sorry, no camera yet

I just decided to express my jealousy that landon and alicia get to go camping and I don't. Although Alicia did talk about how awesome it was to cook over an open flame, and then busted out the stove, i thought that was kinda cheap. But the nieces/nephews look awesome, I can't wait to meet the rest of them. As an update on me, my 2nd roommate is now moving out, so I will be alone in my room until a weird chinese guy moves in in 2 weeks, I am scared, but maybe he is the 1 for jess, so we will look into taht. I am still only doing so so in the sales region of life, but I am getting enough to get by, I think tha I might actually walk away from this summer with a profit, which will be nice. Especially since this month if I don't absolutely suck I will walk away with $1000 of tuition payed and a $700 gift certificate to Wal Mart, so I should be set for school. But I have already told my roommates at BYU and tehy are now thinking of ways to spend $$$ at wal mart, I am excited, because at least we will have a fun shopping spree. That is all, talk to you later. Oh, and when did Landon and Sarah go to the ocean, and when are you going to that eastern state??

Old Pictures New Stories

So I have not taken any pictures over the past couple of days but these are fun and from prior adventures.

Wednesday night was my friend Thomas' b-day so we went out to a great Italian Restaurant in Hell's Kitchen and then off to the gay bar for some dancing. Much to Thomas' dismay and my delight and relief there was no dancing going on as all the men in the bar(there were no women) were completely riveted to the TV. You see "Project Runway" was on and it was a very pivotal scene. As I do not have a T.V. nor
have watched T.V. since the last time I was home I didn't really know what was going on but I must say there was much squealing, leaping and applause as the results were announced. I am sure you are all disappointed that I didn't take pictures of that.

Last night I walked across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey just becuase it is pretty. It was also very loud. But I did get out of New York even though it was only for a few minutes.
I like these pictures because:
1. they make Bakersfield look pretty
2. It makes our backyard seem like a really pleasant place to be (and it just might be now with out any dogs to attack you)
3. Who doesn't like a casual BBQ with the family?
4. In the first picture Mom and Dad are just standing in the middle of everything in their own little world.
5. Kea is not wearing shirt and it reminds me of Topless Tawna of the early years.
6. I find the concept of backyards to be something totally foriegn now and therefore more attractive.

Niagara Falls

So after the Hill Cumorah pageant Saturday night we drove up to a hotel in Buffalo, a little over an hour away. We went to church Buffalo Style (and everything that implies) on Sunday morning. Basically I would rather die than EVER live in Buffalo. It is a sad should-be-ghost-town full of abandoned factory buildings. Church there was interesting to say the least. They did the sacrament prayer in both Spanish and English.
Then we drove about 20 minutes North to NIAGARA FALLS! Wow! They are an impressive sight. I LOVED them. We went on a little boat called "The Maid of the Mist" that takes you right into the middle of the horseshoe falls and just sits there for like 10 minutes while you listen to the roar of the falls and get totally soaked. It was so cool. They give you these stylish blue ponchos that serve more as a statement of "you will get wet on this ride" than a protection against the water. We did not go to the Canada side as we had two foriegners without proper documentation with them. Soo, from Korea, is in the picture above.

Upstate New York

So this weekend me and four other people jumped in a rental car and LEFT MANHATTAN. For those who have never lived in NYC, this is kind of a big deal. You can go years without every leaving Manhattan just becuase it is so difficult. We left at 5 a.m. and drove to Palmyra, NY. Where it all began......
It was lightly drizzling the whole day in Palmyra but although I have lived on the East Coast for almost a year now I was amazed at how green it was. Central Park's got nothing on the rest of the state. Turns out New York knows how to grow trees. We saw everything, the Hill Cumorah, the Sacred Grove, the printing press where the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon was printed, the original manuscripts with Oliver Cowdery's handwriting, the Smith log home where all eleven of the Smith's lived in a space the size of Mom and Dad's bedroom, the Whitmer farm where the church was first organized and most importantly......The PAGEANT. The pageant was excellent. I went expecting the same type of thing as the Manti temple pageant. It was nothing like that. This pageant was really well done. I LOVED IT! I loved wandering around the sacred grove. You can see the angel moroni statue on top of the Palmyra Temple peeking out over the trees from the sacred grove. It is beautiful. I just kept thinking, what was Joseph Smith thinking as he walked out of that sacred grove. Did he have any concept of how important that experience would become to so many billions of people? I was struck by the simplicity of his lifestyle and overcome with gratitude for his courage. It was a fabulous experience.

so I just figured out how to do this, and hopefully it works, that is the scar from my test of faith, and my favorite sister ever. I will get a camera in the next little while and so we will be able to get some new pictures maybe.

ok, so I am just starting to figure out how to do all this, and I make no promises to what extent I will be willing to pursue this endeavor, but we'll see. Just so you know, I have officially purchased a computer from a friend up here, I got it for 450, and it works well enough to get done anything I will want to do in the next 5 years that won't require a byu computer anyway, so i'm happy. The dating scene in my life is being monitored more by jessica than by myself, apparently I have a date set up for when i got back to utah, but from what I see i have about 10 dates set up, so I am just waiting to get out of northern cali. I have not made a dime since friday, which isn't fun but i'll pull out of it, in general everything is going fine except for the fact that everyone here has low credit, so I don't get paid well for working with them. I did see mikey and that was exciting, sorry that I couldn't see the fam, did someone go to his homecoming? that is about all so I will talk to you later and see you in sept.
love ya

Bike Ride

So...Steven turned 5 a month ago and I have been wanting to take his training wheels off his bike and teach him to ride without them. I haven't done it yet, but I will soon. How old do you think most kids are when they learn to ride a bike?

World Cup

So...

Germany or Portugal? (Saturday)

Italy or France? (Sunday)

Who do you choose?

I choose Germany (obviously) and Italy .

More from Bakersfield

Jessica asked me to contribute my Top 10 reasons that I liked visiting Utah last week.
Here they are:
10. My employer paid for a lot of the trip.
9. The scenic drive is especially beautiful in July.
8. It makes me appreciate Bakersfield more.
7. It was great to see many of my children.
6. I enjoyed being back at “the Lord’s university.”
5. The Millcreek parade is almost like the Rose Parade.
4. Brielle and Aiden are beautiful.
3. It was wonderful to see Gma again
2. Joseph and Buca de Beppos
1. Twelve hours on the road with just your mom.

FYI

So... I was talking to Jessica the other day, and I realized that I didn't let everyone know about Steve and I's new callings at church. I have been asked to be the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency. Yes...I am sure that may sound familiar to some of you because that is pretty much where I have been for the whole two years I have been here. I have just gone through 5 Primary Presidents so it stays interesting.

Steve has been called to be the 2nd Counselor in the new Branch Presidency. He has been doing it for about a month now, and is very humbled. He is doing a great job, and working with some great men who will really teach him a lot.
I am proud of his dedication to the Lords work.