Alaskahhhh

I went to Alaska! My dear friend Allie's family moved from Portland to an Eskimo village while she was on her mission. No kidding, a legit Eskimo village where the people don't have running water a lot of the time and they have to get there by a little 6 person plane. A couple of months ago, her mom messages me asking if I'd like to come and surprise her in AK. I've never been there, so a hop over another country later, I find myself already encountering Alaska weather. About an hour from Anchorage, where I was supposed to land, the pilot gets on his intercom and explains that the winds in Anchorage are so bad, they had to evacuate the flight control tower. Apparently, they were clocking winds at over 100 mph. So for safety's sake, we landed in Fairbanks, just an hour more north. Well, an hour of flight, but 6.5 hours of driving north of where I needed to be. It's the beginning of September, people! And I had a no so great experience with that, but this is a happy post, so I'll write about that later.

my day spent in Fairbanks after a sleepless night

Fairbanks, AK

I finally get to Anchorage Wednesday night after a day in Fairbanks and instead of me running to her coming out of the gate, she runs to me. I was bummed that the surprise was kinda ruined, but it was so fun to see her, anyways! Since it was late, we hung out at the hotel and talked and I showed her how to do things on her iPhone and we talked some more while she got on Facebook for the first time in a year and a half. It was like no time has lapsed, but at the same time, we are different and grown up, so it's different, too.

Thursday, we did some post-mission doctors stuff and I got to see Anchorage in the day time. Flying into Alaska, it looked like the tundras that you see on "Planet Earth." I know you watch "Planet Earth," too, so you know what I'm talking about. It was still pretty windy and just about as cold as I expected it to be (like late fall, even though it's summertime). Anchorage is the biggest city in Alaska, but there aren't that many people and it's not very big, so that'll give you an idea of how tundra-esque this state is. The people remind me of small-town southern people. It's just pretty and quaint and the people are nice.

ain't no fear in the last frontier 

We had lunch at this spunky little bar and grill downtown called Rum Runners.  I ate some yummy salmon chowder in a bread bowl.

We had a tour on a trolley of the city and here are some things that I learned and found interesting:
1. There are about 2,000 moose in the Anchorage area, which means about 1 moose per square mile.  Now, it was my #1 goal while I was in AK to see a moose, so I pretty excited about that.
2. We drove across a landing strip for the airport.  A LANDING STRIP. WHERE PLANES LAND. AND WE DROVE ON IT.  Apparently, you just have to look both ways for a plane.
3. They refer to us down here as the "Lower 48."
4. AK is the #1 consumer of ice cream in the US. No one knows why, but I thought that was just odd that it beat out, like, hotter places, ya know?
So post-tour, we ate some ice cream and I met Sarah Palin while we were at it.

downtown 

I met a bear

Then we hit up the Anchorage Museum.  They had an exhibit from the Smithsonian about the tribes of Alaska and had some cool artifacts.

I wish I saw a live moose up close, but this would have to do until I saw one the next day.

pretty museum exterior

For dinner, we ate at The Peanut Farm Restaurant, which isn't a farm and I didn't see any peanuts, but it had a cool view of the river and yummy food.

That night, I took Allie to her first movie since being back from the mish.  We chose to see "Brave," since that's pretty mild.

The next morning, before our flights, we drove up to the cabin we were going to stay in before the power outage and got this great view.  Oh, and I saw a real moose on the side of the road on the way up (no picture :( )

houses spotting the hillside 

view from the cabin--the inlet is on the top left--what a view! 

Although it was a short trip, it was so fun to see Allie and get an Alaskan experience!

Close Encounters of the Eight-legged Kind

Last week, I got into my car to go pick up a friend for a YSA FHE activity. I shut my door, put on my seatbelt, glanced towards my mirror to look before I backed up and froze. On my side mirror, just separated by a thin sheet of glass, was the biggest spider I have ever seen in person. I sat in a panic wondering if I should call my brave little sister aka the killer to take out the spider. But then I thought, "No that's ok. I will drive fast enough for it to fly off." So I started to drive to my friend's house. The whole way, I wa hyperventilating and whispering under my breath "I'm gonna die I'm gonna die." AND IT DIDN'T FLY OFF. On the contrary, it started to climb. Ok, stationary huge spiders are scary but moving huge spiders are nerve-shredding. Am I right, am I right?
So I get to my friend's house and wonder if I should call HIM to come out and save my life, but I hadn't seen him in awhile and so I didn't want to look like an idiot. Instead, I nonchalantly on the way out his door asked if he was afraid of spiders. He was like sort of but why and I was like BECAUSE THERE IS A HUGE ONE ON MY CAR AND MY HEART IS STILL RACING SO KILL IT OR HELP ME BURN MY CAR. And he was, like, chill out woman and he killed it with his shoe. Lucky for you guys, we lived to tell the tale.
Ok guys, there are stories out there in the news about a new species of orange spider in Oregon and the spider was orange, so don't judge my freak out.
I have a picture taken at high speeds to prove it.

fun friday things

1. This is a recording of a father interviewing his two little girls about the worst haircut ever.  The 5 year-old decided it was a good idea to cut the 3 year-old's hair.  It's so cute and made me LOL. lol brb ttyl

http://www.prx.org/pieces/73865-two-little-girls-explain-the-worst-haircut-ever

2. I thought this was clever.

http://www.dump.com/parentsrap/

I hope I'm this cool of a parent some day.

Mormonism In America

I have this theory that any publicity for the LDS church is good publicity. It draws attention to our beliefs, whether it is accurate or not, and then questions are asked. For any religion/cause/movement it is good to have people who have no knowledge ask questions because they can know true answers. Having said that, there is a footnote to my theory. You need to ask the questions to someone who knows what they're talking about.
This goes for the CBS featurette that aired tonight called "Mormons in America." There were interviews that I liked because they were with actual members of the LDS church. And there were things said by non-LDS members that I was unhappy about, especially that Abby Huntsman chica. You don't ask ex-wives about their views of their former husbands, so why ask ex-Mormons about their views on the Church? If you want the truth, don't ask the people who don't believe in it. But, once again, we as honest viewers have been subjected to uncomfortable untruths promoted by prominent figures in society to further selfish causes.
Also, you missed some things about Mormons in America (recent--and positive--things, I might add):
1. Missionary work. We are not a "mystery" church. We have thousands of members going out to spread the word, so to speak. It doesn't have to be a mystery to people outside of the church. Just ask us and we're happy to answer! We can even send real missionaries right to your door who love to talk about the Church.
2. Humanitarian work. We are one of the leaders in humanitarian work for America and the world. We don't just help our members, like the show said. For example, we were the first on the scene of Katrina and Haiti.
3. We are not secretive; we are sacred. Referring to the part about walking across the street to St. Patrick's and just being able to walk in, but we are old fashioned and don't let anyone into our temples: First of all, anyone can enter our meeting houses, which are essentially what cathedrals are. Secondly, my mom had a good point about just walking into cathedrals. When we were visiting Sacre Coeur in Paris--a well-known public church--there were tons of people walking into this supposedly important religious space. People knew that it was holy to some, and we saw people praying in the pews and paying homage to the saints. Even so, people we disrespectfully loud and obnoxious. We couldn't figure out how these worshippers were able to feel spiritual or have a peaceful time to pray because people were so noisy! THAT is why we don't let just anyone walk into our temples; they are sacred to us and we like to be able to feel spiritual in peace and serenity. And you need to prove that you are willing to fully participate and take it seriously. Sacred isn't a word you don't hear too often, anymore, but we take it seriously.

Some things that bugged me:
1. "The Book of Mormon" musical. Why even mention it?!?! Again, written by ex-Mormons who consciously left for their own reasons. Not written by us. Has no affiliation with us.
2. Blacks. We love everyone and try to be as Christ-like as we can. You interviewed a man who, even though he said he didn't feel persecuted as the only black man in his congregation, lives in Utah. There are not many blacks in Utah to begin with. But I went to an LDS ward in London and that ward was mostly Nigerian immigrants. The two white girls from my program and I were probably 3 of 12 or so white people in the congregation. I wanted to tell the interviewer this and remind him that this is a global church and we accept all types of people.

I think it's awesome how Mitt Romney has stepped into the public eye as a solid, practicing Mormon because his example has got people talking. We are so ready to talk, but you need to ask us and give less face time to Abby Huntsman and the creators of South Park.

to the beach on a whim

Annie texted me yesterday to see if we could meet up for lunch today and I was like duh so this morning I was like hey Annie where are we going to eat and she was like today's Bryce's last day before staring law school. wanna go to the beach after food? and I was like duh.
And that, my friends, is a run-on sentence.
And these are pictures from my fun day.

preggo!

proposal rock beach, neskowin, or

it would have been nice and warm if it wasn't so windy!

uhh...which way are we supposed to go?

Bryce's first time at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I may have taken multiple cheese samples and I can't confirm that I ate a lot of ice cream.

eccentric small coastal towns. gotta love them. like Jesus loves you.

my final days in Provo, UT

We went bowling a couple of times.  One of Provo's secrets: Miracle Bowl on State Street in Provo is super cheap some nights.

Tasha, her sister Jackie, Meagan, Lizzy, Shalene and I went to the Rooftop Concert. Allred, Book on Tapeworm, and Isaac Russell.

insta courtesy of Tasha :) 

I liked Book on Tapeworm (despite the fact that we couldn't get it right the whole night..."Booktapes with Worms?" "Worms on Booktape?" "Books on Tapeworm?")

Piano and cello=love.

http://youtu.be/iE_psU0BDgo

Saturday, Lizzy, Megan, Hilary and I went to Kneaders for breakfast.  Then Lizzy, Hilary and I saw "Step Up: Revolution," which delivered on the dance moves.  We were saying how we couldn't sit still the whole movie because we just wanted to dance!  

http://youtu.be/9ZhaXfm4MeA

Dinner at Zack's on Sunday.  He works at Los Hermanos so he had the hook-up with salsa and chips.  Yum!

insta courtesy of Zack :)  Lizzy--Hilary--me--Meagan

I had my last day at Independent Study on Tuesday.  They surprised me with Donut Tuesday instead of Donut Thursday.  I teared up a little when I had to say bye.

I have worked side-by-side with these girls in the same room for the past year and worked with Cort in the mail room for the year before that. Cortney--me--Roberta.  Love these girls!

 Wednesday, I took my last final at BYU!! Then I packed and all that fun stuff.  That night, Hilary, Lizzy, and Meagan treated me to dinner at my fav, Buca di Beppos in SLC.  We ate until we had to be rolled out of the restaurant and laughed until we cried.  I have so much fun with these girls, it's crazy.  I miss them so much!

photos courtesy of Lizzy

And you better believe we jammed to the "Step Up: Revolution" soundtrack the whole way there and back.

Here are some of my favorites:

1. "Let's Go" -- Travis Barker (the drummer for Blink 182!), feat. Yelawolf, Twista, Busta Rhymes, and Lil Jon

2. "Hands in the Air" -- Timbaland, feat. Ne-Yo

3. "Live My Life" -- Far East Movement, feat. Justin Bieber and Redfoo

4. "This is the Life" --My Name is Kay

Clearly, the thing I will miss most about the last 4 years and Provo are the people who made it fun and the music we jammed to while we were making fun :)  

Feminism: The Power of Choice

I want to talk about the power of choice.
I'm a feminist in the way that I am in support of giving women the right to choose.
I am currently taking a women's culture and folklore class and it has helped me to form the words I need to say about how I feel about women. Here is what I feel.
You can't be judgmental of people for their choices. It's hard enough for people to make choices without your judgments to go with it.
You can't pigeonhole people. There are so many cultural and circumstantial and personal factors that play into women's lives. It's simply not fair to assume things about people. Someone in class today said that there isn't feminism, but there are feminisms.  This means that you can be a feminist in your own way, which means there are several ways.  So don't automatically categorize people.
This is why I think I have had a hard time finding love here in Provo: I have been pigeonholed. Boys who don't know me take me on a first date and we discuss post-graduation plans, naturally. I say that I want to go to grad school and maybe even get a doctorate degree. I'm not sure, but I think this is why I don't get second dates. I've been in conflict with myself over this because I wonder if I should say that I want to have a family during this process of schooling, too. Because it's true. Having a family is the most important thing for me.   But I feel like its weird to be talking about marriage with a guy I barely know on the first date. I consider future schooling a safer topic of choice with a boy I barely know over a discussion of something that is very personal to me: that is, motherhood. I'm so excited to be a mother. I have had baby dolls since I can remember and have had names picked out since forever. And I don't want to tell boys this until it gets serious between us. Unfortunately, I have been pigeonholed as a girl who wants to put off marriage and pursue a career. This is a turn-off for many a man here in this dating pool. If I have to be pigeonholed, make me an LDS, education-minded woman who wants to get the best education not only for herself, but for the well-being of her future family.
There are women who want to focus on their careers and put-off having a family.  There are women who want to graduate high school and jump right into husband hunting.  There are women who are married and don't have children, yet.  I think these different situations are what allow us to be women.  I think that is the beauty of being a woman; we have so much potential to be anything.  And women's opportunities are only increasing, especially in America.
I'm not about to burn my bra, but I do want to help women, someday.  I want women to realize how beautiful the woman is sitting next to them.  I want stigmas and judgments to have a second chance at explaining themselves in women's culture.  Once we start appreciating each other, I think we can start loving ourselves a bit more.
And now a list of things I love about being a woman during 2012 in the US:
1. I recently learned that women had a burst of courage after the first World War and applied for colleges.  Before this time, women just didn't go to college.  I love the part in The Help when Skeeter goes to play cards for the first time with the girls since she graduated from Mississippi State and the others were going on about how long she was at school for.  Skeeter gives them a look and says, "College is for four years, you know."  So even during the 60s, women went to school just to find husbands.  So I love how today, it isn't weird to go to college if you are a woman.  In fact, a USA Today article states that in 2005, 57% of college grads were women.

c. 1890: 2nd row from top, 4th woman from right: first Native American Woman to graduate from medical school

2012: I am able to graduate from college, no questions asked!

2. A Forbes article states that nearly 10.4 million firms are owned by women.  In other words, we are increasing our numbers in the workforce immensely after getting kicked out of our jobs post-WWII.

Irene Rosenfield, chairperson and CEO of Kraft, Inc.

3. We don't have to worry about dying during childbirth as much as we used to.  I don't have to post statistics for you to believe me.
4. Media is available for us to say what we want to say and to connect with one another.

As the Spice Girls would say (in a British accent, obviously):

"GIRL POWERRR!"