"Even or Level?"

This weekend was a great weekend for me! Thursday was a BBQ/farewell party for a girl in my ward.My boyfriend came over and we made bean dip together to take to the party, neither of us has even made bean dip before so it was a very interesting experience, all I can say is I am really glad my family has a Vita-Mix which made mushing avocado a breeze! We then rode his motorcycle to the party, it was great, I love riding the motorcycle it is a blast to feel the wind and be out in the open like that, plus it is kinda fun to see peoples faces as they watch us drive by. Friday morning I joined the new shoe club! After being very jealous of my family getting new shoes, I went out and bought myself 2 new pairs of shoes. I also got my mom some mothers day gifts, a Sheri Dew CD collection and A piano CD of a guy called Josh Wright. The piano CD was bought in part because I am selfish and I really wanted to hear it. I'm terrible I know! But mom liked it too and was happy for it, it really is a beautiful CD, I am listening to it Wright now, Wright! Pooh bad pun I know but I couldn't help it. It really is a beautiful CD though, I love listening to piano music as I work on the computer. 

Piano music just touches me in a way that clears my mind, motivates me, and make me feel calm and peaceful all at the same time. This is why I was also motivated to buy a Paul Cardol piano song book on my outing as well. Yeah I spent way too much on my outing, getting a pay check really goes to my head sometimes! That afternoon my family all got off work and out of school early so we could go see the Carl Bloch exhibit. My boyfriend even took work off early so he could go with us! We got down there and stood In line for a little while, the biggest line was the one for Ipads so we could have those to walk through the exhibit with. The lady behind us wanted to rent 11 of them and I was super glad we were in front of her! Walking through the exhibit was really neat. The paintings were absolutely beautiful and made me think a lot. About the symbolism and the meanings behind them, as well as about the Savior and my life. One picture in particular "Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda" really made me think. It was mentioned how the man in the red hat is in between water and the Living Water, which is Christ, and he needs to make a choice of which to choose. It made me think about where I am in my life and the choices I have made and the choices I will make in my life. 

 

It was a really neat experience all in all. Though little brother mentioned that he wished we had done it without the Ipads since we didn't really walk through it as a family. I agreed with him, but we were the only ones who thought that. everyone else was glad we had the Ipads. True they did have a lot of information. but it was almost too much info. and It was kinda sad to see all the people sitting around with their head phones on, looking almost more at the device on their lap than at the actual painting on the wall. They were isolated from each other and I felt the same, I really just wanted to read the signs and talk to my family about the paintings and I was glad and touched that my younger brother felt the same way. It was still a great experience though and we spent hours there learning. We also got to see this amazing exhibit that was a GIANT stack of books! It was really, really cool!!! Blew my mind away, 80,000 Lbs of books were in the sculpture, and it was fascinating. The sign said when the exhibit was over they were going to dismantle it and send to books to those in third world countries. After looking at the exhibits we had dinner with older brother and his wife. We got home about 11 or so and Boyfriend stayed a while we talked and discussed the paintings and the exhibit and life. It was really great, I love how we can just sit and talk to each other about anything and everything.

Those are books! (Photo from BYU website)

 Saturday was a very busy day. I started the morning by going and doing a service project with my ward to fill the city sand volleyball courts with some awesome sand! We raked and leveled out the sand. Afterward we played several games of volleyball, really how could we not, the sand was perfect. We finally headed back to my house and helped build a fence in my backyard. Who knew that building a fence was so complicated! Dad was trying to decide if the fence should be all even or if he wanted it level, needless to say we were all confused. Though I can admit that the whole Even v. Level debate was my fault. He finally decided on having each section be level but not even with each other... I think. Anyway the job that my boyfriend and I did was to measure the brackets, flush the brackets, level the brackets, and finally screw the brackets onto the posts. Quite the complex procedure. We finished about 4 p.m. and he had to leave to go run some errands. The timing was good though since older brother and his wife got there just in time and we finished up putting up all the slats. That was a complex procedure too! Although it did not take near as long as what my boyfriend and I were doing. Finally we got the fence all finished up and we were all starving so we went out to dinner. We were then invited to go play the Kinect for a while at my boyfriend's house. We all played until we were too exhausted to move. Though I found out I really am the worst dancer of the family! I'll have to work on that, since my competitive side was not very happy as I was continually slaughtered time and time again by not only my boyfriend, but older brother, his wife, and even little brother! Totally not fair that little brother dances better than I do. Sunday was spent going to grandma's and having our family party. It's tradition to have our family party every second Sunday to celebrate birthdays and stuff. It was really a great time and I even got to spend a good amount of time chatting with my great grandma who is 98. She is hilarious and told me how she flirted with a guy with a giant mustache as she waited for her physical therapy session! It was great to spend the time talking with her, and I hope to get to visit with her more often during this summer. it was a great Sunday all in all and ended with my boyfriend stopping by which was great. So the weekend was busy, but very successful I even got a nice start to my summer tan... or burn! I'm still glowing and I have a very nice blister on the tip of my ear, whoops. That's what I get for depriving my body of sun all winter and for not wearing sunscreen.