The Silly Saga of an Epic Enterprise (Part--The Last...finally)

Okay, I've been having a hard time trying to figure out how to end this.  Partly because I really enjoyed it so much and don't want to stop thinking about it.  BUT here it goes.  The end.  Sunday, and the departure home.....  (deep breath).

First I woke up to the smell of Mama Crookshank making her world-famous strawberry french-toast.  SO GOOD!  It's like music to my stomach! :D

Second, sometimes when I am with Eric and Mike...we tease each other.  Relentlessly.  Like so much that sometimes people think we hate each other.  But we don't.  And it's great!  :D  This day, so many Abi-themed jokes were flying, I couldn't keep track of them.  Let me just say, it's a good thing I can laugh at myself because these boys find everything there is to laugh about, and it's hilarious! :)

Third, Sundays like these that confirm my knowledge that the Church is true.  It's just so happy and amazing!  I loved this Sunday!  I got to sit next to Mike and Eric again in Sacrament meeting (just like the old days at BYU!) and we sang and had a grand time.  Audrey gave a wonderful talk, Devin played the organ like a champion, and the talks were very insightful--focused on patience and fathers. (It was Father's Day.)

Fourth, I'm so happy I get to go to Relief Society.  Mama Crookshank couldn't go with me because she is working with the Primary children, but Eric introduced me to a wonderful Sister Donaldson, and we had a grand time!  I just love the sisterhood of the church.  It's wonderful, and I felt so loved and welcome!

Fifth, I rode a motorcycle.  Eric took me on a motorcycle.  I've never been on a motorcycle.  Was I scared?  You bet.  Did I love it?  Absolutely.  He gave me all the pointers and told me what to do...and I was anxious... and it took a while to get used to...but it was so fun!  He drove me through T-mec wine country, and it was such a sunny, warm, beautiful, happy day....I just loved it so much.  So great!

Sixth, naps on the trampoline.

Glorious.  I was on there too...but I just don't sleep like these guys!  Oh well!

Seventh, Sunday walks.  They're just as therapeutic in Cali-five-nia as they are in Idaho.  Perhaps more-so...because there are palm trees.  Which happen to be one of my favorite things. ;)  While these boys continued their beauty-sleep, I walked to this beautiful place to call my own, wonderful Daddy and wish him a happy Father's Day.

I sat there and had a nice visit with him.  It was wonderful.  And I love that man.  Some other sights I saw were these:

>sigh< Beautiful....

Eighth, as I said, Mike and Eric are ridiculous.  And they make fun of me.  Which doesn't exactly bode well for serious dinner-time conversation.  Needless to say, we visited for a while, but those to boys just would not hold still! (I, of course, was a little saint. ;)  )  Anyways, after a while of trying to keep order, Papa Crookshank excused us, the college kids, from the dinner table because we couldn't pay attention.  We disrupted everything.  How embarrassing! ;)  Haha  

Ninth, the whole family went on a walk later to a grassy field where we all played catch (with a football, frisbee, and racquetball...at the same time).  We were so silly, and it was loads of fun!  We also played crack-the-whip, and then I started a grueling game of "No Bones."  Can I just say...greatest game ever invented.  The end.

The rest of the night was filled with Bang!, Father's Day gifts, The Man from Snowy River, silliness, plenty of disruption from Eric, Mike, and I, and visiting with Eric for a long time.  It was such a grand day!

. . .

The next morning, we woke up, visited, packed, wrote love-notes, hugged my Crookshank family goodbye, and left to pick up Carissa to go back to good, ole P-town.  It was a grand 10 hour drive full of visiting and joking and tons of music.  Country, because all of us like it and there would be no complaints, and we also listened to the theme-song of the trip: The Calendar by Panic!.  It's so good.  And I still listen to it at least once a day.  I'm fond of it. :] Here is a picture collage of the road home...

 We stopped in St. George on our way to eat Wendy's by the temple... ;)

So lovely!  The END.

Okay, sorry the Saga (and each post in it) was so long.  I 'pologize!

:]

Nerd Nights

Okay, okay...the time has come to reveal all.

I'm not as cool as you think I am.

Nope.  Not even close.  I've been fooling people for years.  You wanna know who knows most about my nerdy-ness, though?  Actually, they helped me develop and embrace the natural nerdy-ness within. ;)

My tendency toward nerdy-ness is actually hereditary.  My family has just tried to hone it into something constructive and not embarrassing.  ;)  Well, they did a good-ish job...for a while.  Until these guys destroyed it and molded me into the nerd I am today:

Jacob Tyler

Kaleb Larson

Jason Alma

Yup.  It's all their fault.  It's because of them I've seen three episodes of MST (Mystery Science Theatre)  and think Monty Python is remotely amusing...and that I can quote "I am a banana." and all other such pointless Youtube videos.  It's all their fault that I laugh at elephant jokes and childish bathroom humor.  It's due to their effect on me that I think jokes about grammar rules, calculus figures, composers, and music theory are humorous.  And yes, it's because of them that I find dumb puns hilarious.  It's all their fault.

Blame them when I laugh at something stupid.  It's all them.

Still, I appreciate these boys quite a bit.  They are true-blue friends, and genuinely great people.  They taught me how to enjoy being a nerd, have honed it into something...relatively...constructive, and it's great to have my needed outlet of nerdy-ness embraced every once-in-a-while.

Tonight, we had a conversation over a rat trap.  It was an object lesson on faith.  Jason promised me that if I touched it with my finger, it wouldn't hurt me.  Yeah right.  Of all the people he has ever taught it to, I was the slowest to be convinced to set it off.  It was a good learning experience, though.  We talked about scriptures and debated until they, all three of them, finally convinced me to set the rat trap off (after a half an hour of promising me it wouldn't hurt me, putting their fingers on the trap as well, and bribing me with tea-time afterward.)

Jason taught me how to build a "samich."  I taught them how to "smoke" Smarties (thanks Eric!) and we all tried [unsuccessfully] to blow Smartie-dust through our noses.  (Yeah....we're nerds... I told you!)  It's because of them that I stay over past a descent hour visiting about life, science, the Gospel—the nerdy and non-neardy alike.  They are the ones who make me sing the hymns a cappella with them so we can have four-part harmony.

Yes, I am a nerd.  The information in this post isn't even half of it.  And now that you know it's all their fault, let me just say...

I love it.  :)

Sunday Will Come :)

We are taking a brief intermission in the Silly Saga, so I can tell you about my experience today.

The title I used comes from a talk by Elder Joseph B. Worthlin in the October 2006 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It's a wonderful talk, but oddly nothing I have to say here really references it.  It just seemed fitting.

May I just say that I love Sundays?  There isn't another day like it when I can just relax and forget about everything I have to do.  When I can be with my family and laugh and eat and have fun.  When I can take the time to be quiet and to really stop and look at the world around me.  Sundays are the days when I stop to have a "think," and it is always much-needed.

Aaaand one of my favorite things about Sundays are Relief Society.  I truly enjoy my time in that wonderful organization--whether I'm in a student/singles ward or a visiting a family ward--there is something about being surrounded by the women of the church and listening to their trials, blessings, testimonies, and experiences that captivates me and makes me want to be and do better each week.  It's such a blessing!

Today, I was visiting the family ward I grew up in.  Our lesson in Relief Society was about service--"the heartbeat of the Church."  It was so good for me to hear stories of giving and receiving service.  I felt the love the sisters in the ward had for each other.  As part of the lesson, Sister Harman re-told the story of The Good Samaritan from the Bible.  She asked a few questions, and a discussion ensued.  It was pointed out that not only did the Samaritan stop, he bandaged the man, took him to an in, paid the inn-keeper money to care for a stranger, and stayed with him through the night.

All my life, I had kind of glanced over that part.  Today, it hit me, and I sat there in silence wondering what was so significant about the Samaritan staying to watch over, serve, and care for this stranger through the night.  And then I remembered...

When I am sad and having a hard time, night is the worst time of day.  In the dark I feel most alone.  At night, my problems seem to multiply and my blessings seem to dissipate.  What once seemed just a bump in my road, sometimes transforms into a monstrous boulder.  Nights are just really hard to get through sometimes.  But, if this is the case, why was it that the Samaritan stayed for only one night?

The Samaritan, as good as he was, was also on his own journey with tasks to complete.  He also knew that, in order to become stronger, the stranger had to do some healing and growing for himself.  With the rising of the sun, it was evident that the stranger would come to recover.  This, I found is very applicable to me.  Just as my troubles seem to multiply by the thousands at night, so they seem to shrink into insignificance with the rising of the sun.  In the morning, the sun sheds light on the world--not only brightening my day, but lightening my load of cares.  In the sunshine, I can see more clearly the ways to tackle a problem or at least find the silver-lining.  Troubles don't seem so intimidating in the light of the day, and it is by struggling through my own problems that I grow most.  I don't learn as much when others fix them for me.

Better yet, by the light of day, I can see my trials put into perspective and how much I can help those around me and how beautiful everything is and how happy I am to live in this world.  Sometimes, I just need that arm to lean on when things are very hard to bear.  It is in those times that I have been rescued many times by family, friends, and most of all, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

:)

The Silly Saga of an Epic Enterprise (Part 4)

Now this. This was a morning to remember.

I woke up earlier than usual, and started reading Pride and Prejudice (which was my entertainment of choice as I waited for Mike and Eric to wake up). I got ready for the day, and soon after, Mike and Eric rolled out of bed. Eric grabbed his guitar and made his way to the top of the stairs to play around. I sat there listening and reading with Ruffles (abandoned by Devin) crawling all over me. I grew up in an atmosphere of constant music, and starting the morning like this was quite wonderful.

Shortly thereafter, I folded up our blankets, and took them upstairs to put them away, and as I walked back down, I glanced over the balcony and saw one of the funniest sights my eyes have ever seen. I told you Devin was the bird-whisperer, right? Wellllll, I looked down the stairs and saw him practicing hymns for Sacrament Meeting. There he sat, astride an organ bench, playing away with the expertise of a champion. And then I noticed that his right foot was at a rather odd angle. As he played, he was holding it out to the side, and there, perched on his toes, sat Ruffly-Bird just as content as could be. It made my morning. :)

This was the day Bryce, Hillary, and Carissa were to join us at the beach for some sand, sun, and surfing lessons. However, they’d had a very late night at Disneyland, and they were wiped. And not ready yet. But they needed to be. Because we needed to go to the beach. ;) Therefore, Eric, Mike, and I took it upon ourselves, naturally, to get them up and running. We jumped into Roger, and drove over to Bryce’s. We snuck into his house (I won’t tell you how because its a secret), and right as we were slipping silently up the stairs (Mike and Eric were to jump on Bryce, and I was to go wake Hillary and Carissa), lo and behold, Bryce comes around the corner, and stops us in our tracks. He had evidently just woken up, and had (in his groggy, yet sensible mind) found the sense to stop our brilliant plan before we could even begin to carry it out. Blast! :]

Well, we made sure that they were all completely roused from their beauty sleep before we left them with instructions: don’t bother showering, get in your swim-suits, eat breakfast, and high-tail it over to Eric’s. Simple plan. Or so we thought...

Well, we headed back to Eric’s abode. As we knew would happen, we were all dressed in our beach-stuffs, and packed everything we would need for the day long before the other three had, so we sat down on the couch to finish The Road to Eldorado. We did...and they still weren’t ready. So we went outside and wasted time...

....and they still weren’t ready... Little did we know, they were putting together a full-blown dinner for us to have later that evening. (Thanks guys!) Well, we eventually left--Mike, Eric, and I in Roger, and Bryce driving everyone else in the Tahoe because we had to have room for the surfboards. Yippee!

Off we went to San Elijo! We were headed for another day at the beach!....another (unexpectedly) SUNNY day at the beach! Eric has changed me forever...well, he’s changed my style of driving forever. When he isn’t on the freeway, he drives around with all the windows down and his music playing. :) It’s the best way to enjoy the warm weather. This day, instead of his normal Anberlin or whatever he listens to, he put in his beach music. That’s right. We listened to Jack Johnson the whole way there. :]

There’s nothing quite like a sunny, happy, warm, fun, fantastic day at the beach with all your best friends (except for Ali. We missed her a lot.) We played in the waves, and boogie-boarded like crazy people.

Bryce and Mike made an arch.

Hillary, Bryce, and I made a moat. Aaaaand all o’ us (but mostly Eric and Mike) made a pyramid that rocked.

So much so that people would stop and take pictures of it all day...

Eric’s goal for the day? To teach us all how to surf. Accomplished? Well, I know how to, but the ability is lacking. Mike tried...

and is not defeated yet. He’ll get the hang of it someday. As for me, I lack the coordination and strength needed. I am determined, though. I will try it someday, and I’m almost completely determined to ace Eric’s face with my skill. That’ll prolly take at least a semester of BYU-Hawaii to accomplish, though. But hey! I wouldn’t mind! :D

Eric decided to surf for a while by himself,

and there were enough boogie-boards for the rest of us, so we spent a lot of time riding the waves and avoiding the abundance of seaweed together. There was so much, and it made our experience rather comical!

We tried water-bending the waves to do what we wanted (none of us have sufficiently mastered that art...yet)...

We were silly as could be. Later, Bryce left to take pictures, and Eric finished surfing to join us. He taught us one of his family traditions. When a good wave is coming, he and his cousins (Jaden and Brendan) shout to each other, “Take it Gandalf! You must take it!!!” Hahaha! It cracks me up to think of those fantastic boys, and the phrase makes me grin as I type this. Pretty soon, we were yelling it at each other, and it was grand! :)

PARTY WAVE!

The day was finally ending,

and the water was getting cold, so we rode a few more waves, laughed a lot more, and left the water to clean up, and watch the sun set. Most of the time it was behind the clouds, but when it came out it was absolutely lovely.

We packed up and left to visit my fabulous Chumbley family where we visited with the whole clan, sat around a warm fire, ate both organic and inorganic hot-dogs with J-Dawgs Sauce (the only way to eat them), laughed, visited, skewered more water-bottles, quoted movies, and thoroughly enjoyed this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

>sigh< It was such a wonderful evening, and I couldn’t love all of those people any more. It’s just not possible. Mama Chumbley has a “Do not watch TV” sign that cracked me up!

Alas! The night had to end (very late), and we regretfully went our separate ways once more....

It has now come time to tell you just how muchI love these people. And after I’ve told you, you still won’t be able to fully understand. They are absolutely wonderful. Someday, I will write about the practically-sealed FHE family of Fall 2010. Let me just tell you that I love them so much. All of them. They are each such beautiful, strong, loving, kind, wonderful, talented, amazing people. They have made my college experience the best it could have ever been. I have never been that close to a bunch of people I wasn’t related to. I love them so much, and if you ever meet them, treat them well because they are fabulous. These are the people that have made goodbyes (even temporary ones) almost unbearable to me. I miss them so much when they are gone. Eric can attest (Mike was asleep) to this. As soon as we got in the car and headed off, I missed my Alissa Fred like crazy. I just love them all too much, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Oh well! :)

The Silly Saga of an Epic Enterprise (Part 3)

(Continued from previous post...)  :]

The next, wonderful day, I awoke to a foggy morning and a report that it was supposed to be cloudy/slightly rainy at the beach--which was our plan that day while Bryce, Hills, and Carissa went to Disneyland.  I had been hoping for a sunny day because I had never been to the beach when the sun was out.  Still, I was not to be discouraged!  We were going to the beach, and it was going to be wonderful!  Haha!

We got all ready, and drove to Escondido (we were happy we could find it!) to get my beloved roommate Alissa Fred-Anne.  She's so wonderful!  We barged into her home, and visited for a little while with Ali and Mom (her mom, this time.  I have a lot of parents :)  ) before kidnapping her and taking her to Oceanside Beach.  Guess what we saw when we got there.

SUNSHIIIIIIIIIINNNNNE!!!!!!

Sooooooo much sunshine!!!! :)

If it had been possible, I would have been even more excited to be at the beach! :D Due to the amount of glorious, heavenly sunshine, we slathered ourselves silly with sunscreen, and while waiting for it to dry, Alissa Fred and I painted our nails with Del Sol color-changing polish.  It's wonderful!  My clear polish changed bright red in the sunshine, and I loved it!  Oceanside is a wonderful place to just swim and play in the waves, so we spent hours swimming, dodging waves, and body-surfing.  Eric brought a couple of boogie-boards, and Mike and I learned how to use them.

Yeah.  They're champions. :)

I'll be honest, I struggled with the boogie-board.  A lot.  I live 14 hours away from the nearest beach, and it takes me a while to get used to it.  I did figure it out, though, after a long time of trying, and I found it to be rather fun.  After a long while playing in the splendid water, we went to bask in the glorious sun, visit (Mike fell asleep...again....), and be warm.  It was soooooo warm there!  Eric tried to teach me to play catch with my left hand.  I've never struggled so hard in my life!  Re-learning to throw a football was hard enough, but left handed?!?  That's just ridiculous!  :)

This girl.  She's amazing. :]

After spending hour upon wonderful hour at the beach, we decided to leave and find food.

Mike and Ali modeling our beach stuffs.  Mike truly was blue! :)

We went to a little Mexican restaurant there called Colima's.  It was so good!  Eric, Mike, and I got California Burritos and they were GINORMOUS!  People walking down the street would double take at the size of them, and we could hear people talking about them...and us....awkward.... ;)  Hahaha

Afterwards, we headed to....someplace....I don't know where it is.  Prolly because it's a secret.  Anyways, we went to a place where we could actually get a fire pit.  Mike and Eric, being the men that they are, chopped wood with the hammer (weird, right?) and built the most sufficient fire I have ever seen.  

And then we roasted marshmallows!   And put them on the only thing we had....OREOS!!!  So good! Try it!  I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before!

We had so much fun visiting and being silly.  Ali was the brilliant person who led us to this place.  Brilliant, I tell you!  She planned it so well that when the sun went down, this was our view...

(Sorry it's blurry…)

The beautiful San Diego skyline.  It was wonderful!  We stayed there for a long, fantastic time eating, chatting, laughing, inventing stories of kidnappings, mutilating water bottles with red-hot skewers...

...and burning gasoline.  Yup.  There was a family of awesome people that needed to get rid of some water-tainted gas, and they asked if they could use our fire.  It was the biggest, awesomest fire ever, and they were such funny people!

Ali was oh so correct when she said I would be wiped out after a day at the beach.  Eric and I visited all the way home while Mike slept, but when we arrived and sat down to watch The Road to Eldorado, I couldn't keep my eyes open.  I was so wonderfully, delightfully, sublimely exhausted.  Besides....I had to be ready to do it all over again the next day...

:]

The Silly Saga of an Epic Enterprise (Part 2)

And now we're back...

So, we ended with us arriving in T-mec early in the morning.  I must say, I texted my dad to tell him we made it safely, and this is how the conversation went:

Me:  We're in Temecula :)  love you!  And goodnight! :)
Dad:  Goodnight?  I think it's good morning!
Me:  Hahaha yeeeaaahh.... for YOU! :D

He's a crazy man.  He doesn't sleep.  3:30 should never be usual waking time.

Little did I know, however that some of Dad's non-sleepyness rubbed off onto me!  I exaggerated a little in the last post saying we arrived at 4.  We really made it to T-mec by 3:30-ish, and Bryce groggily gave Mike and me directions to Eric's house.  They were hilariously inaccurate.  Mike and I just kept driving and finally deciphered (with Eric's help) what we thought the directions should say.  Aaaand once we got there, Eric, Mike, and I just had to have a short visit. ;)  The point is, we eventually fell asleep...at a time far later than anyone should ever go to sleep.

The next morning, however, I couldn't sleep past 8.  So, I was awake.  Eric had left to work, and I laid there thinking and looking at the foggy morning as everyone else slept.  And then Otis (Eric's dog) woke up...and then Ruffles (Eric's bird) woke up...and then the cats woke up...and finally jumped on the couch where we were "sleeping."  :)  And then piano lessons started at 9.  It reminded me of home... :)

In, as he said, a great lack of funds, Eric decided an excursion to the bank was necessary.  He asked if I wanted to come with him, and I said that as long as I didn't have to get out of the car (I was still in my pajamas/traveling clothes...bleh...), I would love to.  I probably will never live in California, just because of all the roads!  I grew up in the country where a block is four miles, and almost every intersection is square.  I seriously doubt I will ever come to be able to navigate around a city.  Anyways, we drove to the bank in the foggy morning, and Eric gave me a short tour of Temecula.  It's a beautiful place.  You should visit. :]


We came home to a house of busy family.  Eric's family is wonderful!  I remember acting just like his little sisters when I was their age, and it was interesting to watch from a third-person perspective.  His siblings were all smiley and happy and curious, I am sure, to see what we looked like in the mornings.  Well...they got an accurate presentation.  We were pretty cute... ;)  Alissa and Devin quickly proved to be the dog and bird whisperers, respectively.  Audrey, Heidi, and I chatted about riding horses, and being silly.  Dad (well, Eric's Dad, but I've unofficially adopted his whole family) was cracking me up, and Mom was so fantastic and took such great care of us all week!  I truly felt like part of the family by the time the week was up.  :D


True to Eric's word, at noon sharp, the fog dissipated and left, to our enjoyment, a beautiful, warm, and sunny day in its wake.  (I didn't believe it would happen when he told me, and I still think it's a strange occurrence).  We went back to Bryce's to plan a day of fun, and this unfolded:


First we toured more of T-mec.  We went to this place…

Temecula's own Old Town Root Beer Company.  Have you seen it before??? It's SO COOL! Vintage soda!  Each of us picked one, and we shared all the differnt kinds.  It was sweet! (Literally and figuratively...)

Then we headed to hike up to Hobo's Mansion.  We never actually made it there (we took a wrong turn), but our short little hike was very fun :)  

We were all holding suspicious-looking bottles, but no one said anything... ;)  Then, on the way, Eric and Mike had to climb a tree.  Why?  Because there was a platform in it, of course!  What a silly question...  :D

We eventually made it to this pretty stream-thingy, and played around for a while before heading back.  It was quite a cool place, but my fondest memory of it is this:

(You'll have to click on it to get the full experience…)

LOOK at them!  In all their awesome glory!  These are the wonderful people who choose to grace me with their presence!  They look like heroes, huh?  Yup, they do.  And is that surprising?  Not one bit.  They are heroes, my friends, and I love them.


We headed back shortly thereafter to get all spiffy-ed up.

To go do baptisms here:

The San Diego Temple.  It's soooooooooooooooo beautiful!  It's amazing!  I was so happy to get to go!  We had an absolutely glorious experience there.  And we love being silly with each other.  :P

After, we had dinner, and made fun of Hillary Dear, and visited, and enjoyed each other's company, and drove back to get enough sleep for the next busy day.

:)

The Silly Saga of an Epic Enterprise (Part 1)

Okay.
So it just so happens that I had about the most wonderful week of my life.  Just barely.  And I MUST tell you all about it, BUT there is no way that I am going to fit it all in one post.  And as I am also opposed to posting more than once in one day (there have been and will be exceptions :]  ), you'll just have to log on that many more times to read about it.

The journey unfolds...

First, I threw my back out, had it readjusted, packed, kissed my family goodbye, and headed off to the thriving metropolis of Provo, Utah.  Here, I broke my journey to see this wonderful boy,

My cousin Benny-Man, to the MTC (Missionary Training Center).  That's right, ladies, he's off to Quezon City, and you won't be seein' him for two years.  Sorry!

This time, I was very lucky because I was able to see him be set apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  It was a wonderful night full of strong testimonies, good advice, wishes of luck, and lots of tears from Aunt Stacy and I.  (I know I shouldn't, but I'm gonna miss that kid so dang much!)

Some advice that was given to the missionary:

Alma 17: 2-3

"...they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.  But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God."

Some advice to his mother:

Doctrine and Covenants 84:88

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

It's a tough thing to let a missionary go, but I know the Lord will watch over him. :)

Later that night, I met my sister Liza-Jane and Sir Alex at Del Taco.  The three of us had some silly times before Alex left, and Liza and I settled down to sleep.  I love visiting with that wonderful girl. :]

The next day, I woke to Liza making me some home-made, whole-grain waffles complete with her scrum-diddly-umptious cinnamon/nutmeg/whatever-else-she-put-in-that-recipe-she-made-up syrup.  Needless to say it was glorious.  We chatted, and then I left shortly thereafter to let her study for the 3 finals she had to take that day. :]

It was B-E-A-Utiful in Provo and HOT!  I loved it.  From thence, I headed back to Aunt Stacy's to go with her, Granny, Jess, and Ben to complete a new tradition: taking the missionary to Chuck-A-Rama before we drop him soundly on the sidewalk at the MTC.  Lunch was grand!  Jess, Benny, and I were silly as could be, and we talked almost completely in movie dialogue.  (It's a very great and well-developed talent that I posses).  We ate ourselves silly...

Yup.  Silly.   ;)

From thence we traversed to the Provo Temple to take pictures and be silly some more.

 I told Ben to make his last (recorded) studly pose for 2 years.  Eat it up, 'cause it's gonna be a while before you see it again.  :D  I just hope they don't break his smolder out there....

 He was also very warm in his black suit and coat, BUT, being the resourceful man he is, he quickly found a way to remedy the situation…

 SPREAD-EAGLE AIR-CONDITIONING! :)  Who knew, right?  Turns out if you position yourself just right, the breeze can flow through your jacket.  Haha!

 What a great kid!  The roses were blooming like CRAZY! :)

 And then we headed back to the MTC to say our final goodbyes...for now. :)

 Benny and Granny:

 Benny and Jess:

 We said goodbye, and as he turned to leave with a gaggle of missionaries following him, I said farewell in my signature manner (much to the amusement of everyone who heard):
"Make good choices!  DO WHAT'S RIGHT!  And DON'T DATE AT ALL!!!"
Usually it ends with "Don't date hussies," but that isn't exactly catered to the life of a missionary. :D

After that, I headed to Miiiiiiiiiiichael ALAN's apartment to do his check-out cleaning for him, so we could leave for Temecula, CA as soon as he was done with his Calculus and Physics tests.  Bryce-ary (Bryce and Hillary) and I spic 'n span-ed the whole place, I paid a short visit to my brother Sambo and his wife Megan, and when the time came we (Mike, Bryce, Hillary, Carissa, and I) all loaded into Roger (my [parents'] very dear, burgundy Grand Prix) and headed off...at round abouts 6.....P.M.

Do the math.  It's a 10 hour drive--without stops.  And there's a 1 hour time-change.  And we had to stop...sometimes.

That's right.  We pulled into T-mec at about 4:00.....A.M.
Our drive was rather lovely.  We rather enjoy each other's company, and we were rather silly.  And Mike had the new Panic! at the Disco album (which has a few perty cool songs, by the way).  And there we sights to be seen such as this!

 The mountain on FIRE!....okay, not really.  Mount Doom is just in Central Utah.  Okay...not reeeeaaallyyy.... it's just the sunset.  .....aaaaand sights such as THIS!

 Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand since we couldn't NOT stop for dinner....we saw sights such as this too!

I love these people. :)

So despite the late hours, and waking Eric William Malachi Hurkumer Jackman Smith up at the butt-crack o' dawn (excuse my language, please) to let Mike and I into his house to let us sleeeeeeeeeeep.... it was a rather thrilling beginning to a rather glorious adventure. 

THE END.

......for now....

P.S. I rather like the word rather. ;)