Saint Diego

So I'm finally getting around to discussing my muy eventful trip to San Diego for Spring Break! Me and Laura and Tricia decided we needed a break from life (and Laura and I had some days off) so we flew out to San Diego. Luckily my uncle lives out there so we had to pay for airfare but that's about it! He let us stay at his house, he gave us a car to drive and he hooked us up with his GPS system to get us around (which we literally would have driven into the ocean without it).

We got there Wednesday night and got to his house. Well, he has about a billion animals living there and I had an allergic reaction to ALL of them. My whole face swelled up and my eyes were watering and it was probably the funniest thing ever. Luckily my cousin (who's room we were staying in) had some Benadryl so my face could go back to it's original size. For all of you who remember the 2-face incidents (Ashley's sleepover and the bridal show at Kassie's), it was like that times a hundred! My face was monstorous.

The next day we got up and went to Sea World! My cousin Tricia works there so we got in for free! We decided to go on the Atlantis ride first. Hair+Humidity+Water Ride=BAD idea! We were the frizz masters the entire day. My cousin met up with us at like noon and was our personal tour guide the rest of the day. It was awesome!

Around 5 she called up my uncle and he met us there and she totally got us the hookups back stage at the Wild Arctic Exhibit where she works sometimes. So we got to go back into the holding tanks for the seals and the Belluga whales and got to feed them! We had to grab slimy frozen fish out of a bucket and chuck them to the animals. Kinda nasty! Then we got to pet the Bellugas. The seals would literally bite our hands off so we stayed away from petting them! We also got to watch them feed the Polar Bears but they would literally eat us so we had to watch from a window while the worker fed them with tongs. Way cool!

After Sea World we went down to Sea Port Village and just did some shopping and hanging out. Laura and I shared a romantic dinner and I think Tricia was jealous! And we saw a man who looked like he was the spawn of Uncle Jesse and Uncle Joey! Probably the funniest looking man I've ever seen in my life and I wish I would have gotten a picture!

The next day we got up and went to La Jolla beach and it was BEAUTIFUL! The weather was incredible and the beach was amazing. We layed out and spent a little bit of time playing in the FREEZING ocean and then hit up some of the shops around there. When we got back we put down our towels in front of this group of pretty old leathery men. They had a younger guy with them who had a huge handle-bar mustache and they were checking out all the girls on the beach and talking about "mustache rides!" We couldn't stop laughing. Then they got into a discussion that girls are going bi because it doubles their chances and the mustache guy was saying that he was going to try it out to double his chances! Sickest old men ever! And straight leather skin! Hot!

After that we went home and got ready and met my aunt's brother and some of their friends at the Yacht Club because her brother Frankie has a huge boat called the WaaTooSee and we went on a bay cruise. Okay, first of all the boat was ridiculous. SO huge and so beautiful and Frankie was blasting the Chili Peppers the whole time, which only made it better. We saw these huge ugly sea lions, we had porpoises jumping right next to us on the boat, and we had the sun setting right over the city. It was amazing. There was singing, drinking (Diet Coke for us, more alcohol for everyone else!), pole dancing (that one was from us), picture taking (including the Titanic pose), and just some good times. When we got our land legs back we went to some restaurant and had Calamari (which is surprisingly not bad for squid) and really good pizza. We shared some embarassing secrets (Mostly just Tricia) and got hassled for not drinking and once everyone else had had sufficint amounts of alcohol (or Diet Coke) we left. My aunt, uncle and the girls drove up to some scenic overlook (makeout point) that was amazing.

Saturday morning we headed up to my aunt's parent's Ranch called Ranchita Margharita (named after her mom Maggie) which is in the Cleveland National Forest. We fed their animals and we went in a Jeep and a Club Car and on 4-wheelers on a tour around their 70-ish acres of land. We also shot a whole bunch of guns! I never knew I was such a sharp-shooter so you'd better watch out! I'm pretty much awesome! The Ranch was hilarious. My aunt Katie's dad Frank is a well known judge in San Diego and he is probably the least politically correct person I have ever met and I have never heard so many dirty jokes in so little time in my life! It was awesome!

Sunday morning we found a church and then drove to check out the Temple. It was so pretty! We took some pictures and talked to the cute sister from missionary who was representing Ephraim and then we went home and headed to the airport. :(

We flew from San Diego to San Francisco where we had a 3 hour layover. We had a very spiritual Easter dinner of Chinese food in the airport and took full advantage of the beds in Brookstone. While we were at the gate they offered us $600 credit on United and a free night hotel if we'd wait and fly home Monday. Laura and I didn't work on Monday so we decided to take it! We spent the night in San Fran and ate the most expensive breakfast ever (even with the vouchers!) and flew home Monday.

It was way fun and i took far too many pictures so I'll just post the link for my pictures on facebook and you can hit them up there! Here you go:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102097&l=edd4f&id=828585456

Dangerous Minds 2: Gourley Elementary

Yes, I teach in the ghetto. And don't hate, but it's much better than any snotty east side school. So today I had my kids write with absolutely no boundaries. I didn't care what they wrote about or how long it was, I just let them write about whatever. I just wanted to share some of the results some of them will be long, but I promise it's worth it...

Cheyenne wrote:
Once upon a time there was this lady who lived in this swamp. She was holding this purse and she took something out if it. The cops were watching her to see what was in the purse. It was a dead baby. She was rocking it to sleep but it didn't go to sleep so she cut off it's head.

Karter wrote:
My dad just got out of Jell (jail) so I get to see him and he'll buy me lots of video games.

Michael wrote:
(A big long story about jumping into a volcano...) So me and Christian got axes and started hitting the ground and the lava came out. We tried to run away but we got burned really bad by the lava. Then we died.

Ashley wrote:
(A big long story about ghosts...) She got sad when she got back to the haunted house because her brother had his head chopped off. Then 200 ghosts came and the moms head got chopped off too.

Todd wrote:
Do you know what's a Mawgwa? It's a Gremlin. But it has 3 very important rules. 1. Do not get it wet. I will multiply. 2. Do not put it in light. It hates light and will die. 3. No matter how much it begs or cries never ever feed it after midnight. They will change.

And now for my favorites...

Andre wrote:
I've been to Mexico. When you want to go somewhere you either have to walk or ride a donkey even with heavy heavy stuff. My friends dad has a 22. A 22 is a hand gun and my friend has a bb gun.

Isaac wrote:
In Mexico my dad bought me a gun. A 22 hand gun. He has a 45 caliber.


NICE. I teach in the ghetto. I'm going to start playing Gangsta's Paradise on my way to school. Pray for me!

Elimin-08 GOUT!

So my dear friend Tricia had the Gout her freshman year of college. So in honor of being Gout Free she throws a party every year. I was lucky enough to be on the guest list and we decided to make shirts, which of course were AWESOME. So here are a few of the pictures...

The Elimin-08 T-shirts!

Me and the brave Gout survivor.

The Foot Cake

"Give Gout the BOOT!" Pinata

Megann giving us some surprising facts about GOUT!

Chris giving us a presentation with gout facts





Laura and I

Oh, Grandpa...

So my 92 year old Grandpa Jackson has been spending the weekend with us. He can't really stay home by himself, so he stays with my aunt during the week and the rest of us kind of pass him around on the weekends. So he got here Friday and will leave in a few hours.

Now, I love my Grandpa. He was an architect for the LDS church and has traveled all over the world building church buildings and has written a book and is EXTREMELY intelligent. However he is 92 years old and is starting to lose it just a little bit. Here was our dinner conversation tonight:

My Dad: So, Amanda, are you excited to travel this summer? (And then explains to Grandpa the Romania trips.)

Me: Yea, it will be fun! I just wish I new more of the language.

Grandpa: I can count to 10 in 10 different languages! (And then proves it.)

Me: Very impressive, Grandpa!

Grandpa: Yea, when they called me to go to Holland.... (tells story)

Me: Wow. What an experience. Hey, dad, nice job on the pork!

Dad: Thanks! I did somethi.....

Grandpa: I can count to 10 in 10 languages! Finnish is the hardest (again, counts to 10.)

Dad: That's great!

Grandpa: Well, it became helpful when they called me to Holland.... (same story)

Mom: Do you think you'll try to pick up some more Romanian before you go?

Grandpa: All you need to know is how to count to 10! I can count to 10 in 10 languages! (Proves it.)

Me: Cool! I can count to 10 in Romanian, do you want to learn?

Grandpa: No! I can count to 10 in 10 languages already and I promise that it's not harder than Finnish... See? (Proves it.)

This was all in about the first 20 minutes of dinner. Then my dad started making fun of the Finnish 1-10 (one of the numbers is the word Feces. I'm not kidding.) And my Grandpa counted about 17 more times. He cracks me up. He also told the Holland story about 17 more times. (He was called on an architectural mission there and moved the entire family for like 3 years.) He really has done a lot with his life, but I swear all he does is count to 10 now.

He also has about zero tact now. When you ask him how he's doing he says "Everyone I can!" which cracks us all up. Also, Saturday morning I went to talk to him right after I woke up and he said "Wow, you're sure a lot prettier when you're all dolled up for a night out!" Thanks, Gramps. Granted, that is true, but still. Do you have to say it like that?

But hey, did you guys know I can count to 10 in 3 languages?? I'm on my way!


(P.S.- as soon as my camera charges, there will be Gout Party pictures! So check back soon!)

My trials and tribulations...

I just want to preface this by saying that I think Relief Society in a student ward is great. I love that the lessons aren't "Teaching your Children" every week, which is the schedule in my home ward. I love that it's single women in the Church all in roughly the same phase of life teaching and helping each other. I think it's great.

HOWEVER

When you have lessons on "Dating and the Eternal Perspective" things get a little (lot) irritating.

I seem to have an older ward. I think I'm on the younger end. So they start talking about keeping an Eternal perspective and getting married on the Lord's time, which is all good advice and they had some great quotes to back it up. Then women start making comments.

Wow. They were along the lines of:

"I know all of us are thinking we're not married because we're fat and ugly and there's something wrong with us."

(Um... Actually no, I don't think that. Not even a little bit.)

"I needed that little ray of hope that there really might be someone out there for me."

(Seriously?? You're that worried??)

"We need to make ourselves better so that we can find more perfect men."

(So bettering yourself has nothing to do with you and your own life and goals, but it has to do with finding someone better.)

And my personal favorite...
"I feel like I've been given this trial for a reason."

HONESTLY?? Since when did being single become a TRIAL? When most people talk about getting trials for a reason they're meaning terminal illness. Or tragic accidents. But BEING SINGLE?? How is that a trial?

I don't think there is anything wrong with being single and I get frustrated that whatever Utah or LDS culture (probably just "Utah Mormon" culture) says that there is something wrong with you if you aren't married by 25 or 23 or whatever. No where else will you find females who are thinking it's a burden to not be married in their early or mid 20's. Life isn't over! There is so much to do! Keep going to school! Travel! That's stuff that may not happen when you get older. LIVE IT UP!

I also struggle with this idea that the reason we need to better ourselves is to find a better husband. I hate that women feel like their whole identity is with a husband. That their worth is centered around what kind of husband they get. Give me a break!

I don't know if it's because of how I was raised or what, but I have never once felt that being single is a trial. I am really happy in my life right now and I've had some amazing experiences that I don't think I ever would have had if I would have married early. I feel pity for women who feel that way because there are so many doors open for single intelligent women that weren't there 50 years ago. Or even 20 years ago!

I just couldn't stop laughing at the "Trial for a reason" comment. Oh goodness. Never a dull moment in the student ward!