Spring break: Day 6 and Goodbye

Yes, I can count and I noticed that it has been 20 days since my last post. I think it's been fairly well explained that I'm not great at being up to date on my blogging. Regardless I wanted to finish the story that I left as a cliff hanger. Most of you probably thought they stayed forever right? Wrong. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince them to move out here and they went home. But not before we had a fun Friday.

Side Note

Thursday was also Ky's last inspection of the semester for his ROTC Air Force program. His inspections are literally what they sound like; inspections of his dress blues and also they quiz him on important information he needs to know (i.e. the chain of command from President Obama right down to him). I would say about four times this semester I've had to use my OCD for good and lint roll the begeebees out of that uniform. It is solely during these moments that Ky has ever been more attentive to detail than I am.  

My mom had told me once that I should photograph Ky in his dress blues so she could see it. Well at 5:30am I got up with him to take a picture so I could show my mom. Guess what she never saw? Yup, the picture. But I found it among my other pictures of the week and thought "better late than never". So here it is; my handsome man in his Air Force uniform.

Spring break: Day 5

Now, this was arguably the most productive day because we got stuff done before and after I worked. Before work we went to 3 very important places. First stop, Bed Bath and Beyond. Disclaimer: after taking three separate trips to register there, and spending most of our beginning days in Provo shopping at BB&B Ky swore he would never return- so far he has kept his promise. Poor kid, shopping is a woman's game.

Bed Bath and Beyond brought many wonderful things into our home. For example, the BB&B here in Provo has a different entrance than the one back at home. It's covered in paintings of several different temples, not to mention numerous pictures of Christ you can choose from. Which is wonderful of course; just nothing we're used to since we've always lived in areas where the amount of Latter-day Saints does not make up a large percentage of the overall population in that area. A direct quote from both of my parents (which is impressive considering my dad and Alex stopped at Pet Smart before meeting us there- therefore these were two separate thoughts) was "wow, we really are in Utah". So anyway, moving back to the awesome stuff we got. We got a painting of the Portland, OR temple. Which will always be my favorite because that's where I got sealed to the love of my life for time and all eternity! Also, a non-stick pan and a cookie scoop. Not to mention a jewelry tree which I had been looking everywhere for and couldn't find. I would count this trip as very successful. 

Most beautiful temple ever made. Biased opinion, but still true. 

Then we ate lunch at In and Out Burger. Which by the way we decided is completely overrated but one cannot deny that they're OK hamburgers for a dang good price. But there's no excuse for the french fries. Gross. 

Last but not least we made a pit stop at Target for some light shopping. Really though, we only spent like 10 minutes there which any woman can tell you is a straight up miracle. I got two t-shirts that were on sale but more importantly... "The Goonies"! Shot in Astoria, OR and its surrounding areas. Also, cost me $4. Success. 

That evening was most definitely the highlight of the day because we went to downtown Provo to watch BYU's comedy sports. If I understand correctly, it's a comedy skit night where there are two teams of comedians. They have to do improvisations on stage with costumes and such; whichever team gets the most laughs and/or votes wins. Well we thought we were going to go see that but since we went Thursday night instead of Friday or Saturday, we just watched some good ol' fashioned stand up comedy. There were four gentlemen who performed and with each passing one, they got funnier and funnier. By the last guy we were crying and clutching our sides due to laughing induced side cramps. All of us agreed that we wish he had gotten the entire time to perform; he was a gem. 

To top it all off and really make it a fantastic day, we stopped for ice cream at the BYU creamery and then hit our house to watch the movie "Here Comes the Boom" with Kevin James. All in all a great day indeed. 

Spring break: Day 4

Now, at this point you might be thinking that I could have probably combined a couple of these days and minimized the amount of blog posts. Valid point, but I'm going to milk this vacation for all it's worth and individually blog each day. Why, you ask? Because Alex thoroughly enjoys reading my posts and the more posts I supply her with; the more time it buys me in between posts to come up with something awesome to write about. Yeah I know; I thought of that all by myself. 

Alas, I shall recount Day 4 of the great adventure that was known as the Porter family vacation to visit the Fishers in Provo. 

Day 4 was rough for me because my family did something awesome without me. They, along with Ky, went to the Salt Lake City Temple grounds and took a grand tour of not only that, but also the conference center. Lame sauce. Nonetheless, I will proceed to post pictures of this fantastic day. 

 

Alex and my dad in front of the main doors at the SLC temple. 

My parents, also, the SLC temple in all it's beauty. 

Let's pretend I took the picture. So I really did go, I was just behind the camera. 

So, we're going to talk about this picture a little bit. Ky and Alex like each other right? Or at least I think they do. This picture makes me smile every time I see it because there is a good foot or more in between them. This specified distance is always in between them. Something they have in common is their ability to not care is they're going against a social norm, as long as they are comfortable with the situation. For example; I will now recount an actual conversation I had with my sister:

Alex: hey guess what? Ky and I were home alone for 30 minutes while mom and dad picked you up, and we literally didn't say a word to each other.
Me: I'm sorry! Did you try to make conversation with him? You know, he does that a lot, even with me. He's a solitary creature and needs a little nudging every once in a while to talk. He doesn't even notice he's doing it.
Alex: Yeah yeah yeah, I don't actually care. You mistook me telling you as me caring that we didn't talk. It was nice, not awkward. I'm glad neither one of us feels like we need to fill silence with words. 

Strange people I tell you. Very, very strange.  

Spring Break: Day 3

Day 3 was nice and relaxed due to the fact that we were all tired, and were running out of things to do. I know right? After only 2 days in Provo. In Provo's defense, we ran out of things to do in the small amount of time we had before I had to go to work. Not a single one of us ever claimed we were morning people so sleeping in is treasured. What we did do that was much needed was get my laundry done. My whole family helped with the process. First, my mom and I walked over to the laundromat and put them all in. 40 minutes later, Alex and I returned to rotate the clothes through the dryer. Lastly, my dad and I returned another 40 minutes later and bagged them up to take them home. Seems like a mundane task, and it really is but I think it gave my parents a chance to reminisce about the "good ol' days" back when they were dirt poor like us. Another wonderful feature they reminisced about? Our lack of a counter. My mom did most of the cooking while they were here (bless her heart) and more than once I heard "if only I had some more counter space...". Welcome to my world. 

Spring Break: Day 2

After staying up way too late catching up over lost time, Monday was a rough day to try and wake up to. Day 2 started with a trip to the grocery store. What followed was an hour and a  half event that ended in us buying a lot of food. Sounds uneventful, and it was until we visited the Hispanic food grocery store called "Rancho Markets" located on State St. here in Provo. My mom was like a kid in a candy store in there- apparently they had really good food that is not found in any panaderia in Corvallis or it's surrounding areas. My favorite part was when we ate lunch there. We shared 8 tacos that consisted of carnitas, barbacoa, and something semi-spicy that tasted amazing. I enjoyed the jamaica most. For those who aren't familiar with this Mexican beverage, it's hibiscus tea (enjoyed most often cold) with tons of sugar to make it sweet. Mmmmm. 

image borrowed from www.casadelasolas.com 

I headed to work in the afternoon and left my parents and Alex in the capable hands of Ky. They toured BYU campus and saw all of the cool things it has to offer. For example, the science building has fossils of animals eating each other in a successive line. Pretty sweet huh? My dad made sure to show me the pictures and videos they took of everything they saw. 

(I wish I had a cool picture to insert here but as you read earlier, I was at work. My sincerest apologies. Just use your imagination.)

That evening my parents, Alex and I went on an adventure to Springville, UT to visit our good friends the Crystal family. They were in our ward back home but moved shortly before Alex and I graduated high school, so roughly 2008ish. Anyway, my dad made sure I knew he wanted to visit them when they got here so I contacted the lovely Sis. Crystal and we took a drive. It was so fun seeing them after four or so years. Their oldest daughter Natalie has an awesome blog, check it out here: naivenatalieparker.blogspot.com

We got home and promptly went to bed. Mind you this was mine and Ky's second night on an air mattress... and so the torture continued... 

Spring Break: Day 1

It's been over a month since I've written a blog post. My sincerest apologies, I'll get working on having a more interesting life right away. But recently I did have a very interesting and fun life; MY FAMILY VISITED PROVO!!! Both my parents and my sister Alex came and stayed with us for 6 days and it was awesome. Yes, it was pretty crowded in our tiny 2 bedroom apartment with an even tinier bathroom but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Today's blog post will focus on day 1 of their visit. Let us begin...