sooo......

This past week has been SO jam packed! I feel like the blogging in my life was put on the back burner...not just the back burner, but like the waaaaay back burner. In the form of updating...

The Barney's got here on Sunday and we had so much fun together. The list of fun included...
-A picnic in the canyon. Complete with sandwiches, soccer, and BEAUTIFUL scenery. I forget how much I love the canyon. So serene.

(totally stole this pic from your blog linds....gracias...)

-Family bootcamp night. My mom and my two sisters wanted me to work them out, so we decided to turn Linds's back yard into a makeshift gym. It was so much fun...aside from the mosquito bites of course.
-LOTS of games. If there is one thing my family loves, it's gaming. We all may or may not be a bit competitive. It's so much fun. I think some of my best family memories are when we are all together playing games.
-Trav's 30th B-day party. The pre-party included some yummy to-go salads from Brick Oven and some catching up. Ty came down from SLC with his kids and Denny came in to town the day before, so although my sweet Daddy-o and Tam and Jas were missing it was GREAT to have the majority of us all together. It was also great to see the Stevenson's who I haven't seen in a while. Trav's party was so much fun. Treats, swimming, friends, family, and relaxing. What could be better?
-Today? It was off to Skydive Utah for Trav's post B-day, and Benita's graduation celebration. Although I didn't jump...(and never plan on it)...I had SO much fun watching everyone and snapping photos of the entire event. There ended up being a pretty big group of us up there! I'll post more pics and details asap.

It may be a week late, but I still love America!!

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies... My fam has always loved the 4th of July. Provo does a great job of putting on a good show. This year proved to be another great celebration. we started off the morning with the annual parade.

The kiddies were loving all the free goodies that were being thrown at us.


The parade was followed by a swim and a BBQ. Definite 4th of July must haves. It was such a nice day. Perfect for playing outside.

After the day of festivities I went with some of my friends to see the JoBros at the stadium of fire. Always a good time.




and of course...the night was finished off with one of my most favorite things in the world...fireworks. They were awesome. Happy B-day Uncle Sam!

In Memorandum...or something like that.

So, This morning while I'm at the gym I'm watching the Today Show, as per usual, and Matt Lauer is taking me on a tour of MJ's compound, Neverland. My goodness that place is HUGE. I had no idea...I mean obviously the place is equip with an amusement park and a zoo, I realize that makes anything "huge" but the inside...wow. Amazing. Beautiful really.

ANYWAYS...

They did this little memorial piece showing fans all over the world, and by fans I mean sobbing/upset/derranged people, and by fans I mean individuals who found it necessary to dress up in MJ-like attire and wave thier one white-gloved hand in mourning, and by fans I mean crazies... My inner monologue was something like this, "sheesh, I think it's really sad he died, but these people are out of control. I loved his music and all, but I don't even know if I would say I was influenced by it that much."
(I realize there are people gasping right now...bear with me.)

So, at work today I was putting on Pandora, as I sometimes do, to add a little background music to my workday. I look at all my pre-created stations, and nothing was jumping out at me. It was then that I decided to throw on a little MJ, you know, in memory.

With the first line of, "Will you be there?" I was instantly taken back to my "Free Willy" days. The days when I'm pretty sure Lindsey and I made up a dance to this song, and would listen to it OVER and OVER again at my aunt Rosemarie's house. I was instantly singing along...of course.

Next on the playlist, "Heal the World." Suddenly, I'm back in 2nd grade. Doing sign language with the rest of my class for our school program.

"Black and White" - Dancing in my basement with Brynne Nelson.

"Come Together" - Warming up with Synda at The Dance Club

"Beat It" - My extra credit dance with Jenna Richards in 9th grade dance class.

"I want you back" - State Jr. Miss performance @ Kingsbury Hall

and on, and on and on...I'm pretty sure there wasn't one song that came on that I didn't know almost all the words to. It was at this point that I decided to eat my words...
Not the part about the crazies...cause i still think that he has a lot of weird-o followers.
The part about me not being influenced. It's clear that I have been.
According to cha-cha...

Billboard.com music charts lists Michael Jackson as having twenty-five songs that reached Top 10 from 1983-2008.

THAT is amazing if you ask me. That is talent. I do think he went a little off his rocker, but who wouldn't if you lived a completely crazed, fan-populated, non-private life. I feel bad for the guy. Rest in Peace Michael J. Thanks for the tunes, you really are a legend.

p.s. while i'm on the topic of entertainment and such...
Loved, loved, LOVED The Proposal...seriously laughed the entire time.
HATED Transformers. Painful.