Summer Solstice 2011

Well, I couldn't very well let my favorite day of the year pass without recognizing it. Especially since this is what the forecast was for the day:

And this is what we got:

And this is how I felt about it:

"excited"!

Let me just say, it was a summer miracle! Today would mark the second day in 2011 that the temperature exceeded 80-degrees. That was not a typo people, I did write "second"!

Now I find myself in a conundrum: Am I excited that the summer is here? Hopefully implying that warmer weather will accompany it? Or am I sad because the days will now be getting shorter? Perhaps if I lived somewhere that experienced summer temps pre-4th-of-July, I might not find myself awake at night analyzing the situation.

And for the record, my beloved swim park opened on Saturday (only to close early "due to inclement weather" - people, it has be BAD here! La Nina is out to make my life miserable!)! I've been scratching at the door for so long Wyatt finally had to take the leash off and let me run loose. Despite the fact that he has finals to study for this week, he took the trip to the park with me...twice! Happy day!

Wyatt + Brittany = Love

Wyatt + Brittany + Swim Park = True Love

National Debt Pay-Off

If you’ve had your ear tuned into the news lately, I’m sure you’ve heard that the nation’s debt is on the verge of maxing-out. In other words, we’re about to default on some loans unless we get tricky with the books.

Everyone knows there are two ways to reduce debt: cut spending and/or pay it off. Naturally this triggers a debate on how exactly does one United States of America do this? Who gets the pay cut? Who gets cut-off? Who pays?

My initial thought was to work together. Let’s instigate a national one-time, flat-rate tax. Everyone over the age of 18 pays $5, one time. $5 is doable. $5 is a pizza at Little Creasers, three-hot dogs at Costco, five RedBox movies – surely it’s not too much to ask?! I decided to do the math to see how brilliant my plan was. Vote for me! I’ll reduce the nation’s debt!

SCREEEEEEEEEECH! (This is when my enthusiasm came to a screeching halt…) As it turns out, my piddly $5 per person doesn’t even make a dent! My $5 plan reduces our debt by 0.01%… What the?! It’s not until each person pays $1,000 that we pass the 1% threshold. And the magic number each person can contribute to bail the country from its financial burdens is $57,405. That means a total of $114,810 for my household of two.


US Total Debt: $14,300,000,000,000
US Total Population: 311,383,748
Estimated US Population 18 years + (80%): 249,106,998

After all is said and done, I have decided that I will not be giving the United States of America 57,405 of my dollars to rescue them from the chains of debt. Instead I will offer my two-cents of advice: stop spending money!

Thirty-Three

Happy birthday to my beloved! You are my favorite!


(even if you refuse to share your birthday orange rolls with your classmates in fear that you might receive some birthday attention.)

Ode to Mom

Dear Momma,

Because of you, I am who I am today... and that makes me happy!

Love you tons!
No. 6

PS - Wouldn't you agree that the best is always saved for last?

Dios Bendiga Saint George

Wyatt tells me about the movie "Windows of Heaven" he used to watch with his investigators on his mission. He went to New York City Spanish speaking, so of course the movies they shared were in Espanol. The particular thing about this movie was that everything was spoken with the typical Spanish accent, except for "Saint George". It wasn't a subtle difference but rather a quite obvious one. So now, anytime we talk about Saint George, Wyatt repeats the line from the movie, "Dios Bendiga Saint George". Making sure he uses his thickest Spanish accent for the "Dios Bendiga" and an all true American accent for the "Saint George". Very silly, but something I love!


Finally I had my opportunity to visit Saint George. My friend Amie, a friend from my Chicago days, moved there with her family a little less than a year ago and invited me to visit. So I decided to take her up on here offer. Amie picked me up from the Vegas airport last Thursday night and we immediately went out to dinner at a close by Indian restaurant. I felt like it was very important that we had Indian food since it is one of her favorites and one cuisine I recently added to my personal favorites (for the longest time I never could understand why she enjoyed it so much... I have since seen the light). It's so nice to be in the company of a fellow foodie! After gorging ourselves with food, we rolled ourselves out the door and made the two-hour trek to Saint George. We didn't arrive until after midnight, so after I received the grand tour of their lovely home (and after Amie made a delish lemon dessert) I crashed into bed.

Friday morning I was greeted by the door knock of little fists pleaing with me to get up. What a pleasant surprise to open my door and see two of the cutest kids eager to meet me! The three of us round-up their older brother for a quick game of Candyland before breakfast and school. While the two boys were at school, Amie and I spent the morning tackling errands and shopping. It was fun to tag along with Amie since she is in the midst of growing her year food supply, so she was full of useful tips and information. It gave me a bit of encouragement to begin gathering my own "crops" for my own family supply.

Friday night the whole family (dad, mom, three kids and me) made the trek north to Cedar City to see the comedian Brian Regan at Southern Utah University. The crazy part about this mini-trip is that it was SNOWING! Which, surprisingly, I didn't mind. I guess since we never get it in Portland it was nice to see... even in April. We had Navajo tacos for dinner (one of my Carroll family favs) and enjoyed a wonderful evening laughing our heads off!

Saturday was a lovely day spent with Amie's husband's (Patrick) family - we had a delish French Toast breakfast, played some games, had a tasty lunch and even a small nap... Unfortunately, this is where my stomach started to take a turn for the worst and would give me grief for the next 24-hours. Lame. That's right, I found myself with a case of the stomach flu! Double lame! I felt terrible physically, but worse emotionally. Patrick and Amie worked their magic to create a world-class meal and I could barely enjoy it. I was so disappointed. I tried so very hard to psych my stomach up to "enjoy it or else" but in the end my stomach showed me who was boss as I made several trips to the bathroom. Did I mention authentic Korean food and homemade Samoa cookies was on the menu? I know! Luckily, my stomach simmered down in time for leftovers the next day. Phew! Though let me say, it was a sight to see Amie and Patrick working side by side cooking dinner. It was as if I was watching the Food Network.

Sunday presented us with beautiful weather so we spent a good portion of the day outside. I had a BLAST playing with the kids! On a side note, if I could bear five-year-old children, I would. (An unpleasant thought, I know). I just dig kids so much more than babies. They're far more interactive, funny, entertaining and fun! I was truly sad to part ways when it was time for me to return home. It was a fun trip! And I am very happy that I got to spend time with an old friend.

It's been so long since Amie and I have spent any in-person time together, I was wondering what it'd be like. But it was great! I admire Amie so much. She is one of the most compassionate people I know, constantly serving in the church, within her community and amongst her family and friends. She is an amazing mother and wife. She keeps an organized home, filled with the Spirit. And she has an unwavering testimony of the gospel. It was a pleasure to be able to spend the weekend with her! I think another trip is in order...

Missing These Guys...

Wyatt and I have been teaching in Primary together since we returned from Hawaii... and have been LOVING it! We were the lucky ones that got to move-up with our old class to their new CTR-5B class! These six little guys have become the highlight of each of my weeks. I am often excited to go to Primary on Sundays just so I can hang with these little dudes and dudettes. They say and do the funniest things! Wyatt and I are often laughing at their spunky little personalities.

Since it was conference yesterday, I didn't get my fix of five/six-year-olds. Sad. Today I'm missing them and counting down the days until we get to play together again...

This picture captures each of their individual personalities spot-on. So cute!

What do you do if you never went to Prom...

...attend your husband's dental school formal dance 12-years later. Complete with dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory with a group of friends and official dance pictures. I'm kicking myself that I didn't go as far as to purchase carnation corsages for the two of us. Snap!

(terrible picture of me...)

Though I can't say for certain, I think I enjoyed myself far more than I would've when I was in high-school. Really, I got to spend the night with my true love - embarrassing him with my unique dance moves - flailing arms and all. He loves it. Even when he begs me to stop, I know he really means to keep going. I think I also enjoyed the dig the night was on Prom in general. Kind of a silly event...

(Terrible picture of Wyatt. We can't seem to get it together.)