I went on a little field trip up to Rock Canyon with my cousin Kemarie. She needed to find a dozen rocks of various descriptions and document them for her homework. I expected this to take about thirty minutes but I also forgot I was going with a second grader. It ended up taking about an hour and a half but it was a beautiful day so it was fine. It sprinkled on us a few times so we took shelter under a bridge and I got to explain how different rocks form and a few other natural science principals. We also got to see a few cool sights by straying off the beaten trail.

I was able to help with vision screening at the local elementary school this morning and was amused at the kids. I asked one of them to "read the line" in order to see if they could make out each character. The little boy then phonetically pronounced "ohrnc" the best he could with a hint of concern that he was being a bad reader. After trying to hide my laugh I reassured him that it was not a word and that he just needed to read each letter.

I got another lead on a job this week so as my friend Kersti says, "press [your] thumbs." The lady I applied with called me the next day and asked me what my phone number was so I'm not really sure what that means.

Sunday was the temple dedication for the Brigham City Temple (hour north of Salt Lake City) and to encourage all members in Utah to attend the broadcast they canceled our normal Sabbath meeting block. It was a beautiful service. President Packer wrote the dedicatory prayer however, he requested that another read it. It was good that he did since it was immensely difficult to follow his remarks prior to the prayer. Not pictured below is an old-man pillow which I brought to make sitting in hard plastic chairs a little more bearable.

LR: Pres. Mackay, his daughter Courtney, his wife Luanne, Kersti, Me, Miffy, Anna, Jonathan

I actually had the opportunity to meet President Packer a few years ago while employed at the Museum of Art on campus. He came in on a Sunday for a private viewing of the Carl Bloch exhibit and chatted with me briefly. He told me that he'll probably forget my name but never forget meeting me. He later chastised me for skipping church, stating that anyone who skips church on account of him owes him five dollars. I never did get around to giving him that bill.

Friday was my first test of PTA loyalty. Our big fundraiser for the year is a carnival which I was lucky enough to be able to help out with. Besides setup and take down, I ran the shell game (aka thimblerig) and after a couple hours I got really good at it, at least good enough to switch the ball between cups without people noticing it. A creepy old man even came up to me between kids and complimented me on my quick hands and more then once I accidentally cheated by dropping the ball behind the table making it impossible to win. The whole ordeal was about 8 hours but it was a lot of fun upon reflection.

Mitch took over during my dinner break.

This weekend also hosted a triward activity in which a dessert contest took place. I don't often feel compelled to enter contests but I have been wanting to do something new so I decided to go exotic and make baklava. It took me two hours to prep and cook the damn thing but as I poured the honey syrup over the final product it cackled with pleasure. Twenty-four hours later I had my first bite and it was delectable. The effort paid off extrinsically as well as I tied for first-place and came home with a $20 gift card.

How about a little more baklava-ah-ah?

I had my interview yesterday and I think it went rather well. I attempted to appear knowledgeable and confident while preserving a sense of humility and willingness to learn. The company is small which is nice but in the meantime I'll keep applying for other jobs. It was fun to be unemployed for the summer but now that Fall is beginning I'm just bored out of my mind.

To help mitigate that I joined the Provo Peaks Elementary PTA. Keera, my cousin, is the president and looked into the rules where she discovered that you do not actually need to be a parent to join. It will be nice to give back to the community in a way, I feel like I constantly benefit from the network but since I'm a single adult they have never expected anything in return. I'm also planning on putting it on my resume since it doesn't hurt to show I'm invested in my home.

Contemplating the sunset, photo credit: Claire

This afternoon I got a callback for a job interview. The prospect of an interview is exciting enough but when she initially suggested a time it just happened to conflict with a blood donation appointment I had that day. I would have never brought it up otherwise but because it was a conflict I got to tell my interviewer that I was going to donate blood. I'd say that's a good first step.

The Springville Museum of Art (which is about 10 minutes south of me) hosted a "College Night" tonight and I had the opportunity to take a date. They do these events a few times a year and every time its a blast. There are always free milkshakes, some variant of an art scavenger hunt, and an art project. The best part about these nights is that they are 100% free and are actually a lot of fun. This time we did printmaking with styrofoam squares. We engraved an image using a pencil tip and then printed them on some card stock.

It's actually a vivid pink; scanner issues.

I think my print came out really well though for some reason all my art projects revolve around trees. The important thing is that I got several compliments from the interns working the event so my ego was satisfied. The date ended up going quite well and there will probably be a second, especially if there's another great free event going on.

Seasons project from last College Night

Oh, remember the kitten from a few posts back that we gave away? She found her way back. I almost stumbled over her last night as I was walking around the neighborhood. Unfortunately we don't have the contact information for the people we gave her to so we're not really sure what to do!

Last night I got in my first car accident; it was just a fender-bender but still it was nerve wracking. I rear ended someone at a stop light--I make no excuses--and of course it had to be a pregnant woman. Luckily she was really nice, we pulled over to a parking lot and waited for her husband to come,and after we swapped information to his satisfaction we were off. The damage was really minimal: on my car it just scratched the paint a few places, tore out a licence plate screw and bent it about thirty degrees. Her bumper was just scratched a bit and somehow my license plate screw turned around completely and lodged into her bumper.

But wait, a twist! They called me this morning and suggested that we just both forget it happened as they didn't want to jump through the insurance hoops. They are such kind people, I need to call them back so I can give them some gift cards to go out to eat or something.

One of my favorite things about making friends is their ability to open your eyes to brand new things. This summer I befriended a young lady who, through her passion, opened my eyes to several new things including biking. I've always enjoyed biking but ever since my bike was stolen back in 2008, I hadn't thought much about it. Today though I got on my cousin's bike and took a ride north and eventually ended up near the temple.

I had to hike to a spot where the view was good enough.

It ended up being about an eight mile ride and after some hiking it took a couple hours of my day. I didn't realize how out of shape I had become but it was a lot of fun.

Provo is doing an overhaul of their downtown area and tonight they had a little shindig to educate people on their plans. It was pretty swanky: a live jazz band, custom (non-alcoholic) mixed drinks, and upscale catering but unfortunately it seems they didn't really get the word out. Jana, Mirielle, and I were some of the only people there and the raffle jar only had about twenty entries in it a half hour before it ended. Poor Provo.

The cityscape was nice.

Happy Labor Day!

This year I celebrated workers rights by going to a parade about Onions! It was Onion Days in Payson, UT and I was invited by my friend Jana to go down and watch it. Like all parades it was a blast to get involved with the floats and be as boisterous as possible. While I got several compliments from the people around me for making it "the best parade ever" for them, it also meant I completely neglected taking any pictures.

The McClellan's gave their kitten away to a new family. They are a young married couple and will probably be much kinder to Sparkles Rosieboots then a seven-year-old girl. Kemarie had a hard time parting with her and only let her go after we had her bring SRB to her new owner's car.

One last embrace.

As is Labor Day tradition, I joined a barbecue at a neighbor's house along with the McClellan family. While some of it was parents-talking-to-parents it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we lit a fire and enjoyed some s'mores.

Ivie trying to get as messy as possible.

I ended the night with the ward FHE where we had another fire and discussed the subtle differences in hugs. It was highly educational and we all agreed that a hug is not just a hug, especially when it comes to the double-pat or rub. Then again, we're all single so we obviously don't know how this courtship thing works.