An Epic Summer of FUN

School started last week which means that it was also the official end to summer. And what a summer it has been. One full of friends. laughter. adventure, and great memories which will last forever. The summer of fun all started when one of my best friends received her mission call to Jacksonville, FL. Those of us in that group of friends were talking on night and decide that we should make it the best summer ever, full of adventure and all the activities we could before she would leave. By the time the night was over we had the beginnings of The Epic Summer of Fun. Now, my summer of fun included that many activities with this group, The Fab 5, and a few other groups of friends as well. This is how the summer went.....

May
The month of May started with me getting a new car. My old one was officially dead and I needed something to drive.  I went and got my car that first Saturday in May, May 5th. That night stated the Epic Summer of Fun activities with a night at the Drive-In where we saw the Avengers. This is also the night that I found out my new car heater worked extremely well :). The rest of the month included a trip to Logan, a backyard BBQ, singing in the Stake Choir at the conference center, getting new contacts, and the best trip of all that happened the last week of May. This would be a trip with most of the Fab 5 to Cabo San Lucus, Mexico for a week. We left on the 25th and drove to Vegas that night. the next day we boarded a plane and headed to California and then to Mexico. Once there we proceeded to drive to the villa that we were staying for the week, Casa Grande (you can look it up on the internet if you want to see where it is at) We stayed there for a week with days spent sunning by the pool, playing at the beach, shopping, eating at fabulous places, music videos, para-sailing, and just enjoying time with friends.

This is Rudy Lob

 Night at the Drive-In

Trip to Logan

Backyard BBQ

Cabo Mexico

June
The fun continues in June with first returning from Mexico. Then we have a Backyard movie and BBQ for Brett and Jacq's Birthdays. This month was also the month that Jacque went through the Temple and it was such a great experience to be able to be there with her. There was a John Bytheway devotional, a family party for great cousin Jimmy who turned 80,  and then some backyard fun at Taryn's. From there we had a weekend in Park City, some baseball, movie nights, and I ended the month with a trip to Driggs ID with the sister, brother-law and nephew. On this trip we drove up to Driggs on Friday and then went to Yellowstone on Saturday and then drove home Sunday afternoon. It was a pretty great trip and a great month.

Backyard Birthday Fun

 Park City

 Softball Game

 Yellowstone

July
This month was a busy month. It started off with a bang with the 4th of July. The night before included fireworks at the WB park with music and friends. On the 4th the day included the ward Breakfast, the West Bountiful parade, and then the Stadium of Fire with the Beach Boys and the most amazing fireworks show ever. I loved every minute of it. This month also included trips to the temple with friends, the Bountiful Farmer's Market, Fab 5 girls nights, a Day spent at Cherry Hill, and the first trip of the year to Lake Powell with the Fab 5. This trip usually takes place over Labor Day, but we choose to do it sooner so that the whole gang could go. We left at 3am on Thursday the 12th after a night of packing and crashing in the living room of Brett's house. We spent the rest of Thursday and the next two full days on the lake before we headed back home on Sunday. After the Lake Powell trip came the Bountiful 24th parade with the 2000 Stripling Warriors, a Bee's Baseball game, the Bachlorette Party, a night at the Ogden Rodeo, a day at Bear Lake to celebrate the 24th, a game night with old friends and a new one, a camp-out at Crystal Hot Springs with my friends ward followed by a Saturday spent at the Hogel Zoo to celebrate my birthday, and then onto Jacquie's mission farewell and another trip to Lake Powell.  All in all is was a pretty amazing month.

Fireworks at WB Park

 4th of July

 Cherry Hill

 Lake Powell

 Farmer's Market

 24th Parade - Stripling Warriors

 Bees Baseball Game

 Bachlorette Party

 Hogel Zoo

 Ogden Rodeo

 Bear Lake

 Jacquie's Farewell

August
August started off with one of my favorite trips. Every year there is a group of us that goes to Lake Powell for the first week of August.Once back we had a farewell night to say goodbye to Jacq. The rest of the month included dinner at Taste of India for Jessica's B-day, cleaning at the Deseret Mills, dinner with friends, dinner at Johnny Rockets, shopping at City Creek, a BBQ with my new co-workers, BBQ for Jer and Allie's B-days, new teacher training for work, The Brigham City Temple open house, And movie nights throughout the month. And then school officially started and that meant it was the end of Summer. But, even though it ended it was full of fun and laughter and truly became the Epic Summer. Now....onto a Fabulous Fall. :)

Lake Powell

 Farewell

Pontiac Grand Prix (Tink) 1992 ~ 2012

Pontiac Grand Prix was born in the year of 1992 to parents unknown. Even though the events and younger years of her life are unknown as well, it is believed by many that she was taken care of well and enjoyed her years growing up. In her teenage years she was adopted by the Martinez couple where she then resided for many years. Throughout these years she continued to be well taken care of and maintained and worked to the best of her abilities. Pontiac enjoyed these years and enjoyed serving those around her. One of her favorite trips was to the SLC airport. On this fateful trip in January of the year 2007 she met a girl named Brittney. Pontiac was giving her and some of her family members a ride to the airport so they could take a trip to Flordia. She enjoyed the trip to the airport and was sad to see it end. Little did she know that fate would bring the two them together again.

For it was later that same year when Pontiac went to live with Brittney. She was excited for this new adventure and knew that the rest of her years would be well spent in Brittney's care. Their relationship continued to grow and Pontiac quickly adopted the nickname of Tink. With Brittney she was driven all around the Salt Lake Valley and put on many miles. She drove to the U of U on pretty much a daily basis for 3 years, to Cottonwood heights to visit friends, to Layton to visit family, to Logan and Provo and all places in between. Throughout the years she got a new transmission, new brakes, new tires, new coolant system, new driver side window, new fan belt, and yearly check-ups and oil changes. Tink was cleaned and vacuumed and was well loved.

It was on April 20, 2012 that Tink would take her last drive. That morning she drove Brittney to work and then to the U of U. After a night of hanging out she was ready to drive Brittney home around 9:30 that night. With the windows rolled down and the music blasting she proceed to drive through the University roads and then down South Temple where her engine gave out upon reaching 900 East after stopping for the red light. Brittney was able to coast her around a corner and then to her final stop alongside of the road across from the Smiths Express gas station. And try as she might she could just not turn over and continue anymore. That night Tink was towed to the body shop and put on monitors while those that loved her waited for the final diagnosis. It was on Monday April 23, 2012 that she was pronounced dead by the mechanics.

Tink is survived by her owner Brittney and the friends who rode in her. She will always be remembered for her heavy doors, loud radio, broken door locks, missing hubcap, extremely hard lights to change, lock combination on the glove box, a gear shift that didn't register, the two keys you had to have (one to unlock doors and one to start it) and the many rides through town with the windows rolled down on a bright sunny day. Tink will always be loved and will be missed by those who knew her.

The family have chosen to have a closed viewing to a select few of Tinks closet friends. Then on Monday April 30, 2012 Tink will be taken to her final resting place. Family members will wave tearful goodbyes as she is driven away to the scrap yard to be stripped apart for parts. The family discussed it and felt that the donation of her organs and working parts would serve Tnik best. Any donations to the cause may be sent directly to Brittney Walker.

I Took The Plunge

Yes, I took the plunge. I finally decided to try it and see how it goes. I figured, whats the worst that could happen. So I signed up. I created an account and then I found another sight a week later and created one on that sight as well. It has now been a couple of months and I have realized some things about this whole adventure called online dating.

First, let me tell you why I did it. That's the first question you think of right. Why did I sign up. Well, I am 24 years old and would like to get married one day. I was in an LDS sorority for 4 years while at college, I have attended a singles ward for that last 4 years, and at both I have tried to get involved and meet new people and make friends. Which I did, I have enjoyed being a part of it all, but nothing romantic has come from it. I am now graduated from college and working with kids. This means that the college social life is gone as well. Don't, get me wrong, I still hang out with the friends I made, but I no longer have that avenue to meet new people. So her I am, 24 and single. I work with kids, so there are no potential dates there. I don't go to bars or clubs, so that is not an option. Yes, I am still going to the singles ward, but considering that I have been in one for 4 years, we will just leave it at that. So I am down to only a few options of how to meet people. 1) Someone new at the singles ward 2) Through friends and family, which really doesn't happen or 3) Online dating.

Online dating is something that has been on my mind for awhile. For those of you who know me, you know I love to read. In the last few months in a few of the books that I have read they talk about online dating. I have also been coming across other stories and news of people on dating sites and it just seemed to be something that kept coming up in my life. So one day a couple of months ago I started searching some sites out and I ended up joining one and making a profile. I filled out all of the information about myself and what I like to do. I uploaded some photos and then proceeded to check out the other profiles on the site. About a week later I joined another sight and did all the same stuff. And now that I have been on these sights for about two months, there are a few things that I have learned.

*The pool of guys on them is just as scary as the pool of guys at the singles ward. I don't mean this as in they are all bad. Some of the guys on these sights are good and seem normal, but you have to search to find them. While searching you will come across some that make you rethink what you are doing. I don't know how many of you have looked at these sights, but your first impression comes from a screen name, a picture and a few brief sentences about them. And first impressions can say a lot. So when you come across a screen name of  Here4Ladies, Cocoboi, Yourin4atreat, Jackelope, Shockelicious, or Takingitslow who sends you a flirt and turns out to be 44, you tend to get a little scared about who is still single out there. Having said this though, there seems to be some normal people as well. You just have to keep looking.

*It takes effort. Just because you sign up and make a profile, that doesn't mean you are done. all it means is that you are now featured on the sight and people can see your profile. But, if you really want to take advantage of the sight then you have to get involved with it. You have to initiate the search for profiles. You have to be the one to read them and check them out. You have to send flirts and messages saying that you are interested in someone. And on the other side of it you have to be the one to read the messages that you get and reply back to them. You have to get rid of all the people that scare you and the ones you just know would never work out. After a few weeks of not doing much of any of the above listed I have finally decided that it is like anything else in life; you will get back what you are willing to put into it. And if I want to get more out of the sights, then I need to put more into it and spend more time on it. Just like real dating, it takes effort.

*Don't give up. After the first week of being on these sights I was wondering what I had gotten myself into and if it was worth it. I kept wondering if it would pay off and if I would find someone interesting that I would want to meet. And even though I have yet to have something come from this (well, besides a few funny stories and interesting guys in all the wrong ways) I will keep on looking.

*Face time is needed. Online dating is not the one stop shopping center for a partner. It is not a pick a husband sight. It is a get to know someone sight. It is a browse and read and see who interests you sight. It in no way replaces actual dating and actual face time with a person. Face time is still needed and still required. Online is just a stepping stone in getting the process started.

Those are the main things that have been coming to my mind since I started this. I know that I have not been putting in the effort that I should if I really want to get somewhere with this. I know I need to be more proactive and I need to not be afraid to send someone a flirt or a message. SO I will keep on searching, keep on eliminating, keep on reading, and keeping on looking for someone interesting to meet. Because I figure the worst that can happen is that I won't find anyone, which is where I am already to begin with. It can only go up from here.