a vote." Yeah, that just great. You know, this is like taxation w/o representation! Grr.

Keep Zi's House!

My friend Zi (name has been changed) recently posted about some problems she's been having. I can't even imagine being in this position myself, let alone having 2 kids and a husband to take care of! She says:

"As most of you know, my husband was laid off the first week of February. He had worked for the same company for years and had worked previously with his bosses so they had a lot of history. They actually recruited him from another job with the promise of fully-paid health insurance and a manager position that paid hourly, not salary. Fast forward to September 2008 when they decided to change the game due to the economy. Instead of working 55 hours a week, they cut him back to 45 hours a week, which took about $200 off his paycheck each week. So we started to fall behind on bills. Then in December 2008, they told him that he would have to pay for half his health insurance, to the tune of $160 a week. So we fell even farther behind on bills, even though I was working full time as well. Well, after speaking to them repeatedly and trying to work something out he was laid off. They called it "restructering". I call it pretty fucking shitty. 6 weeks without him not working really took a toll on our finances. I did the best I could, but the bills just kept piling up even though I was making partial payments. When he finally got a job, he immediately set up a payment plan with our mortgage company so that we wouldn't lose our house. For 2 months he never brought home a paycheck, it went right to our mortgage payments. He had to cancel one payment so that he could send some money to other bills and when he called them back to make a payment and set up another group of automatic withdrawels from his bank account, he was told that our account had been suspended and that we would have to wait to get the notice in the mail. Two weeks was all it took for them to make the big decision on us. We were foreclosed on. We have until July 17th to send the attorney handling our foreclosure $9600.00 to reinstate our mortgage or they will auction our house off on July 20th. As of right now, we still need to pull over $6000.00 out of our asses and it isn't looking good. I'm freaking out...crying a lot and trying to not let the kids know that we will most likely be moving in 2 weeks."

So to sum up: Her husband was lied to repeatedly by his company, causing him to lose money, and then is laid off. Even though Zi is working, the money from her paycheck goes towards paying part of bills and food, not mortgage. Her husband gets a new job and his paychecks go to mortgage. Bills come fully due, and husband has to cancel a mortgage payment to pay bills. Even though he calls them back promptly to make the payment, he is told he must wait until they decide what to do about him. They decide to foreclose unless he can pay a certain amount to keep his home.

This girl is a dear friend of mine, and my heart aches to hear what her little family is going through. I keep thinking I must be able to do something, yet I am only a college student with financial problems of my own. I can afford to give a little, but not enough.

So I turn to you, my dear friends. Since you know me, you know how rare it is that I get involved in this sort of thing. Heck, I don't even forward emails without checking them out first! ;D But this is serious. PLEASE, if you can, give a little. All this money goes directly to Zi and her family. I hope that even if we don't get enough to keep them in their house, we can do what we can to ease the burden for them. Perhaps our donations can pay for groceries or pay a bit of an outstanding bill. My friends, I know you to be empathic people, and I don't know what more to say. Every little bit helps, and please keep them in your prayers.

Blah

Yeah, I know. But that's how I feel right now. Blah. Got a live event coming up, I'm excited for that, and for the surprise I'm getting Gordon...

Homework is behind because I really really REALLY can't afford the books...but I guess I'm gonna have to buy them sooner or later...I'm not sure if I'm working MLK day, I don't remember having to work it before (meaning I think we're closed), but Max may make us work any since no one put the signs up...

Blah.