The crazy CURLS on my head

I had 3 inches cut off my hair last week and it was a BIG DEAL.

You might say, so what? Well, when I was 12 I got a A BAD haircut. Let me tell you, I'm pretty happy that this was one of the worst things that happened to me at that age considering all the other awful things that could have gone wrong. But trust me, this haircut was REALLY BAD. I almost wish I had a picture so you could see just what I'm talking about but few exist. (Probably because no one wanted to take a picture of the ugly duckling.)



I might have looked like the girl on the left a little
bit, or even the creepy lady on the right when I had bed head. Somewhere in the middle as far as age goes, but with a chubby face, acne, and braces.
I went in wanting shoulder length hair with layers and came out with a humiliating curly-almost-mullet.




From that day on I started growing out my hair and wishing my curly hair would just uncurl itself. I even tried to permanently straighten my hair with one of those straightening kits... didn't happen. I didn't know how to take care of my hair, and to make matters worse all of a sudden what I looked like really mattered. I "realized" that I needed cuter clothes, a skinnier body, and straight hair-because how else was I going to crimp it?! I hated my hair for a long time. Finally, after it grew out a bit and I grew up a little I decided my hair was okay and I stopped fighting it. For years I trimmed my own hair and I've only been to a hair salon a handful of times since the awful haircut.

For a few months I'd been thinking my hair had gotten too long to take care of- I never thought that would happen! So I got it cut and I love it. I'm so glad I've come to love the crazy curls on my head.

Where Nevada meets California

                           Where Nevada meets California you'll find this glorious sign. And you'll rejoice! 

                                           

After a long couple of days of packing and a long couple of days of driving, we arrived in Visalia. Hallelujah! Memorable moments from the trip:

• A traffic jam to get into Nevada? Huh? (Road construction.) 

• Gas station bathrooms in Nevada= gross. But bathrooms aside don't drive through Nevada unless it's absolutely necessary. Seriously. It's just sagebrush and Casinos. 

• Camping in Winnemucca, Nevada on the dirt between the sage brush. The mosquitoes were insane!  

• Entering California. All of a sudden there were lots of trees and sunshine and oranges! And the road construction stopped. And the bathrooms got clean, and the birds started singing! (Ok, I might be exaggerating, but not by much.)

• Grapes! And tons of other things growing on trees and vines. 

• The HUGE Philly cheese steak and Chicken fried steak we ate to celebrate our arrival in Visalia. Mmm. 

All in all a good trip. A big thanks goes to my husband for beforehand fixing everything on our car he thought might possibly break- our 4Runner did great pulling our heavily loaded trailer. AND he drove way more then I did. Love you Phil! 

Stay tuned for more. 

Califonia Dreamin'

We're moving to Visalia California in 2 weeks. It's a small town (according to those from CA.)Population approximately 125,000. Fondly known as "Where the Valley Meets the Giants" (says Wikipedia) which I'm guessing has something to do with big beautiful trees. I'll let you know. See yellow circle below.

You might be wondering: Why are we moving there? For my internship this Fall. I'll be working with the Exercise Phisiology Director at a place called The Lifestyle Center.

Will I be making a lot of money or something? No. Nada.

Have we been there before? Nope. Never. 

Do we have a place to live? Well we have a tent... hopefully we'll find an apartment quick.

Are we excited? Very!  

But also a little nervous. We're hoping we can find jobs and friends and a church to go to. And a grocery store. And climbing. And grapes?

We have no idea what we're getting into.

Today I feel...

LIKE THIS. 

AHHHEEeEGAAeeRRRrr!

School is driving me nuts. All week I thought I had two big projects due today for my Health Communications class, having written it down nicely in my planner and checking it often, only to find out they were due... WEDNESDAY?! Argh. And I have a Stats test coming up. And finals are just around the corner. Something about this semester has been really difficult for me. It's like my brain is all packed up and ready to go on vacation and I keep making it WORK. It's like "Noooo I'm done, don't make me! Please, you're turning me into jello."

Three weeks until freedom. I think I can I think I can. 

Happy 25th birthday to the love of my life!

There's a reason this man's birthday is on Summer Solstice aka the sunniest day of the year. Phillip is one of the most optimistic and fun people I know! He makes me so happy.

Phillip, I'm so glad you were born. Love you, babe!

These pictures show off a few of his many talents to honor him on his big 25th. Pay special attention to the one of him and the mushrooms hehe :) 

Breakfast for happy people

You know it's going to be a good day...

When your food smiles back at you. 

How we really met REVEALED

You may have heard that Phillip and I met at the pool. But truthfully, that's not the beginning. If you want to hear the inside story of how things really went down when we met, keep reading.

This much is true- Phillip and I met in January of 2010 in the Hart pool at BYU-Idaho where I was a kayaking instructor. But let's rewind to exactly 8 days earlier.... This cold Monday in January happened to be the opening social  for the Outdoor Activities Program. I had been involved for a couple of years and was now the kayaking coordinator. While everyone was going around introducing themselves and saying where they were from and bla bla bla I suddenly hear "Hi, I'm Phillip Montour. I'm the survival skills coordinator." I turned around in my seat and there he was. I was thinking He's a coordinator too? Why have I never seen him before? Dang, he's cute. After introductions we loaded our gear in some vans and went cross country skiing. I saw him a few times throughout the night, but didn't get very close. After all he totally could have been there with his girlfriend. Or married. Or worse. (Wait, nothing could have been worse.) So what's a girl to do? Lucky for me, since he was a coordinator, I had access to his name on the papers that were handed out. So I went home and looked him up on Facebook. And I'll admit it... I read his info, read his wall, and probably looked at every photo he was tagged in. I'm such a creepy creeper. And then I found THIS.

                                                                                                                                                                       

I thought... I'm a smokin hot fun outdoorsy girl. 

I was thinking this before we'd even MET. I already knew we were absolutely perfect for each other, and he didn't even know I existed (Ok maybe not. But hey, we did end up together.)

And that's why when he called me a few days later and left a voicemail saying, "I was told you're the kayaking coordinator, can you give me more info on your kayaking class?" my heart skipped a beat.

That's why when I saw he was on the list of students for my kayaking class I got a little nervous/excited.

And that's why when he saw me for the first time at the pool and I said, "Hi, I'm Lydia. What's your name?" I already knew the answer.

The long wait is over... THEY'RE HERE!

Last night I was lucky enough to go to the airport and welcome home my sister Alyssa, her husband Wes, and their kids from Ethiopia.

For the five of them, it's their first time in America. It was a long and frustrating process for them to become an official family, and then finally get here- which makes it all the sweeter that they are actually finally seriously all here together! It was fun to meet my niece and nephews for the first time. Even though it meant packing up and moving out of their house last minute, I still can't help but be SUPER happy for them all. A big welcome home to Wes, Alyssa, Mumbarek, Mesafinet, Damitu, Tofik, Gutama, and Everett! 

The day to eat at least half a cake

That's right. Today is my half birthday!!! At least I thought it was until I read this. I'm not entirely convinced though. But this is what the half birthday calculator said:


Enter a birthday:                     1989 November 4 

Quick! The half birthday is on Thursday, May 5th, 2011 -- thats TOMORROW!

The next birthday is 184 days from now.

November 4th, 1989 fell on a Saturday and was 21 years, 6 months (a total of 7,851 days) ago.

Which is better? Sharing my half birthday with "Star wars day" (May the fourth be with you!) or Cinco de Mayo? If it means I get fried Ice cream, i'll switch to the 5th! (Maybe.) Anyone else upset at the thought of their half birthday being changed? Or have you been thinking, "um, I never cared in the first place?"