Gizoogle

Same post, transformizzled by da powa of gizoogle.com
...Fo all you wanna be gangstas.

The ABC Game...and no, I'm not rapping `bout gum here


So, I totally stole this fizzle mah homie Marianne, but I thought it was nizzy (phrase should be said in tha same way you'd say, "We is tha same height--that is nizzy.)

A-Attached or Single? Single, n whizzay a beautiful thing it is ta be like this and like that and like this and uh. I bought food fo` me fo` tha F-to-tha-izzirst tizzle yesterday ya feelin' me?. It was liberat'n in a new sort of way so sit back relax new jacks get smacked.
B-Best Homie? I hizzle loads of 'em: Adrienne, Charise, Rebecca, R-to-tha-izzick, Andrea, Mom, Jeff...ok, maybe that's not "loads" but I fizzy like I am blessed wit a healthy stock of thugz who love me. :)
C- Cakes or Pie? Pie, preferably made witout a food processor so as one may not enta tha rizzy of doggy stylin' one's index finga ta shreds in tha dogg pound. (Trust me on this one.)
D-Day of Choice? Hmm, Monday? I usually feel funky n refreshed fizzy oversleep'n on tha weekend.
E-Essential Items? J-to-tha-izzohn Poser album Continuum,honey n oat granola bizzars, chacos, n cizzay phone.
F- Favorite color? Coral n a funky turquoisizzle green. I'm obsessed.
G-Gummy Bears or Worms? Like, earth worms? Yo!
H-Hometown?Highland, UT. Preferred hometown? Da ghetto Highlands of Scotland.
I-Favorite Indulgence? Expensive almond granola bar fizzle BYU bookstore wit Ocean Spray grapefruit juice . Aint no L-I-M-I-to-tha-T. I git 'em gangsta every exam as a reward...and sometizzles jizzle whizzay I feel like it too. OooOOoo, also good: chocolate covered cinnamon bears--Drop it like its hot!
J-January or July? Wiznell, tizzle depends. Am I snowboard'n or hik'n�?
K-Kids?Kids is very cute, n expensive. I'm not quite blingin' enough...but someday whiznen mah teacha's salary kicks in....dang!
L-Life isn't complete witout? Religion, Family, Health n Education...and Chocolate...and possibly John Mayer.
M-Marriage Date?
 Seriously? People go on dates where tha activity is ta git married? Is that everyone's big secret in Provo. Sheesh, I sure missed tha memo on that one . Aint no stoppin' this gansta female.
Rizzy answa�? Hell no.
Pimp of brotha n sista�? Preface: I'm not ly'n� fo yo. 8 brotha n 6 beautiful sista�. We is a pretty hot family. Included in tha hot bunch is 4 swiznell step bros and all, mah mom did not have all 15 of us, J-to-tha-izzust a healthy amount of 11 . Death row 187 4 life.
O-Oranges or Apples? Fo rizzle?
P-Phobia n Fears? I'm afraid of tha dizzark, whizzich means I am afraid of all monstas (unda tha bizned, in mah closet, steppin' outside of mah door. I hizzle ta kneel on mah bed wizzle I say mah even'n praya...and yes, I am 21.) I'm also afraid of ghosts, werewizzles wolves, mackin' wit fangs really, tha devil, cellulizzles zombies (let's not even rap `bout tha movie "I Am Legend.") Bizzay thankfully I am NOT afraid of baller. They're quite lovely.
Q-Quote?This one really fits mah situation as of late with my forty-fo' mag: "I hope life isn't a joke, coz I D-to-tha-izzon't git it." --Jack Handy
R-Reason ta smile? My birthday in next Monday!! Which means tin fizzle dinna n Bunco up tha canyon wit mah family!!!
S-Season of choice? Summa--no contest.

T-Tag ten people? No. Dag yo.
U-Unknown fizzle `bout me? Fizzay . Hollaz to the East Side: contrary ta popular belief I like stylin' some movies (they mizzle be of H-to-tha-izzigh historizzles or comical quality) n I also like stylin' video games...ok, jiznust mario cart n guitar hero, but video games, neverthizzles.
V-Vegetable?
Artichokes--they makes blingin' so piznosh.
W-Worse habit? Facebizzle is tha ultimate time-suck'n black hizzy of crazy gansta surf'n doom!!!
Y-yo favorite food? I really love all food, but some favorizzles is Mom's twice baked potatoes n corn flakes chicken, Rick's Thai curry, Brotha Bueno Bars, Betos' Bacon Breakfast Burritos (izzle tizzy 10 times fast), anyth'n Rachel n Cheryl make, n Cadbury chocolate fo gettin yo pimp on.
Z-Zodiac Sign? Canca....yeah, I'm pretty crabby. ;)

The ABC Game...and no, I'm not talking about gum here

So, I totally stole this from my friend Marianne, but I thought it was neat (phrase should be said in the same way you'd say, "We are the same height--that is neat.)

A-Attached or Single? Single, and what a beautiful thing it is to be. I bought food for myself for the first time yesterday. It was liberating in a new sort of way.
B-Best Friend? I have loads of 'em: Adrienne, Charise, Rebecca, Rick, Andrea, Mom, Jeff...ok, maybe that's not "loads" but I feel like I am blessed with a healthy stock of people who love me. :)
C- Cake or Pie? Pie, preferably made WITHOUT a food processor so as one may not enter the risk of slashing one's index finger to shreds. (Trust me on this one.)
D-Day of Choice? Hmm, Monday? I usually feel nice and refreshed from oversleeping on the weekend.
E-Essential Items? John Mayer's album Continuum, honey and oat granola bars, chacos, and cell phone.
F- Favorite color? Coral and a nice turquoise-ocean green. I'm obsessed.
G-Gummy Bears or Worms? Like, earth worms?
H-Hometown? Highland, UT. Preferred hometown? Highlands of Scotland.
I-Favorite Indulgence? Expensive almond granola bar from BYU bookstore with Ocean Spray grapefruit juice. I get 'em after every exam as a reward...and sometimes just when I feel like it too. OooOOoo, also good: chocolate covered cinnamon bears--oh boy!
J-January or July? Well, that depends. Am I snowboarding or hiking?
K-Kids? Kids are very cute, and expensive. I'm not quite rich enough...but someday when my teacher's salary kicks in....
L-Life isn't complete without? Religion, Family, Health and Education...and Chocolate...and possibly John Mayer.
M-Marriage Date?
 Seriously? People go on dates where the activity is to get married? Is that everyone's big secret in Provo. Sheesh, I sure missed the memo on that one.
Real answer? Hell no.
N-Number of brothers and sisters? Preface: I'm not lying. 8 brothers and 6 beautiful sisters. We are a pretty hot family. Included in the hot bunch are 4 swell step siblings...so no, my mom did not have all 15 of us, just a healthy amount of 11.
O-Oranges or Apples? Yes?
P-Phobia and Fears? I'm afraid of the dark, which means I am afraid of all monsters (under the bed, in my closet, lurking outside of my door. I have to kneel on my bed when I say my evening prayers...and yes, I am 21.) I'm also afraid of ghosts, werewolves, wolves, anythings with fangs really, the devil, cellulite, zombies (let's not even talk about the movie "I Am Legend.") But, thankfully I am NOT afraid of spiders. They're quite lovely.
Q-Quote? This one really fits my situation as of late: "I hope life isn't a joke, because I don't get it." --Jack Handy
R-Reason to smile? My birthday in next Monday!! Which means tin foil dinners and Bunco up the canyon with my family!!!
S-Season of choice? Summer--no contest.

T-Tag ten people? No.
U-Unknown fact about me? Fact: contrary to popular belief I like watching some movies (they must be of high historical or comical quality) and I also like playing video games...ok, just mario cart and guitar hero, but video games, nevertheless.
V-Vegetable?
 Artichokes--they make everything so posh.
W-Worse habit? Facebook...it is the ultimate time-sucking black hole of cyber surfing doom!!!
Y-Your favorite food? I really love all food, but some favorites are Mom's twice baked potatoes and corn flake chicken, Rick's Thai curry, Kinder Bueno Bars, Betos' Bacon Breakfast Burritos (say that 10 times fast), anything Rachel and Cheryl make, and Cadbury chocolate.
Z-Zodiac Sign? Cancer....yeah, I'm pretty crabby. ;)

A Brand New Colony

So a fellow in our office had a pretty bad fever yesterday. I just ran into him on my bathroom break and he seems to be doing well. Our bodies are so strange. 103 degrees yesterday and now he's feeling peachy-keen. Reminded me of the time I was about seven and Mom was out of town and I got a high fever. Cheryl took on her natural role as the caregiver and offered me toast and steaming Jello to eat. She took my temperature, which was 104 and immediately talked to Ryan. I learned in my CPR and First Aid certification class that once your temperature gets to 105-106 you start experiencing brain damage. As I weakly lied in my pink bed in the girl's room downstairs, Ryan gave me a blessing. I don't remember too many details after that, but I know I drifted off to sleep sometime soon and felt much better the next morning, as my had fever subsided. Although I don't remember a lot of details from this memory, I do remember the feelings; the healing power of the blessing and the love of my siblings, Cheryl and Ryan, the two people in my family who I consider to have the gifts of comfort and healing. I really miss Ryan, and Genene. In a perfect world we could establish our own little colony with our family. Ryan, Clay, and Ryan G. could be the doctors. Dave Southam and Kelly would oversee our colony's finances and Dave would also help with construction developments. We would have gorgeous grounds, thanks to Jason, Shaun, and Darrell, and David could arrange all of our out-of-colony excursions. And Daniel? Shoot, he could do anything! Marty could keep all of our kids spiritual and Emily could teach them music theory. We'd have some amazing musicians. Christy will keep our houses smelling sweet and our scrapbooks a comin'. Kim, of course, would be our building designer and decorator--our buildings would be stunning. Genene could run the gym and teach the gymnastic and aerobic classes and the yoga and biking classes could be Andrea's. Rachel could be our chef and artist--we would eat like kings! Kris Anne and I would keep the young'ns educated and literate and during my time off, I would take to gardening with Mom. Neil could be the great story teller--the one the kids would gather around during bonfire festivals to hear legends and folklore. No question that our cars would all run soundly--our family's just brimming with skilled handymen. Greg could teach us all to be bilingual, in Spanish and English, and trilingual in humor. Heather could be in charge of the athletics; volleyball would be a must. And Maren, she's like Daniel: she could do anything and do well. But, I'd place her in the school with me and Kris, and I'd also put her on the party planning committee, and generally put her wherever I would be because then we could hang out all day. Debbie's family would naturally be part of our colony. Her kids would keep us entertained with their plays and speeches and concerts. And Debbie could take a load off of her feet and just hang out by the pool, sipping a cold glass of Pepsi. Heidi could be in charge of importing hot Hawaiian boys for me and Andrea to date, and then she could take a load off of her feet as well and join Debbie by the pool. I'd place Mom by the pool too, but I know she would get restless and start working on project or another and leave the pool--plus, she hates the heat.
While we probably couldn't provide our colony with ever resource, I can think of a few resources that would be vital to our survival as a people: food and music. We would have acres and acres of field and pasture and then we could put all the grandkids to work (ok, not in any sort of child labor way. We'd give 'em water breaks every ten hours or so...) and teach them the art of farming: the crisp coolness of June mornings before the sun comes up, soft dirt under your fingernails, the sun on your neck, the smell of cut grass, the dry itchiness from powdering corn, and the satisfaction you feel when the sun is going down and you can set down to a cool glass of water or lemonade after a long day of work. Or better, sitting down to a homegrown Sunday dinner: red potatoes, cucumbers with vinegar and salt, cherry tomatoes, corn, beans, and steak from the beef cow that was once so lovingly our pet.
I miss the simple life. I miss my childhood. But most of all, I miss my family.

Arizona at last

The mission statement at Anasazi is "to prepare parents and children to turn their hearts to one another, begin anew, and walk in harmony in the wilderness of the world." As employees, they ask us to live by the same standards we require the YoungWalkers to live and to also participate in turning our hearts towards our families. Consequently, you should all be expecting a whole heck of a lot more phone calls from me this summer, and I have also decided to revamp my dust ridden blog. I have really missed you all so much already. There's no one I want more after a long, hot, cactus-infested day in the desert than my family and especially my mother. I love the job so far, but really miss our weekly get-togethers. I'm excited to see everyone when I make my visits this summer.
Work has been going well--just a lot of training so far. We spent the first three days of training "on the trail" in the north-east Arizona wilderness. We went through a few varying desert climates on our way up to our camping location, gathering supplies from fallen vegetation and learning which plants were useful, edible, medicinal, and deadly. While we were cutting down the stalk of a yucca plant for fire boards a carpenter bee flew out. Inside the stalk was a rich deposit of desert honey, which is a bit grainier in texture but just as good as honey. I'm learning that even in the desert, there are endless resources available to us. I'm also quickly learning that cacti spines are unpleasant in toes and that clothing is the best kind of sunscreen around. I can happily report zero sunburns--thanks to my long sleeves and wide brimmed hat. Thanks for the years of advice, Mom; it has finally sunken in.
During our three days of outdoor training we went to work with our knives and machetes, making our fire sets, bows, knife sheaths, digging and rabbit sticks. It felt like I was back at the Walker Rendezvouses with the Southams--we even use good old fashion cow pies to start our fires. I love it.
One of the greatest highlights was finding wild mint on the edge of a small stream and wild mustard growing in our camp site. I was able to make a delightful minty drink before I went to bed.
The hardest part of the three day training was the dehydration I experienced on the first day out, while collecting resources for the making of our tools. I thought I had been drinking enough liquids and I had even boughten a large Gatorade for the car ride up. But after a couple hours in the Arizona heat my body began to sweat and feel sluggish and my head began to pound. Just a short while after these symptoms started I started to feel like I was going to throw-up: a true sign of dehydration. The field director explained to us how we could evaluate the level of our hydration through a pulse check and also the things we needed to do to stay hydrated. I began hydrating myself right away, after discovering that I was three quarts short of hydration. I felt sick for a couple hours after that, but once the water and food sunk in, my energy and spirits were fully restored. Through this experience I quickly learned the importance of water. I learned that I need to be drinking water not casually and lightly, but that I need to be drinking frequently and deeply. A sip here and there is not enough. Reading my scriptures the next day I came across a passage that refers to Christ as the living water. It struck me then that the same principle I learned about water's role in my physical survival the day before was applicable to my spiritual survival as well. I think too often I have drunken the living water casually, taking small swallows here and there. The world is a deadly place for spirituality and Satan is everywhere, setting up traps and ambushes and beguiling us with his deceitful promises of survival and guidance. In the desert, if I am dehydrated I cannot perform my responsibilities. Eventually, I cannot even function and perform the tasks vital to my survival. Without the living water, without Christ, without the Atonement, and without the Gospel, I cannot survive the wilderness of the world and I cannot perform the service God has asked of me. We need to partake of the living water, but not just casually. We need to drink frequently and deeply in order to hydrate our souls.

Government Health Warning

DO NOT SWALLOW YOUR CHEWING-GUM

See what happens?

This really brightened my day at work. *Giggles*

Firenza and Venezia

I woke up this morning to shouts and whistles blowing outside. I ran over the the window and looked out over the grand canal here in venice, where I saw countless boats full of protesters. I don't know Italian, so I'm not sure what they are protesting, but I think it could have something to do with the train strike that has been going on for the last few days. We were lucky yesterday to have gotten tickets on a european railway that wasn't on strike. We met a family who had been stranded in Florence for days because the train they were supposed to have caught was refusing to run. Ann and I waited in line last night at the train station to reserve a ticket to Geneva, so we should be good to go to Switzerland today. We've been so greatly blessed on this trip and we are sure that the hand of God has been in our travels. There have been so many wonderful people who we have met along the way. During ride from the London temple to the Stansted airport, our cab driver had a lot of great questions to ask about the LDS church. He had been driving members to and from the airport and temple for years and no one had ever said a thing. We did our best to answer his questions and at the end of the drive we gave him one of my travel Book of Mormons and he promised us he would read it. He was so excited to hear that families could be together forever. We'll follow up on his progress for sure. We also met this great German man yesterday who is is Venice for teacher training. He teaches people how to increase their conficence, self esteem, and self awareness. He was telling us that the structures of our faces and body are reflective of our personality traits. He read my personality dead on. It was pretty neat.
Florence was so beautiful. We stayed at a camping site just 45 minutes outside of the city. It was probably the most posh camping site I've ever seen. All the beds were inside very spacious and clean dorms, there was a market with fresh fruit, bread, and cheese, and their was the cleanest pool I've ever had the priveledge to swim in. I, of course, got fried and I now look like a human sized lobster-doh! I have the lyrics of that song resonating in my head, "and remember, to always wear sunscreen." In Florence we went to the Ufizzi museum which had some AMAZING art-Boteccelli, Da Vinci-you name it, it was there. We also had the delight of eating mounds of gelato, which has become a daily ritual.
Venice is insane. There are so many tourists here. It's annoying, but I am one of them, so I guess I shouldn't complain. There are shops on every corner, all full of glass blown items and masks. The streets are so windy, it becomes easy to get lost. Yesterday we were lost for a good four hours, but we enjoyed the shops and gilato while we were at it. If you're going to get lost anywhere in the world, do it in Italy.
Well, it's my birthday. I had a dream last night that Rachel had her baby on my birthday-which I hope is an omen of truth. How sweet would that be? But then I also had a dream that McKenzie almost drowned, so hopefully all my dreams won't come true. McKenzie, please swim safely. I ate cake for breakfast, and Ann's going to treat me to some gilato (surprise). It's crazy to be twenty-one. Now it's time for all the questions to start...meh.
Anywho, I hope all is well at home. Lindsey, Happy Birthday! I'm so glad we share such a sweet day together. Rachel, get crackin' on that baby!
I send you all my love from Italia!
Love,
Ev

ROMA!

We've had a crazy trip to europe so far...what with flight delays, overbooked hostels, and exploding conditioner, but at the end of the day, we've seen the pantheon, colosseum (i could almost see maximus rising from the dust), the trevi fountain, and bundles of other amazing sites and ruins...bundles! Rome is incredible-spectacles on every street corner. i fell in love with london, but that was just puppy love. i think this is the real thing. !Roma, ti amo! Andrea, all those hours studying for humanities paid off...well, at least for me...even if we had to put up with jon...i mean, al. hehe. Tomorrow we're headed to the vattican city, and it's so big, we'll probably spend the whole day there.
I wanted to draw everyone's attention to the pictures in the previous post. i hope you all noticed the corn ice cream...martha stewart would be proud!

hope all is well at home!
much love,
ev