The happenings & Paris tidbits

I am attempting to stop being such a slacker and start blogging a little more. I have decided that if nothing exciting is going on during the week I will share a memory/story from when I was younger and possibly even include old and embarrassing photos. Right now the only title I could come up with for these stories is Friday Flashbacks....(I tried coming up with something witty for another day but nothing came to mind). This week I will attempt to get you guys caught up on what has been happening lately.

I have been home from Paris for almost 4 months but it seems like it has been a lot longer. The week after I came back I started working at Tribal West Lacrosse again, along with lifeguarding at the pool. About two weeks after I took a vacation and went to California with Rachel, her boyfriend and Owen. We stayed a week in Culver City with my older brother Chad (Culver City is right by LA but it is a nicer/safer area).

The picture didn't seem to want to turn out for me so this one will have to work until I go again.

Owen and Paige watching the parade in California Adventures

The evil queen from Snow White, Paige and me.

This trip to Disney Land was even more fun because Owen could go on some of the bigger rides including the Tower of Terror. It was hilarious to see how he reacted to some the adult/larger rides. While we were waiting in line Owen was happy and excited to go on the ride and then when we finally get on he is silent (which is very rare for this child). When a ride like this starts you expect a 3 year old to start crying or freak out but Owen was silent the entire time. After we got off Rachel asked Owen if he wanted to go again and he says "I don't like the lightning tower." A few days later we take another trip to Disney Land and Owen kept on telling us that he doesn't want to go because he doesn't want to go on the lightning tower. So I guess it is safe to say that he is scared of that ride and will probably never go on it again. Now when there are lightning storms Owen asks if the lightning from the tower was going to hit our house and make it disappear. I will have to download the picture we got of him on the ride.

The week of June 15-20 was crazy busy. The weekend before I was attending a goodbye party for my cousin Eugena who moved to Pennsylvania and Soni was there too. For those of you who don't know who Soni is, she was my high school lacrosse coach and now she is the co-owner of Tribal West where I work. Anyway she is there and that morning she woke up and half her face was paralyzed and she was leaving for Vail, Colorado on Monday to coach the Mamaci teams. That wouldn't be too difficult if she didn't have an 8 month old little boy, so she asked if I could go and help out with Ethan. The drive out there seemed ridiculously long because I didn't feel like I could sit there and tell everyone everything that is going on or just sing. Honestly one of the hardest things for me to do is let people see be stupid or vulnerable. I do have some friends that have heard my horrible singing and seen me dance but there aren't that many of them.

I know this is a side story but just as an example I drove to Vegas a year ago to coach the Jordan team and it was just me and Thaxton in the car. In that case we were both singing, dancing and occasionally venting about stuff. On the ride home Soni and Erin came with us and all I did was talk occasionally and drive. No offense to you Soni if by chance you read this.

Back to the Vail story...So we finally get out there and I wake up early and watch Ethan, feed him and all that other stuff and occasionally we would go to the field and watch some games so we weren't stuck in the condo the whole time. Then on Thursday we take another long drive back to Utah and I finally get home at 12 and go to bed around 1. Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal but the next morning I had to be in Park City at 6:30am to run a tent at the Ski Town Shootout tournament. I did this both Friday and Saturday and normally didn't get home until 6 or 7 (Saturday we didn't have to be there until 7 or 7:30), so I was exhausted.

Four weeks ago we had a Paris reunion at my aunts house (for those who are unaware of this the director of the study abroad program I attended was my uncle). It was fun to see some of the students again and catch up with them. I learned from one of them that I am apparently good at organizing events in advance and so he is going to have me plan his wedding :) This was pretty entertaining to hear because I had tried so hard to organize a game night with a few of them and would try and pick a date 2 weeks ahead which never seemed to work. Amazingly a days notice is good for guys...it drives me nuts!

PARIS

Here is a little tidbit from Paris. I don't know if anybody really cares but I am sharing it just in case.

This lady or Madame Rolland, was our Art History teacher. We had class with her once a week for three hours each time. She drove mostly all of the students crazy and even annoyed some of the people who weren't her students!

Even when you are at the Louvre Museum you are bored after three hours of class.
We would sit in front of some pictures and pretend to analyze them just so we could take a break.
Occasionally the lecture would put people to sleep!Sometimes we would try and pass the time by taking random pictures or by playing "pass the wink." We would try and bring candy or make up some crazy game to make class a little more enjoyable.
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This is in a huge cemetery, we are attempting to imitate the sculpture behind us! I think we pulled it off pretty well, don't you?

Now some of us are pretending to kiss this tombstone, can you tell who actually did it?-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am attempting to make a fool of myself at the Louvre's Pyramid. Mission Accomplished!

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The last week we were in Paris we went on a River Cruise and here is a picture of the other statue of liberty with the Eiffel Tower.

I promise I am not trying to be an Asian tourist I am actually signing 102 to our French professor so that he will come over and take a picture with our class.French 102 Class

Professor: James Mayo Students:Grant, Claire, Caitlin and me!
Let's be honest this was the cool table! ha ha!
I love seeing the Eiffel Tower light up at night and can't wait for the chance to go back.