V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N...Out in the Indy Sun!

I just got home from my trip to Indianapolis and Chicago. I had such a fun time! It was good to see family and friends and to get away to relax for a little while. We did a lot of fun things that made the trip so wonderful! I’ll tell about the Indiana trip in this post, and then I’ll tell about Chicago in the next one.

I got to Indiana last Friday night. Elizabeth and Russ greeted me at the airport with smiling faces and iphones with my name written on them. Good thing, I don’t think I would’ve been able to find them otherwise. They took me out to Red Robin, and afterward we went to their lovely home. It was so fun to go to their house because I finally got to see where they’ve been living for the last two years. They had the famous futon all set up for me with the softest sheets I’ve ever touched. I slept like a baby in that bed…

Bess and I did a lot of shopping while Russ was at school during the day. There were some great outlets where I found a lot of cute new summer clothes. I also found some hair accessories that will spice up my Tucanos uniform, thank goodness! We did a lot of sleeping in, because Bess wasn’t feeling well. She had a pretty bad sinus infection the first couple of days. She felt badly asking me to stay home with her, but I didn’t mind that one bit. That’s the point of vacation, right? I did a lot of Lost-watching and Facebook-stalking. They taught me how to play Settlers of Catan one night, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Oh and I won, how could I forget?

I also attended church with Bess and Russ where I met a very good looking young man (who was unfortunately a missionary), had a few offers for dates with younger brothers, and saw many, many cute babies. Russell gave a fabulous talk which he remembered at 10:30 the night before, and Elizabeth gave a lesson in Young Women that sent me to tears at least three times. Church was a definite 10/10!

We also went to the dental school at Indiana University where Russell is now a fourth year. He cleaned Elizabeth’s teeth while I did all of his data entry on Elizabeth’s plaque levels. Ok so maybe I just typed numbers as he said them to me. Whatever the case I felt quite professional.

My favorite part of the trip was meeting the Hollands. They are Bess and Russ’ best friends who live just down the street. Their sons M&M are the cutest. One of them had a little crush on me and managed to hold my hand one evening while we watched Wonder Pets. We also had some staring contests, although he was blinking the whole time. I don’t think he really understood the rules…We also had the chance to take care of their newborn baby boy, which was fabulous practice for when I will go to Ecuador.

We finished off the trip with a drive to Chicago. I really enjoyed it because we talked the whole time. No music or ipods, no movies or anything. We had a great conversation. They told me a lot about what serving a mission will be like, which I loved because I have so many questions. That was a thoroughly enjoyable drive!

Overall the trip was fabulous. I loved seeing Bess and Russ because it’s been a too long. It was hard to say goodbye but luckily they’ll be in Utah in a month or so to visit the family. Sure do love ya Bess and Russ! Thanks so much for letting me stay with you ☺.

It was sunny at Russ' softball game. We're pretty.

Such cute little boys! Loved spending time with them.

Positively delicious breakfast.

Stuck in Denver and Loving It!

I’m sitting in the Denver airport at the moment. I’ve been here for almost two hours on a layover from Salt Lake to Indianapolis. As soon as I walked out into the terminal I could see that this airport is not a small one. I remember that O'Hare was big but I always had Pops to help me around that one. Coming from Salt lake, I’m more accustomed to a smaller airport, with only a few terminals that are very close together. As far as I’ve seen, and maybe I’m wrong, there isn’t really a very high demand for moving walkways in Salt Lake. (I'll address my hatred for moving walkways in another post). In Denver these lazy-person-helpers run all up and down the airport, for what seems like a whole mile.

Side-note: Sometime during your next layover, sit where you can see the end of a moving walkway and watch people’s faces as they approach the end. Apparently moving walkways foster sheer terror from even the toughest of travelers. Keep a special eye out for women in heels.

Speaking of traveling in heels…why? Why would one make the conscious decisions to cause an already cramped, tiring, and uncomfortable experience to be even worse? Some women don’t even stop at heels. I have seen enough pencil skirts to stock five Banana Republics. I feel so badly that they have to sit on a plane with their legs crossed that particularly obnoxious way in order to stay modest. I mean we all know that it takes conscious effort to be modest in a normal skirt. Make it a pencil skirt and you’re done for.

I love airport bathrooms. Um…maybe that’s the wrong way of saying that. More specifically, I love to watch the women in bathrooms. Ok this is sounding super weird, stick with me! As many of us know, large bathrooms that you find in airports are often separated into sections: sinks, mirrors, and paper towels are on one side with the bathroom stalls on the other side. When I first walked in there were so many woman in the sink area that I thought I’d be waiting in line for at least ten minutes. But after further investigation on the other side of the wall I found that one stall was in use, leaving approximately 50 open. Why, you may ask? Women tend to dwell in areas with mirrors. Why it’s necessary to spend 10 minutes fixing your hair when you’re going to spend the next few hours crammed on an airplane is beyond me. Let’s just say I didn’t have to wait in line for the bathroom, but I had to wait in line for a sink, which was conveniently located directly below a mirror.

Denver has a fantastic mini mall in the middle of it. There are lots of fun stores that have all the Colorado things you could ever need. After browsing one of the gift shops, I discovered that I have a love for Native American jewelry. Those rocks sure are pretty…I thoroughly enjoyed my exploration of this miniature shopping extravaganza, although my fun came to an abrupt halt when I ran into some of the most realistic mannequins I’ve ever seen. And I say “ran into” in the most literal sense. I almost wet my pants I was so scared, just the recollection is making me shiver. I hate mannequins.

Essentially what I’ve discovered on my adventures is that every individual is so incredibly different. We all come from different walks of life that have molded us into who we are. If I had the time I would ask people to tell me their stories: why they are here, where they are going, where they are coming from, why they are going where they are going. You know...all that jazz. Unfortunately this would probably be socially unacceptable, so I’ll refrain. Just people-watching will have to suffice for now!

My Mama Llama

Even though Mother's Day was two days ago, I still want to dedicate this post to my very own Mama Zippi. She is an amazing woman and I am honored to be her daughter. Now I know that all of us think we have the best Mom in the world, and I think that's true that each of us has a Mom who is perfect for us. I couldn't have been placed in a family with a more perfect Mama. And I'm not saying she's perfect, because that would not make her happy. I'm saying that she is the perfect Mama for me, and all the other Ziplets. Llama, when you read this please keep in mind that I'm just telling it how it is. I promise that you are all of these things and more, so don't exit out of this window with any guilt-ridden thoughts. I know you have a tendency to do that...Ok now that that's out of the way, I can go ahead and tell the ten reasons why I love my Mama Llama Zippi:

1. Mama is so faithful. No matter what is happening in life, there is always hope that it will get better. She is a good example that if you are faithful, things may not turn out the way you want them but they will turn out ok and for the best.

2. Mama Zippi is spunky! I'm never embarrassed to have my friends over, in fact I wish all of them could have the chance to meet her. She is seriously cool.

3. Whenever I call to talk (which is probably a little bit more than necessary) she is always very patient and listens to me. And if we think about this logically, that means she is doing a LOT of listening. I know that I can be a chatterbox and I'm so grateful that she listens.

4. That woman can sew. If there was a superhero whos super power was sewing, Mama would be that superhero. Whenever I need something mended, she's on it. She makes the most beautiful quilts, aprons, tree skirts, purses, pillows, curtains...um basically anything. One time Buddy needed a mouth guard for football, so he asked Mom if she could quilt one. She did. They call her Supersewing Woman.

5. Mama makes me laugh...really hard. She and I have very similar senses of humor. Some might say that well, she gets me!

6. Mama is a good example of obedience. She has taught me that I must always obey with exactness. If you've been to my house, you've seen the scripture on the wall from Alma about the Army of Helaman. Don't worry, I can recite that baby from memory. And that's because my Mama's a good teacher and example, and she makes me want to be more obedient every day.

7. Another one of Mama's super powers is that she can appear instantly when you need her. Ok, maybe not instantly, but she does drop everything if you need her. Not only that, she can tell solely from a "hello" on the telephone that you're not doing so hot. When this happens, she gets in her car and essentially teleports to Provo, where she will subsequently take me to lunch and order me whatever I want (No, I did NOT get a double cheeseburger with a large fry and a supersized rootbeer, because that would be unhealthy, and really kind of gross).

8. She buys me things that have owls on them. I developed an odd obsession for owls last summer, and as a result she has found it necessary to purchase everything that has a hint of an owl on it. Thanks to my dear Mother, my owl collection has increased rapidly. And I love it!

9. My Mom is so forgiving. Sometimes I've made mistakes and haven't been as grateful as I should have been to her. Luckily for me, that didn't matter, and I know it never will. Thank goodness for her forgiving nature, or else I would be in quite a deep hole.

10. The thing that amazes me the most about my Mom is something that I realized just a few months ago: she is human. I know, mind boggling. Growing up, she was superhuman. But the older I get and the more I come to know her better, the more I realize that she is just like you and me. And that makes everything about her that much more incredible.

I want to be just like my Mom someday. She is one of my best friends, and I love her to pieces. I hope she knows that...maybe this post solidified things a bit. If not, I'm going to continue to do everything I can to thank her for raising me and being such a good example.

I love you my Mama Llama!!

Boys, this is what I expect.

The other day I went home to Alpine to spend the day with my dearest Mama Llama. Normally this entails sitting on the black bench in her tiny sewing room, occasionally rotating seats to fit one or two more daughters in the room, cherry picking the jelly belly jar that is only touched when I come home, discussing boys, school, and other important aspects of life, while intermittently giving opinions of her current sewing project, of which there are many. As she has said many times, "Why finish one quilt when you can start 3?"

During this particular visit, the wedding books that were purchased two years ago for Elizabeth's wedding were pulled off the shelf. We flipped through pages and pages of delicate and delicious-looking cakes, elegant wedding dresses, and bouquets of lovely flowers. Whether or not some girls are willing to admit it, I am ok with telling the world that I know exactly what I want my reception to be like. We'll save those details for another blog post, but for now just know that I have every minute detail planned out in my little noggin.

I came back to Provo to see my gorgeous roommate Annelise sitting in our room, and after she asked me what I did at home we started on a very long conversation of the details of our wedding receptions. At the end of this conversation, I realized that my mom and I had not covered one of the most, if not the most, important details of a marriage. The Ring.

We have now arrived at the reason for the post you are currently reading. Even though I know my ring will not be expensive (and I don't want it to be), I went to the one and only Tiffanys.com to look at their beautiful diamonds, although I don't think that the word "beautiful" even does them justice. Those rings are absolutely stunning. Some of them, a little old for me, but still breathtakingly dazzling. Initially I wasn't sure what kind of money Tiffany's was asking for in exchange for these shiny rocks, but I after very little surfing of this website I found that the lowest was $8,000. Just four semesters of tuition. That's all.

That shocked me. Don't worry though, there's more! I kept clicking through the pages, and prices kept going up, up, up. $32,000. The price of a used car, perfect for a college student such as myself. $58,000. An even nicer car. $105,000. The price of a house. $202,500. $325,000. $406,000. $695,000. $770,000. $1,500,000. Yes ladies and gentlemen, we just hit the millions. $2,100,000.

And the big whopper: $6,000,000. Mm hmmm. I promise you're reading that number correctly.

The picture you see above is that very ring. After running around my apartment screaming in astonishment, I sat down to think about who would actually buy this ring. A husband of one of the Desperate Housewives was about all I could think of, because I don't know anyone who would be comfortable or confident enough to wear that rock on their hand in public.

Disclaimer: If you're wearing that very ring as you read this, I'm sorry for any awkwardness that you may feel. Although, if you'd like to go out to lunch sometime and show it to me while we're there, I would really appreciate it, because let's be real. As gaudy and tacky as this particular ring may be, diamonds are a girls best friend.

Count. Down.

I realized quite suddenly today that I have a lot of things to look forward to in life, more specifically this summer. The next few months are going to be very eventful, and I decided that a count down is the optimal way for me to harness my excitement, and maybe understand that during the days leading up to these fun things I need to actually do something productive with my summer. Since most of these things take a great deal of preparation, a sense of the reality of their speedy approach will be beneficial. I'm finding myself in the unfortunate predicament of wishing my life away/not living in the moment/wanting something I can't have. Take your pick. Whatever the case, I want everyone to know how many days there are until these things that are guaranteed to make me very happy. There are:

123 days until I leave for Ecuador.
19 days until I get to see Elizabeth and Russell in Indianapolis.
24 days until I get to see the one and only Stefanie Zimmerman.
41 days until I run my Half Marathon.
118 days until I run my Marathon.
70 days until I receive my Group Fitness Instructor Certification (this, unfortunately, is merely an approximation).
131 days until my half birthday (I don't really care that much about my half birthday, but I wanted more stuff for the list).
113 days until Foundation of Leadership.

As you can see by its placement on the list, my trip to Ecuador is definitely causing me the most excitement. Until then though, I need to save $5,000, get in good enough shape to run 26.2 miles, and spend a lot of time reading excessive material involving muscles and kickboxing. Please feel free to pray for me so that I can get all of this done. I'll need it! Thank you for joining me in this oh-so-enjoyable list of count-downs.

Do you cry in movies? Apparently I do...

I just finished watching Charly for the first time. I know, I know..."You've never seen Charly??" Nope. But I've repented and I watched it. Granted, doing this in complete solitude when I'm already extremely tired (therefore posing a major threat to my emotional stability) probably wasn't the best idea. But hey, what's done is done. I've got to be frank, the acting wasn't my favorite. The story line on the other hand? Let's just say my blankie is a bit moist because I didn't come prepared with the tissue box. I cried like a baby!! A top notch production, I must say.