Ebullience Epitomized!

Let's just say if my adventures were skittles, they would not fit in my bellybutton.

Some brief overview...
I hold a world record! Last weekend BYU broke the record for the World's Largest Water Balloon Fight! The top picture is me surrounded by all the balloons they filled for the 24 hours preceding the fight and the bottom picture is me with what it all came to in the end. IT WAS EPIC! I didn't think I would get nearly as wet as I did, aka drenched, and it was almost picturesque to see all the different colored balloons flying through the sky! (and seriously go look at that link, it is so crazy and really happened and I was there!)

I also participated in all the Pioneer Day festivities (holy cow, Pioneer Day is literally a bigger deal than 4th of July in Utah.) My roommates and I competed against a bunch of 5 year olds in a watermelon eating contest and got slaughtered.
Also. Rope Swing. So fun! This is actually just off a near by tree branch, but whoa, the rope swing was gooood! And yes, that's my purse i'm holding.

Bryn is the best ever! Point in fact: Colorado people are magical! Our favorite activity: She gets on facebook, I watch her get on facebook. You tell me whose life is more pathetic, or just joy in the fact that we are so bonded to each other :)

Next week is my last week of sports camps and last week was a great one, as exhibited in the below picture of the more than likely illegal activity, Mattress Dominoes.

But a huge hit (punintended) and you got to do what you got to do.

In other news:

I seriously am so happy! And remember that summer mom came to visit Char and she said every time Char sat down, she would fall asleep? Now I know why! I am so tired, but so joyous!

The temple reopened! The only difference I noticed for all those weeks of refurbishment was new curtains in the shower, but it was as wonderful as always if not more so considering the lengthy separation factor.

I ran a 10k last weekend and my training seems to be doing me good. And oh, training! I do oh so very much of it, but I love it and have had many adventures running around and out past Provo!

Today I went to volunteer at the MTC. OH MY WORD! a) I felt like I was entering a secret sanctum, turns out it's just a mini BYU campus b) I feared seeing anyone I knew at any turn so when I actually did, I was prepared with just a handshake c) I went with my friend who served in Cambodia so we volunteered with the Cambodian missionaries and I had no idea what they were saying, all I know is they sounded like they were bouncing on trampolines and chewing on rubber the whole time! d) It reminded me all very much of those dreaded nights when we had the missionaries scheduled for dinner but e) it was more awesome because I saw first hand what exactly these missionaries do and holy cow they are good, brave, cool souls!

And so. Onward, ever onward! Fatigue. And Fun. That's all :)

Childhoods Collide :)

This post was not going to be made for some time, but my death-by-boredom history class was providentially and paradisiacally cut an hour short today!!! hooray!

This blog is for two people I really should sit down and write a book about, but I suppose a post will suffice.

The first is Sarah, aka Sar to some, aka Sarahho to most, aka Bob, Firefly, Kipper, etc. etc. etc.

Sarah and I went down to the ever famous "CABIN" this weekend! Yes, the Cabin that took on a secretive, magical meaning for most of my childhood becuase when Sarah wasn't with me, she was always running off to this mysterious place, "the cabin." Rest of you Roys can sympathize i'm sure!


Talk about joy! (And a single hair stretching from Sarah's head to the summit of the rainbow. her hair would haha)

We decided it was a collision of childhoods because of the very fact that she lead one childhood at the Cabin and one with me and there I was, face to face with her other joyous kingdom!

The Griggs were the best hosts ever, and oh man I can't wait till we're all together again so I can tell you the best Griggs stories ever!

Needless to say, Sarah=Best Friend. I'm so lucky


Ok, the other soul is Taryn!!! Aka funniest-person-ever-how-the-heck-did-i-get-so-lucky-to-have-such-a-friend-because-no-one-in-their-sane-mind-would-ever-put-us-together-but-childhood-and-growing-up-together-lets-magical-insane-things-happen!

Taryn came to work sports camps this week and we stayed on the same floor. One afternoon she was sitting in her room with Amanda Hy-att (another joyous soul) and another counselor when, unbeknownst to them, I entered the hallway. Something about those empty hallways with the doors lined up makes me want to just make a loud noise and so i. did. Just, walking down the hall, by myself, making noise that may defined as a moose call or a scream of death or something. Soon thereafter Taryn and her cronies stuck their heads out the door laughing their heads off, catching me in my weird urge and Taryn told me that when she heard that noise, she just looked at the other two girls and said, "That was Krista!" And it was! Oh Taryn, how bonded we are!

In any case, Taryn is wonderful, i was reminded all so vividly of that this week. If you need proof, reminisce further in this glimpse from long ago childhood

So since most of you know the joy of our little Gem Streets friendship (sorry to my newer readers--if you even survived to this far in the post--for not knowing) just thought I'd remind you all how magical it was. and is. Oh, Ebullience!

Highlight!

I feel blog happy these days. Regardless..

The highlight of this blog was going to be the new library card I acquired at the Provo Library (of which I previously knew nothing but the homeless man out front) which was joyous and cool and childhood reminiscent!

And then the highlight of this blog was going to be the first real live blind date I went on, which wasn't that blind because as far as he or I could figure, he was Charina's last date before she started dating Jimmy (that could be wrong) so we were kind of connected, but it was fun! Char, I will tell you the story of my date with Joshua Clayton and you will find joy. For the rest of you, here is a picture of us (minus my date, he was photographing) with the creepy mascot owl of the Orem Owlz. Baseball game, fireworks, ice cream, pleasant conversation, what could be better? Blind dates aren't so bad. Then the highlight of this blog was going to be the 16 miles that I ran on Saturday. I used to think it was a joyous feeling to be back in my house having already run 6 miles before my sisters/roommates were even up. 16? glorious!

Well, as highlightish as that was, it was outhighlighted by the wonderful day Sar and I spent wandering around the town, buying trinkets, eating samples, writing letters to soldiers, and ultimately getting free sandwiches with our miliatry ids at Kneaders (yum! Thanks, Dad!) That was going to be the highlight of this blog.
BUT. Then. I went to watch fireworks with Sar and some of her ward people and in preparing to look patriotic, I not only wore my wonderful red overalls, but I also took along my lil white grandma 90 purse to this gathering of strangers with a vision in mind, and what did I get.....


HIGH LIGHT!!!!! (no pun intended)

Definitely the best lil white purse picture I ever got, I may just enter it into a contest of some kind! (not really) But it was wonderful and yes. That was the highlight!

Happy Birthday, Mom! Gnome to come soon. I mean, Poem, haha to come soon!

Only Laughter

No words can begin to describe the pure joy I felt in discovering these pictures! I've seen them time and time and time and time again, but they still make me laugh out loud! Literally, like out loud, 18minutesstraightthehometeachersjustleft laughter!


What were Sarah and i thinking being such good friends!? I will tell you what we were not thinking, even once: "Whoa, Sarah, you are at least a foot above me in the air!"

Be prepared, this next picture is the ultimate of all ultimate favorites, I will cherish it to the ends of the earth and am grateful I have it saved on the blog for all perpetuity!Hahahhahaah only laughter, only laughter!

And thus it begins...

This is all I know of my new roommate thus far:


Interesting combo, eh? I have yet to see or meet her, but the other girls in our apartment (a 19 year old college graduate, a former wyview wardie, and a New Zealand RM) seem all wonderful and nice. If my room roommate is anything like the objects she possesses, I can only expect a quaint little grandma with a knack for seamstressing and a feisty side I should try not to upset.

(Note: I also feel no shame in poking fun at her less than normal accessories as moving in I discovered I had some odd ones myself ((lil white grandma 90 purse, Mo, mini gnome, etc)) and I expect us to be great friends in the future, at which point we will laugh together at this blog)

In other news, I just finished my first sports camp week!
This is from my first day, where I hardly rested till 1130 that night, and I've hardly rested since!
I had eleven 12-15 year old tennis girls and they were a hoot and a half! And doesn't that one in the middle just scream Sarah Griggs at age 12!? She was tall, lanky, goofy, and the oddest of the bunch, so I felt very endeared to her.

I was sick all week, I had to fight with all my might to stay awake in my classes, which I do think I will like very much, and I am now moving onward to pursue the process of potential friendship wherever I can find it! Even if it means with a sewing machine, mace waving hooligan!

P.S. Speak of Sarahho, she has a blog now, for all you lovers of blogs and Sarah: sarahegriggs.blogspot.com

Oh my. We are odd.

Here is an excerpt I ran across today while reading one of my journal entries:

"The kind of deep silence that makes you orchestrate your bronchioles to ensure their syncopation with the surrounding and flowing atmosphere while simultaneously breathing in the thoughts of your deepest mind."

After reading this, I first thought... whaaatt? I wrote that? and then I thought of CJ's recent sharing of journalness and concluded that the silence I'm describing here must also have something to do with her "split-second in time" and ultimately,

we are odd.

And thus we see, I can only seem to use blogger as an updater. Alas, updates!

As LaDon said, my solicitation was answered! Bum and I headed to the east to visit Char and Jimmy this weekend! Three things about Virginia: a) It is HOT!!!! b) It is HUMID!!!! c) There are trees EVERYWHERE!

Nevertheless, Jimmy and Char took us around and we enjoyed...
...The Edgar Allan Poe Museum. Eerie, as you can imagine. But also educational.

...an east coast tradition of dining out at gas stations? One of my friends at BYU from the east was always idolizing this celestial "WaWa" and I acknowledged his appreciation until some other easterner told me it was just a gas station. So when I showed up in Virginia and discovered they had a WaWa, we went and ate there! It was actually pretty good, but we took forever trying to figure out how to order. What we can say, we're from the west!

...just hanging out! Char and Jimmy have a nice little apartment on Wilde Lake so we played games inside and read by the lake at sunset outside.

...also we went to the Holocaust Museum. Whoa. It's smaller than the DC one, but just as impacting and soul boggling.

...also we skyped with the Lindes, which was kind of like a mini reunion of sorts. We all wished the Carters could have somehow linked with us, but we questioned if Monroe even had internet (just kidding!)

...I discovered Jimmy and I have something very important in common: he has the nimble finger genes!! He is very good at speed and blink and egyptian amouigakdf and other fast paced games.

Bum and I then proceeded to spend an entire day in the Chicago airport. But, the USO provided some nice goodness and we bonded all the day long. I even spent the night there after Sum got on the last flight possible. Haha, yep, me and the soldiers, sleeping away!
Now I am the only sister to have been in the presence of every single family member most recently (oh, the joys of a schooless college student) and what can I say?

Thus we see, from LA to Richmond, from Monroe to Colorado Springs, WE ARE FUNNY! Thanks for letting me hop around the country and visit you all!