"Everyday"

tender mercy...

Buddy Holly's song "Everyday" came up on Pandora while I was at work today.  Every time I hear that song I immediately see daffodils in my head and it makes me so happy. It's all because of this scene from my favorite movie, Big Fish.  It's sort of embarrassing how many times I've seen that movie.  I think I was confused by it at first, so I kept watching it over and over so that I could make sense of the plot.  Then it sort of became my comfort movie and I'd watch it when I was sick or having a bad day.  Since it was my favorite movie I thought it was unacceptable if my friends hadn't seen it, like they wouldn't understand me if they didn't know about this movie, so I'd watch it again with each of them.....and now I can just quote the whole thing.  Seriously. Watch it.


thankful for...

I'm thankful that I finally found a white shirt to wear to Lexie's wedding Saturday!  Who knew it would be so hard?  Maybe I'm just a picky shopper.  Either way, Downeast ended up pulling through for me, which I wasn't expecting.  I think I was the only person who didn't own a white shirt -- they are too high maintenance.  Trying to keep them as white as when you bought them.  They start to look old really fast and I don't like that look.  But now I officially own a white shirt.  I'm accepting the responsibility.  I'm growing up.


made me laugh...

Sometimes I watch cat videos online.  Especially on Mondays so that I can get ready for Cat Tuesday with Natalie and Lexi (where we just watch more cat videos).  I watched this today.  The quality of the video is terrible, but it's incredible how hard I was laughing.  I stopped watching when that awful Smash Mouth song started though. :/

Spiral Jetty with Oliver Herring

thankful for...

Me and Camila at the Golden Spike

Wednesday, I got to go with my professor (the curator of contemporary art at BYU's MOA) Jeff Lambson, 5 other art students, as well as Mark Magelby and his wife Julie to the Spiral Jetty with artist Oliver Herring.  We were all piled in a 12 passenger van and drove to SLC first to pick Oliver up from the airport.  I was turned around in the van talking to my friend Liz, then got sort of carsick and forced myself to sleep the rest of the way.  We stopped at the Golden Spike (where I woke up from my nap) then drove just a few more miles to the Spiral Jetty.

The Jetty is an earthwork that artist Robert Smithson made on the edge of the Great Salt Lake in the early 70s.  I've been wanting to see it since I was a junior in high school and am thrilled that I can cross that off of my bucket list.

The Jetty was under about a foot of water, which made it hard to see.  I climbed down to the water, found a beautiful stone (I have an ever growing collection of rocks that are in random bowls around my bedroom) and got sand in my moccasins.  Then hiked back up to where I'd started and even further up this hill so that I could get a better view of the Jetty.  Every once in a while the wind would stop for a second and a small cloud would pass underneath the sun so that the glare on the water would go away and I could see the 9 shape of the Jetty.  We got a group picture and I got one with Oliver Herring.  Oliver showed us how great random plants smelled when they were squished in your fingertips.  Seeing the Spiral Jetty was a really spiritual experience for me, especially being there with people who value art as much, if not more, than I do. 

We stopped in Brigham City for dinner at the steakhouse Maddox.  I got the lucky seat next to Oliver at dinner and looked crazy when I ordered the one meatless option on the menu: grilled cheese.  The raspberry butter, homemade root beer, and coconut cream pie were to die for, so I can only imagine how wonderful the steak must have been.

tender mercy...

I was one of the last people to get back in the van after dinner and to my surprise, I got to share a row in the van with Oliver Herring.  I've really looked up to him for a while, so I was really intimidated and nervous to talk to him the whole two hour drive home.  We talked about grad school and different places to go (Hunter, Art Institute of Chicago, etc.) and he was full of amazing advice.  But I just couldn't stop smiling.  Which I think made him feel uncomfortable because he kept shooting these huge smiles my way that I could see even in our dark car.  And those just made me smile even more.  It was the same feeling that I had when I was in London with my artist friends.  It's hard to explain what it's like being around art and other artists.  Just peace and happiness.  It was exactly what I needed.


made me laugh...

Mark Magelby.  What a funny guy.  I remember that his art history classes were way over my head, but I enjoyed going to his classes because his jokes made me laugh.  Emily noticed during our dinner that I laughed at everything Mark said, whether he was making a joke or not.  I just have in my mind that Mark is funny, so I find myself just laughing at everything.  When we were getting in the car I laughed after one of Mark's comments.  Emily turned to me and asked if I had thought that what Mark said was funny.  And I honestly answered, "I don't know."  I couldn't even remember what he had just said.  Lol.


Oliver Herring gave a three hour lecture Thursday in my seminar class.  It held my attention the whole time (which is saying a lot about how wonderful he is).  Some of his videos are so incredibly profound, and suprisingly hilarious at the same time.  This piece was in the Mirror Mirror show in the MOA a couple years ago and it has stuck with me.  It was nice to finally meet the artist and to have him show this piece to me again.  I was literally inspired and laughing out loud the whole time.

Here is a clip from Art21 that talks about this piece.  I wish I could find the whole video. So perfect...

first day of school.

made me laugh...

This morning was my first day of 3D Design.  To make things better Brooklynn and Camilia are in my class. :)  After a couple powerpoints we headed back to the welder so we could each practice welding and get a feel for it before we have to start our steel assignment.  My professor walked over to the corner to cut a piece of metal.  Sparks shot all over, which was expected.  I think because my Dad is always doing stuff like that in our garage, and always has, (he usually asks you to hold something while those sparks are flying all over you) I didn't think anything of it.  But Camilia really wasn't expecting it.  She jumped back and immediately teared up.  I stood there with Brooklynn laughing like true friends while she wiped tears off of her face.  I would never expect someone to get so scared over that.  She was caught off guard.  It made my day.


thankful for...

I'm thankful for other artists in my life who I can text 20 times during the day with art project ideas and they text back and tell me how terrible or amazing they are.  It really helps.


tender mercy...

I had to run to the HFAC to sign a paper to get a key for my studio space.  Except I forgot it was 11am on a Tuesday....which is the most irritating part of my week.  Everything on campus shuts down for devotional (which I go to, on average, once a year).  But I got there right as she was closing the door and she let me hurry and fill out the paper anyway, even though I go in that office way too often asking her annoying questions. 

Today was also my first day of Ceramics.  We were throwing cups, which I've never done.  I guess I was having too much fun because I looked up at the clock after class had already ended.   I panicked for a second because I had to figure out what to do with the half finished cup on my wheel, clean up, and run to the MOA for class, within 10 minutes.  I obviously didn't make it.  I was 20 minutes late when I walked in the MOA, telling myself what a terrible student I am.  I hiked up the stairs only to find out that my class didn't start for another 40 minutes!  Tender mercy or just me being clueless? It doesn't even matter because I had time to get White Cheddar Cheez-Its and some juice before I was ON TIME to class. :)

London draft

made me laugh...

Today in English we all sit down and John tells us all to pick a number between 1 and 17. There are 17 of us so we all really have to pay attention so we don't pick a number that's already been picked. He tells us that we're picking numbers and he's going to put them into a function to change the order and that will be the random order that we workshop our essays in. We all go around and each have our number. Then we find out that the function is (x-7)+6. Which is just subtracting 1 from each number...and that is the same order. LOL I couldn't get over how funny this was. Who knows why we picked numbers...it's not going to work at all.

tender mercy...

I was able to catch up in one of my classes today. Just one. But that's one less that I'll have to think about tomorrow.

101 Days in London

I really was there for exactly 101 days.  Which makes me laugh for some reason.  I wrote down what I did each of those 101 days, but unfortunately I was a terrible blogger over the last few months so none of those stories made it on here.  I'm going to make a book out of my emails to go along with the two journals I wrote.  I already miss it so much but I've had a pretty great time just hanging out at home this past week.  I've seen friends, wrapped all of my presents, finished making presents, and getting ready for Christmas by putting lights up, decorating the tree and baking lots of cookies.  I've also done a lot of things that I missed when I was in London, like driving and eating Mexican food.  It does feel weird to not be taking pictures of myself having fun every day and constantly be on the go...but it's also very relieving.

Going to London was probably the best decision I've ever made.

Sunday in London

Since I've been in London my blogging has been pretty rare and even when I post something it isn't really following the three themes of my blog. I was told in my Living Prophets class a couple semesters ago about how if we picked out experiences each day that 1. made us laugh, 2. we were thankful for, 3. were a tender mercy from the Lord; our attitude about life would be so much greater. So here is today.


made me laugh...

There is a sign for "Dorking" on the way to church. And the house next to it says, " ... Butts" and it makes me laugh every time. It's so great that they're right next to each other.

My favorite part of today was sitting by Hillary in sacrament meeting. The High Councilman's talk was a little slow (but when I could focus it was really great....on tithing.) She turned to me and really quiet and serious said, "Is it okay if I tickle your back?" :) I couldn't help but laugh at her. She's too funny. She tickled my back and I think it helped both of us focus a little better. She's the best.


tender mercy...

My assignment for our group collaboration only took me like 5 minutes. I thought it would take a lot longer and it was nice to check it off of my list of things to do.

The laundry room door wasn't locked (it's Sunday so I thought it might be) and my clothes didn't get fried in the dryer tonight.


thankful for...

I'm thankful for the ward that I was assigned to here in London. I'm in the Peckham Ward and don't have any complaints! A lot of girls have to travel hours to their church meetings and have difficult callings. We leave an hour early, take the tube (which is usually pretty empty) to Elephant and Castle, and walk the rest of the way. It's been really nice weather every week and we take turns bringing cookies for the ride home. It's within our tube pass zone, so it doesn't cost me extra money either. I teach the YSA Sunday School class and they're all really great and comment a lot. Everyone is really happy and nice to us. There is one woman, Mary, who hugs me each Sunday and asks me how my week has been, which is nice too. I'm going to miss this ward when I get back to Provo.

alison esther.

I switched the name of my blog.
Eleanor Louise was the name of the goldfish that John gave me when I was 16 to ask me to Homecoming. I really loved the name and loved the fish, but it didn't even live that long and I figured it was time for a change. Plus it seemed weird posting under a name other than my own.
My blog is now Alison Esther. Because I'm Alison Esther.

pictures.

I've been loading these pictures for a week and a half now! Between crappy internet and even crappier blogger, I averaged 3 pictures a day...but I finally did it.

This is where I live.

This is my street.

This is the Royal Albert Concert Hall where we went for Proms.

This is me during Proms.

This is the Tower Bridge.
This is me walking off the Tower Bridge.
This is the Bourough Market.
This is the Thames End of Summer Festival on the bridge.
This is me later that night at the festival getting strawberries and cream for dinner.
Fireworks at the Thames.
This was my view from the bridge.

This is a bejeweled moose during London Fashion Night Out that I really loved.

Vogue Fashion Night Out with Camilia and Hillary.
This is me at the Chatsworth House on our Northern Tour. I loved all the pretty wallpaper.
This is part of the garden at Chatsworth. (My favorite place.)
This is Hadrian's Wall. It was rainy, windy and cold.
This is halfway up Arthur's Seat, where I stopped to rest.
This is the top.
This is where Harry was born.
This is the greatest hot chocolate from The Elephant House, in Edinbourgh.
Here I am writing on the bathroom wall.
This is the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
This is me on the top of the Edinbourgh Castle with Fran.
This is me sitting on a rock on my Lake District hike after Courtney found a scary snake.
This is a cute picture of Emily at .... Wordsworth's house?
This is me in the garden. It was raining a lot.
I'm standing in a lake in the rain.
I love these sheep so much.
Seriously.
The greenhouses at Kew Gardens.
The only room I liked in the Saatchi Gallery. Pretty much.

my metric system

thankful for...

I'm thankful that I was able to pay BYU for this study abroad already. It's been hovering over me since January on my financial center. And I saw it every day over the summer when I was checking to see if financial aid would ever go through. I like reading, "You have no outstanding charges at this time" when I sign in. That doesn't mean that I'm off the hook. I still owe $5,637 to people and in loans, but I'm thankful that I'm here and no one is getting after me for not paying my fee.

tender mercy...

I've had terrible luck with pens the past couple weeks. I brought 2 with me, lost one, the other ran out of ink. I went to every store and no one sold pens. Not even the books store, which I thought would be a winner. I finally went to an art supply store and bought a pen for 3 pounds. Way too much. That one broke when I used it to try and get toilet paper out of this wacky machine in our last hostel. I was still using the little tube of ink from the inside of that pen though for a while, which didn't really work. The night before last I went to Tesco and bought a 6 pack for 1 pound! And they work great! ... It's pretty important to have a pen when like 80% of your grade for the whole semester is based on your journal.

made me laugh...

Blaming everything wrong in my life on the metric system and pound conversion. This glue that I bought said "Dries Instantly," but obviously instantly means 30.48 hours in the UK. Peter said I need to spend 9 hours making art each week, but I'm interpreting that as US hours since it's 9 hours in Provo. I've been wondering why I feel so overwhelmed and I realized it's because I should only be doing 5.625 hours per week. It's a little backwards but I'm 94% sure I'm right about these numbers. I'm working on a new conversion chart now.

I've learned...

• There are Way Out signs instead of Exit signs.
• It can be 60 degrees outside and 110 in the tube.
• Road signs rarely exist.
• The White Van Man is out to kill.
• Look right first when crossing the street.
• Stand to the right on the escalators unless you're running up the stairs.
• Their coins are heavier and used more often. The 2 pound coin is my favorite thing.
• I'm either a good bargainer or a liar. Either way I saved 3 pounds on my watch.
• Nothing is cheap in Notting Hill. Whether the sign says Sale or not.
• Cheese is a big deal. It's all over the place.
• No one talks on the tube. I literally saw people playing charades the other day instead of just whispering to each other.
• There is no such thing as too much PDA in Europe. I have seen many hands up shirts.
• If you don't go through the self check out at the grocery store as speedy as possible the attendant will walk over and hover over your shoulder to make you nervous and speed you up.
  
• Everyone here loves animals because they are hardly seen. Stray cats always have crowds of people around them.
• Cookies aren't good here. The best ones are called Digestives. Which says a lot.
• Nothing is open past 11, which isn't normal for a big city. Come on London.
• Being in an elevator at the tube station with 30 other people is my least favorite thing.
• The candy bar wrappers don't give you a little summary under the name of what's in there. It's always a surprise.

First Day in Europe

thankful for...

I'm thankful for the cute old man that took me to my connecting flight terminal in Houston. He was headed to Guatemala and made sure that I was in the right spot before he went to get lunch.

tender mercy...

Xanax. I had the most relaxing, peaceful flight because of Xanax. I took two and was out like a light for my first flight. On my second flight I just stared at the movie screen. I watched Lincoln Lawyer and Backup Plan and some 30 Rock, while drinking Ginger Ale. I was even brave enough to unhook my seat belt to go to the bathroom.

When we got to the Centre I was super hot and sweaty from lugging my suitcase around. The London airport was a nightmare. I got off. Found a couple other girls. Got my suitcase. Easy peasy. Then didn't know how to get to the center. I got 50 pounds out of the atm (which is $82), when I only needed 10 pounds. I went to buy my Oyster card and couldn't tell them why I needed it or where I was going. 2 employees were trying to help me and finally another student just told them what I needed. Then I basically ran through the gate. It didn't open. I hadn't swiped the card I had just made a big deal to buy. I know the girls thought I was an idiot. Then there weren't elevators, so I had to carry my 50 lb suitcase, my 40 lb carry on and my 20 lb backpack up 2 flights of stairs. It wasn't fun.

We got to the Centre and unpacked. Then went on a 4 mile walk through lots of parks, to Buckingham Palace, and to see Big Ben. Then rode a double decker bus home. The red ones. I rode on the top.

zucchini bread

I made chocolate chip zucchini bread out of the zucchini that I grew in my garden! It was humongous. And the best part is that it surprised me. I didn't know anything was growing and one day I looked under one of those huge zucchini leaves and there it was! I measured it at 22 inches, but I like referring to it as my 2 foot zucchini. I made 2 batches of bread and had 2 bags left over that I put in the freezer!

family pictures

tender mercy...

Today I went shopping with my mom for an outfit for her to wear to our family pictures. We found her a super cute shirt and cardigan right in the nick of time.

thankful for...

I'm thankful that when I was walking around the house without my glasses on this morning, I noticed a dark spot on our dark carpet and decided to check it out instead of walking over it with my bare feet. And just to be clear, when I don't have my glasses on everything that's more than 2 feet away from my face is blurry, so the fact that I even noticed a spot is saying something. It was a spider. One of those huge, brown, hairy ones. I'm thankful that it didn't grow. For some reason I always expect them to when they're already big and scary. I'm thankful that there was a clear cup nearby that I could put over it and a screwdriver to weigh down the cup so he couldn't walk off with it. The clear cup is nice because I can check in on him to make sure he hasn't escaped (because obviously it would run straight inside my bed). However, I am not thankful that no one has volunteered to release this thing into the wild or kill it for me. I have to walk in a big U when I go in the basement to avoid accidentally knocking my trap over and having it jump on my leg... Otherwise that cup is going to be there until December 9th when I get back and have convinced myself it's safe.

made me laugh...

While we were taking family pictures today, we were trying to get baby Lola to smile. Rachel told us she likes the song "When you're happy and you know it." Immediately Mom and Sarah started singing at the same time. Baby started laughing and gave us some really cute pictures. Later the photographer sang a solo when taking a picture of our whole family to get her to smile again. It made all of us laugh, not just the baby.

I learned...

I learned that butterflies have tongues. Big, long ones that curl up when they're just relaxing and uncurl when they're sitting on my hand licking my ring.

When life hands you lemons...

I just want to say that I love my new background and I want everyone to love it as much as I do. I know it's one of the basic ones from blogger....but it's perfect. One time in high school I was at Grey Whale and saw a CD (maybe a sticker?) that said "When life hands you lemons, paint that shit gold." When I took Living Prophets they handed out a questionnaire on the first day of class. Everyday when we got to class the professor would read someones answers, we'd guess who the person was, and they'd say the opening prayer. I wrote this as my answer for "Favorite Quote". Needless to say, I never had to say the opening prayer.

I really did find it inspiring though. I still do. Maybe because I like painting. And I like gold things.

Gardening

After digging out grass, picking out rocks, assisting my dad while he built a box, finding dirt and peat moss, collecting bricks, unloading and arranging bricks, graphing out the space, hanging wire, planting seeds, making my plants name tags out of spoons, weeding, killing around 50 snails, and getting eaten by mosquitoes on multiple occasions... I've grown THIS.


I pulled that longer carrot and almost died; I was so proud. It's only like 4 inches. My lettuce, peppers and cilantro didn't make it, along with the marigolds (that were supposed to attract praying mantises to eat the grasshoppers). I did everything I could. I even read books before starting. I followed the directions on the back of the seed packages exactly. I went to a free gardening class on campus between classes one day. I sprinkled snail killer. If I'm lucky I'll get a zucchini before London. I can't help wondering if gardening is really worth it.

Those huge plants are the tomatoes we bought out of desperation. My beans are growing but haven't produced a single bean. The garden looks beautiful though. Maybe I shouldn't have treated it like an art project.

I see London, I see France...

Because I am going on a Visual Arts Study Abroad this fall through BYU!

We will be living in London with some weeklong trips to Scotland, Paris and some other sites around England. I am registered for 12 credits while I'm there. I'll be taking Creative Writing, Mixed Media (painting/collage), an advanced art class for my BFA where I’ll work on my own 3-D projects, a walks class (where we literally walk and see the city), and a religion course that will be taught by a local institute teacher. And since it is a study abroad for Art majors we will be spending a lot of time going to Museums and viewing architecture and gardens.

I leave on August 29 for 3.5 months but my only hold up is that I haven't earned the full $10,000 to go. I received a $2,250 grant and $1,386 in scholarships and have paid almost $2,000 just from working over the summer. I got a federal loan for $2750. But I still owe $1,350 before I leave.

The great thing about being a Visual Arts major is that I can offer original prizes for anyone who wants to donate to my semester abroad. Whoever places the biggest donation will receive first pick from the artwork I make while in London and then on down the list. I plan on doing a lot of sketches of places I travel and assemblage work with found objects. I will finish works when I return (clean up, make frames, etc.) and have each piece delivered before Christmas.

Denver

(Pictures coming......to make this post even longer)
thankful for...

Over the weekend I drove with John to Denver, CO to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and The Avett Brothers Perform at The Red Rocks Theater. I'd never heard of either of these bands when John bought the tickets back in March but after watching them perform live, they have both become favorites (especially The Avett Brothers).

We had some time to kill in Denver before the show so we got some lunch at The Hard Rock Cafe. It was the first time I'd ever been there but the 7th Hard Rock John has been to. We also drove around the city and had ice cream sundaes in front of a beautiful cathedral.

The day of the concert, July 9th, was our 1 year first kiss anniversary.


tender mercy...

We got out of the concert at 11pm. Sat in traffic waiting to leave the parking lot until 12am. Got on the freeway, stopped at the first exit with a gas station. It was super sketchy. The Gas Station was up this hill that was surrounded by trees. No one was inside and one of the windows was covered with cardboard. It was straight out of a horror movie. I was motivated to drive all the way home that night because I knew I was going to get as far from that building as I could.

We got back on the road just to get off on the next exit with a Wendy's. We weren't sure if that would happen anytime soon, so we settled for a McDonald's, got a snack (sugar, caffeine), said a quick prayer and were back on the road. It wasn't 15 minutes later before John asks, "How tired are you?" I wasn't very, so he pulled over so I could drive.

I hate driving on the freeway. I take Main to Spanish Fork and State to American Fork and haven't had a need to go further than that until we thought Denver was a good idea. But I definitely didn't want a sleepy John driving me home at 70mph, so I got in the drivers seat.

Everything was running smoothly for the first 5 minutes of my drive. I knew I wouldn't fall asleep because my nerves were wide awake.

I caught up to a truck following a semi. They kept braking so I went around them. The lines on the road were almost nonexistent so I was really having to focus to stay in my lane. Then it started raining. I have never driven in such darkness. There weren't any towns around so I couldn't see anything other than the tiny bit of road ahead of me that my headlights could light up. The rain even made those worse.

I was leading the way until 2 deer came up on the edge of the road. I freaked out and stepped on the brake not realizing the semi had caught up and was right behind me. He went around me without being rude or honking and I decided it was a better idea to follow him. I was feeling stupid for being such a terrible driver.

The truck had brighter headlights so he could drive faster than I could, he obviously had more experience on these roads, and most importantly, he had bright red lights all over his back, so I could follow those instead of the faint lines on the road. This was the biggest tender mercy.

I followed those red lights for almost 200 miles. In that time I was ordering John to play upbeat Beatles songs so that I could sing along. It helped me not be so nervous and kept me awake. I never took my eyes off of the red lights. I would stick my hand out and John would hand me M&Ms and my Coke when I needed them. We passed a lot more deer but none of them jumped in the road, another tender mercy.

The truck driver was really courteous. He would quickly get over if we passed someone stopped on the side of the road and he knew that I was following him. I'd see him brake and know that there was a bump in the road before I came to it. The red lights would disappear and I knew the road went down hill. He swerved, so I swerved, not seeing the dead deer in the road until it was a couple feet away from me. The darkness wasn't so powerful when I could read the road so far ahead of time.

It started to rain really hard and without thinking I slowed down and was then focused on catching up to my truck, which made the time go faster and kept me even more focused on the truck instead of how heavy my eyelids were.

Eventually we started passed city lights again. And my trusted truck took one of the exits. By then the rain had slowed down and the lines on the road were easier to see. There were even cars coming the other direction that revealed the twists and turns of the road ahead of me. I blew my truck a kiss and hope he's blessed for saving our lives that night.

We made it back to Grand Junction at 5am full of gratitude. My hands were stuck in a fist from clenching the steering wheel so hard for so long, and my voice was scratchy from my hours of nonstop singing. We quickly fell asleep, and woke up just as quickly for church 4 hours later.


made me laugh...

When we were leaving the concert we heard a guy shout out to his friends, "Ok, everyone have keys, cell phones, jackets, cameras..." John busted up laughing and said he was the best DD anyone could have. He was so on top of things!

John shimmying to MIA.

On the way to Denver John pointed out a sign for a town called Silt, CO and we thought it was a goofy name for a city. On the drive back to Grand Junction from Denver, I didn't have a good idea of how much time was passing while we were driving because I was so distracted by other things. So I was reading the names of the towns remembering when we'd passed them earlier in the day. We came to that city sign and I yelled out "Slit!" because I knew we were getting closer. We both busted up because I couldn't even read the sign right.


I learned...

• Vail, CO not only exists but is a major ski destination.
• Red Rocks is the best venue....seriously worth the trip.
• Avett is pronounced "A-vet"
  
• Never drive 5 hours through the night during a rain storm after a long concert.
• The US Mint is in Denver.

Summerfest

thankful for...

Last week I went to the Orem Summerfest with John. As soon as we got there we scanned to see what our dinner options were. We ended up with 2 quesadillas, 3 sodas, 1 giant scone, and 1 funnel cake. Carnival food makes me sick every time, but is so worth it.

For some reason I wasn't really into the whole Festival thing (we skipped out on the parade even though we had a great view thanks to the Orrs) that day and was just going to convince John we should watch a movie instead. We were standing on the edge of the park deciding what we should do with the rest of the night. It was 8pm. Fireworks started around 10pm. Instead of me convincing John to leave he ended up convincing me to stay. We split up and he waited in the ticket line while I waited in the Ferris Wheel line. Apparently we looked approachable because while we waited everyone was coming up and asking questions to us specifically...

made me laugh...

I looked over at John and saw this. He found this Orem Police sticker badge on the grass. I'm not sure why I found it so funny :)

We saw a few friends while we waited. The line was so long and slow. It was one of those things where you don't think you're moving at all but after 2 hours we finally did it. We got to the front of the line after shooing away 2 different groups of smooth talking line jumpers, taking a lot of pictures and writing fake lyrics for songs about carnivals.

There was a little Asian girl in front of us with her grandma (who I don't think had ever been on a Ferris Wheel before, because they were really excited). Every time the Ferris Wheel went around this Asian couple down on the grass waved really big and had huge smiles. They were waving at the little girl and grandma, but the ride went so fast that it looked like they were waving at us every time. I could NOT stop laughing! It really made the experience.



tender mercy...

We were the first ones on the ride so we went around really slow at first while everyone else was let on the ride. And then we were the last ones off so we went around while everyone else got off too. Before the ride started to slow down something really magical happened....the fireworks started. Yep, we had waited in line for 2 hours. The odds of getting in that line in the right spot so that we'd be on the ride with the best view of the fireworks is so crazy. We wouldn't be able to plan that if we tried. Especially because the ride only lasts 5 minutes anyway. We kissed at the top for good luck.I'm really glad we decided to stay. It was even better than the time I went to the Orem Fest with John 3 years ago...which I thought was pretty great.