"Life Is Peaceful Without Naomi"

Sun Day Monday. After eating all of mom’s cereal, we went for a walk on the pier to get swag. (Which seemed a luxury after the pocket pinching days of my youth.) We spotted seven (7) gurgling cods.  

Lemon Nut scoping the gear.

We hit up the beach in the backyard where I taught Scabby how to water koala. We flew kites and played Enemy (and ended as such).

Titbit Nipply if you know what I'm sayin. 

The chins jr. rafted the Kennebec with an old man guide. He did bring some delicious cheese as a snack. Lemon Nut and I were leading. Scabby was holding on. Zubby stayed in the boat. And Kelloggius and the Chin brought up the rear. 

Hardly working. 

After everyone was so sore, I showed them that PTs are not, in fact, massage therapists.

You can't skunk the skunk. Remember that. 

 I codswalloped the fam into taking a couple short hikes in the morning. The girls were not happy until we got there. 

Part 1 was a half mile hike. 

Zubby was also not happy after she learned there was a second hike. But it was Maine and beautiful and buggy.

Looks can be deceiving apparently. 

 The Chin was not happy when he learned how much we were paying to visit the local cryptozoology museum. But the laughs were worth the price. 

Why are we going to this place? We got a whole Bigfoot Museum right here in this car. 

The lobster rolls were not. And the papusas at our El Salvadoreño Restaurante were a steal. Zubby was rolling.

Lookin at you Elder H. 

 We had family time henna, during which the Chin was conveniently absent. Then we played a game where I showed him several candids I had taken of him throughout the week and he tells me what emotions he thinks he was feeling based on his facial expressions.

Ended up looking like a Sharpie. Use the brown stuff. 

Per request, I headed down to MA early for tacos at the Krempy’s. Which were delicious. We had good stories, a private chat, and relished in the fact that my music autoconnects to his car’s Bluetooth. I was picked up in PHX by Cenita and Kaleb, got my car from Autumn and Jesse, and was back in Flag by midnight.

Krempy-style. 

 I spent the whole next day packing my car and helping Roger move in. Then helping Palmer set up chairs for the back to school BBQ in exchange for tacos. Brandi and I rounded off our break with a movie night.

Arthur & her new beef, the Barefoot Boy. 

We spent all of Saturday moving in to our new apartment. Then driving people to the BBQ. Then taking down the chairs. Then unpacking all of our stuff.

Felt right at home. 

It all really started coming together on Sunday when we picked up our new microwave and couch that Greg dropped by long enough to carry up the stairs. Now let me tell you about this couch. I negotiated down to $15 for this thing that’s not super ugly or gross or worn. It’s pretty comfortable. AND it has a pullout queen bed. Which we showed off to all our friends.

Family Time.

Get Down, Bottom Dweller

The beginning of the week was a lot of finalizing. I finished my PICO report so I don't have to worry about it this year. I got my Tb gold blood draw (which only took 1 visit and $77 despite my lack of insurance - though I did almost pass out). I volunteered at the food center and I met with my incoming PT buddy - a chick from South Africa. I packed up my stuff and cleaned my room so that everything's ready to move in when I get back. 

"What is resonance?"
"Well, I'm a resonant of MA, so it's where you live"

I headed down to PHX and hung out with my old chum, Shea, at his new clinic. It's good to hang out with a reasonable colleague in a reasonable environment. Always eye-opening in a really good way with him. Then, Cenita and I caught up on the last 18mo via a one-sided powerpoint and face masks. We had a sleepover and homemade caprese sandwiches and templed. Autumn and I caught up on her life over authentic tacos and frozen yogurt. Then I took the worst redeye.

But the G-man picked me straight up from the airport, so life was good. We got back in time for fresh blueberry muffins and scrambled eggs. Then it was time for nap 1.

"You're a leader, not a follower" - Mimi
"That's what I said! He's a sheep!" -Me
"Oh, baaaaa," -Grampy

Then we ran an errand, ate lunch on the patio, ran some more errands, and ate ice cream at Grampy's fave. Then it was time for nap 2.

Then we had a cookout at Aaron's. The Grampster went around telling everyone that if they jumped in, he would. I was the only one that took him up on it, but he was true to his word (to Mimi's chagrin). Then it was time for the long nap of the night.

"I'm such a weiner." -Grampy

Sunday was dry (high) council day and this man walked out halfway through because his toe hurt in his shoe. (The same toe that he injured after he fell asleep standing up in the bathroom.) He walks back in with one shoe off and we found an extra sock and some paper towel in the end of it.

"Can you leave so I can say goodbye to you?"

Xandino, Kevin, and Moriah showed up in time for dinner. Aaron and Anna came in time to eat. We heard repeatedly about how Moriah was the candlestick bowling champion. Also apparently turned around after a gutterball, shrugged, and said, "That's life." Grampy almost let us steal his ice cream which has a 'classic New England flavor'. (That means yucky.) Kev went to CT, we dropped Moriah at Jenny's, and headed to Maine.

"Hey, that's gonna be you." -Mom to me

Life in Maine is good if you're a midget with really good eyesight. The fog is so thick you can almost not see a naked person. And the ceilings are so short that the Chin already has an egg on his head. We played a nuclear war game where Mom kamikaze'd and Isabelle blew up the planet in an attempt to destroy me. Then I Naruto-tackled Lavinia licked her face, so she came at me and licked my toe in retaliation. Not sure if she really feels victorious after that, but to each their own.

"Your standards are too high. A man who doesn't poop in your car? Impossible to find that kind of bowel control nowadays. If you want a man in this era, you gotta potty train him yourself, but you have two jobs and no time for that."

It's nice to be on vacation. I forget what it's like to not be stressed out about one million things. Only like seven. I've even had time to do some recreational writing, which was fun.

Little Brother. 

It was Ming's last few days this week before his year-long exchange in China, so I brought him some coconut bread I was making for Hannah anyways. He is so excited to see his family and be a secret missionary and to get a car when he comes back so he can take more girls on dates. Cutest little brother ever.

Horseshoe Bend, round 2. 

The Page YSA scammed a tour of Waterhole Canyon and Horseshoe Bend (which would normally cost us like $130/person), so I drove up to take advantage of that. It was super cool to walk through the slot canyons and see some good views.

The slots at Waterhole Canyon, where I've been wanting to go for a while.

I met Brandi and her sister at Tuacon for the Little Mermaid. That's another cool venue - surrounded by sheer cliffs of red rock. And the play was pretty good too - everyone was riding around on hoverboards. Best part: "Under the Sea". Best character: the starfish. Hands down.

She's oxidizing. 

It was good to see Brandi again. I like her. We also had a chance to chat about how our roommates backed out last minute and kind of screwed us over and figure out how to fix the issue. Which was comforting. Somewhat. She also kept track of how many smoothies I drank with my breakfast. Nice to have a friend that holds you accountable, you know?

When it's not you who falls down the stairs.

I drove over to Mesquite to drop my car off to get the recalled airbag replaced and have Markies take a look at the A/C. Unfortunately, there was more wrong with it than we originally thought, so he took it overnight and did some work on it. MVP of the week honestly, the man did me a solid.

"Hey crouch down so I don't look like a midget"

Due to the car fiasco, Hannah and I were late getting back to St. George, where we were meeting Brandi's family for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. They are a delightful bunch, even if dad didn't want to sit at the kid table.

Gotta be in-character. 

We met back up for the Sound of Music and got to chat with Grams for a little bit. (Somebody's gotta make sure Brandi gets her vegetables.) We watched a man fall in the fountain and lose his shoe in the waterway, a woman fall on the stairs, and a bat land in a woman's hair. Also some people dressed up as goats, which was ridiculous and hilarious.

Chillin. 

I drove back to Page with working A/C, which was amazing, and got there just in time to help Roger clean his room. I was mainly the entertainment, but I feel like I made a decent contribution. We watched some B99 and taught his whole family to play Totally Insane. They hate it. We also got to skype CT and MA, which is always a delight.

Freedom.

School culminated in a 3-day professional development seminar that made me want to curb stomp several people. The first two days were long and dull and all of my opinions were contrary to the general mass. At least I'm not a sheep. TJ was nice enough to take me shooting afterwards to get out some of my rage.

The last day was much more enjoyable and akin to what I was expecting. We had some cool lectures in innovation and where we need to be focusing in our profession. I got a great idea for a short film I can make for my capstone project. I had a chat with Petra, which generally improved my mood. And Val had a lecture on personality types and how that looks in a clinic. If you want to know everything behind my motivations (and most Disney villains), look here.

Last workout of the semester is always cardio day. #swolenation

And now, I'm out. This is peak sanity ladies and gents, it will only go downhill from here. I sleep in. I go running in the forest with a couple of cute dogs. I read several books, watched a few movies including Starsky and Hutch (the remake with Snoop Dogg), Get Smart, and Paycheck. I wrote half my PICO report and learned how to play poker. And that was only day one.

I also did pretty good at our ward bowling night, contrary to my history. That 40-frame game I played for my coworker's birthday party really helped out. I came in second after being in the lead most of the game. I also ran a ward poker night a few days later, with candy as the currency.

I'm the H. 

Roger and I went on a rainy woodland adventure, in which nobody was left stranded in the forest and we only got lost once. And we had a delicious steak dinner and then stole some of Ryan's ice cream in exchange for a game of dice (which I also won).