Fireworks.

The night of the 4th was all kinds of exciting.
I woke up starving so Bridget ordered us some wings from Maxwell's, where she works. And a caprese salad. Yum.
Bridget got to meet her awesome home teacher who also happens to be Jonmark's friend (gotta love the mormon world) when we all met up at the Marriott where he works. He played the ukelele while we ate wings in the almost-rain. And then it was time to go upstairs for the fireworks.
One of the great many excitements of dating a paraplegic is getting to carry him up the stairs. Only once have we done this piggy back style which I still think is best and which still scares him half to death (yes, I am the strongest girl in the world). What's sad is that no one is ever around to capture the excitement entailed in such adventures. Until now.

(Do you love my tough-girl stance?)
I did learn, however, that taking your flip-flops off first is a very good idea. And that one of the sacrifices you make is your shins. Which are still a fascinating shade of yellow....
And then, off to the fireworks. I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the Idaho Falls radio broadcast. I mean, really, fireworks are extraordinarily less-cool without music, a point I always forget until the blasts start. Mark my word...never again. Fourth of July playlist here I come!!
However, despite the lack of music, we did have our own photographer (i.e, Bridget- the one who has no photos of herself from this night and who didn't watch a single firework except through her lens). And after about 50 almost-perfect photographs, at one point, she screamed, and we ended up with this:
At which point we could have just gone home, but we detoured through the fitness center. Where Jonmark asked us to pause for this:

At which point Bridget asked some random people walking by to become impromptu cheerleaders:

And then we played pool for about 2 seconds until we ran into to the snottiest little 14 year old from Escondido ever, reminding me that my kids will never grow up in a place where children are that stuck up.
And then, we went home. And passed out. :-)
Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July Park City Style

So on 3 hours of sleep, we rose and shined for the Park City 4th of July parade. Now, Park City has a great culture that consists of a lot of alcohol and skiing. Even at 11am. Which means that Jonmark and I ate berries and bagels and the guy next to us was totally bummed that Jonmark's berry drink was, in fact, just berries. It also means that Olympic skiiers are doing sweet tricks on a trampoline as they roll by and is about the coolest float I've ever seen. Jonmark and I got sweet skullcandy hats that unfortunately made me look like I might have been dealing with some severe chemo effects. Bridget, on the other hand, looked like a rockstar in hers.

We also got to meet Jordy, one of Bridget's besties up there, who bought us all lunch of hamburgers, hotdogs, and a stinking delicious oatmeal raisin cookie.
And, then, we took of to nap. Because while some people in the world can get by on 3 hours of sleep. I. Can't.

Park City- Day/Night 1

It is the rare person who wants to stay in Phoenix and bake for the 4th of July. I am not that person. Neither is Jonmark. It was 117 degrees on July 1st. We were baking.
It was then, with oh so much notice and planning, that we decided to go to Park City. Actually, I had decided to go to Idaho, and then my mom told me August would be better. And then Jonmark and I planned California and then Tahoe and then nothing worked out.
Except that I had this friend name Bridget whom I hadn't seen (really) in two years who was calling my name. And who told me Park City is awesome on the the 4th. So, Jonmark and I went to his niece's blessing and left Phoenix at 3:28p.m. on Sunday. Park City is a 12 and a half hour drive. Something I may have neglected to truly take into account.
It was actually one of the nicest road trips I have ever been on. We talked the whole way and only listened to the one cheesy 80's CD the whole way there. I learned all about annuities and life insurance policies and other random fascinating things.
And I even smiled just a few minutes after a cop informed me that the speed limit on the bridge in Page, AZ is actually 25 and not 57 and then gave me a white piece of paper to prove it. Turns out there are only so many times you can get pulled over with a sexy paraplegic as your passenger and not get a ticket.
So- we drove my (highly dependable, dearly beloved) Altima to Park City because it was somewhat more dependable than Jonmark's less-beloved Camry. This meant, however, that I would be driving the whole way because I have not yet come to the point where I feel the need to install hand controls in my car. Despite the fact that Jonmark insisted he could drive with a squegee handle, cruise control, and the e-brake. Um, no.
Brad, more than anyone, knows that I usually sleep about 50% of road trips. This one I slept 0%. Jonmark was an awesome road buddy. He only slept for 20 minutes so that I wouldn't be bored and could stay awake. So sweet...I don't think I could have done the same.
We arrived at Bridget's at 5am. We expected her to be asleep, but she said she was too excited to sleep and had just woken back up. She even painted a new picture for us!! Her apartment was darling, the air was so clean and perfect, and we all talked for an hour just getting to know each other (b-ridge and jonmark) and getting caught up (me and bridge). Sometimes it's great to be in Utah.

Caved.

So throughout the years, I've always said I wouldn't buy a Coach purse. They were silly, expensive, and I didn't like the "C"'s. And then Bridgette from work let me in on her secret sale. Apparently a few times a year, there is a 70% off sale on certain items per invitation. And Bridgette got that invitation. And I got two purses. To be fair, I really needed a white purse. And the metallic one looks awesome with my gold shoes. And the Coach logo is still pretty small....
Oh, and I love them :-)

Yes, I can tell the difference.

All right, so bigger things have happened besides this, like moving and spending the 4th in Park City, but I don't have all those pictures, so we'll start with this.
One of the things Jonmark in I have in common is our general pickiness about water. Mostly that we hate Arrowhead. We told our friend Scott that we could tell the difference between all the waters and he said we were crazy. So we put it to the test.
First, Jonmark and Scott went to the gas station and got these:

We sampled each of them and then Scott went into the kitchen and poured each one into a different glass labeled with a number (luckily my glasses break all the time so I have tons of different ones).
And then the taste test started.

We did pretty good. We only mixed up two, which somehow were Fiji and Dasani.
This is how they ranked:
1- Smartwater
2- Aquafina
3- Fiji & Dasani (oops)
4- Evian
5- Arrowhead
It was fun to finally prove that it's not all in my head. And I'm glad to know I like Smartwater for a reason other than the sweet bottle and Jennifer Aniston. :-)

"I've got beanies younger than those two!!"

So Jonmark went back to the hospital with an infection.
And then, they told him he needed IV antibiotics. For another week. Which meant they kicked him out of the hospital- and into a nursing home.
A nursing home.
Now, technically, it's a skilled nursing facility. But honestly, it's a nursing home. Not too many people in their thirties get to say that they have spent a night in a nursing home, but, yes, people, we both now have.
Let me back up. Now, this SNF is as nice as a SNF can be. There are no weird smells- the couches are new, the paintings are nice, and even the piano is all fancy-schmancy.
However, it's still not the typical hangout for people our age. In fact, it kind of feels like we're crashing their party. Especially, for example, dinner. It kind of felt like moving to a new school and trying to find a place to sit in the lunch room without disturbing the status quo. We kind of got looks from everyone like, "What the heck are THOSE two doing here?"
Here's us partying it up at dinner (Jonmark was not-all-that-impressed with my not-so-covert picture-taking skills)


Notice the awesome mural of the dolphins swimming in New Hampshire. Apparently they are not only cold-resistant up there, but also the size of whales. And lighthouses.
This is our meal. Delicious grape juice and delicious chocolate milk. And actually remarkably good enchiladas. We all know I can be picky, but I was truly impressed. When Jonmark asked for one more chocolate milk, the guy serving us (who I actually think was a few years younger than us) was like, "DUDE! It's not a prison; we don't ration this stuff out. You just have to ask- you can have as many as you want."
To which Jonmark replied, "Then why is the front door locked?" And then drank 3 chocolate milks. :-)


Lastly, was our delicious dessert. Luckily, Jonmark and I both love pears. Not necessarily do we love green water, but, ya know, in this case they came together.


In this case, our server simply dropped off the pears and said, "Don't even ask."
So we didn't.
I just ate the pears.
And dared Jonmark to "shoot" his green water.
Which he promptly did.
Best nursing home dinner ever.

The Cinders

After Vegas I actually went to work for 3 days, and then, it was time to play again. Off to Flagstaff!!
Ok, in case anyone missed it, Jonmark likes to ride.
It used to be dirt bikes and surfboards and snowboards....
And now it's quads.
And anything else that can compare.
Hence, off to The Cinders.
The Cinders is kind of like sand dunes made from a volcano. It's in Flagstaff which is awesome 'cause it's like 2 hours away and it reminds me of Idaho. The mountains and the trees are pretty much as therapeutic as the ocean for me, and it was heaven.
Now, my experience on ATV's consists of being about 14 and going on little trails at family reunions in Island Park. It does not consist of going up and over crazy hills and mountains. Or at least it didn't.
We did manage to get stuck within 20 minutes of our first ride. Which was a little scary as I unfortunately think the worst from all the people I've seen in the hospital. But luckily we found some cool people on sand rails to get us unstuck and bring us back down.
The second consisted of a lot of sightseeing in Flagstaff and driving around before we finally loaded up and got to riding. These are some of the beautiful places we saw:


And this was my view after Jonmark said, "You should video this. Hang on tight! I'm gonna haul!!" (It was probably the safest trail to do that...)

After a few hours, we headed back to camp. Some people in the ward had brought up his quad, and we ate dinner with them before heading back. It was delicious!
After dinner, one of the older guys offered to take us on a night time ride on his sand rail. We went up this hill:
Hundred Dollar Hill Video (not us)
Hundred Dollar Hill Picture
Yeah. It was a little crazy. The sand rail had a corvette motor and 510hp and we seriously hauled up this thing. Going back down I looked to the side and realized the world was at a 45 degree angle. A beautiful one. I totally felt like I was in a movie.
Anyways, we had a blast. If I knew how to make a dirt bike sound right here to sign off, i would. You'll have to imagine it instead :-)

Vegas Baby- Day 2!

Our second day in Vegas consisted of us pretending to be world travelers. It started at Mr. Lucky's 24/7 at the Hard Rock cafe where we shared a sub-par overpriced breakfast and where I was reminded once again that Vegas is definitely it's own culture- where dressing slutty and wearing a bikini to breakfast is totally acceptable. However, the music there was awesome and I was reminded of my great love for 90's rock. Yay!
Then we headed to Serendipity 3 for, yup, more food. (It was a long walk!) Brittney had also told us we had to go here for frozen hot chocolate. Which was, granted, completely delicious. However, it was also a 45 minute wait and $10 for one glass, which seems completely ridiculous. The mango sorbet, however, was $4.50 and was completely to die for. It was like 80% mango and 20% sorbet stuff. yum yum yum.











Next, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. It's half as high as the original, and something tells me the view isn't really anything the same, but it was fun anyways. We were up there for about 5 minutes when Jonmark says, "Quick- I need a piece of paper!" And just like that, we started throwing paper airplanes off the eiffel tower. Only 3 total, really, but it was hilarious. As was hiding them from security when they walked by. I think we may have landed them all in The Paris pool.




Next! Off to New York! Which looked like a short walk but really wasn't. We were both exhausted, but we did get shots of the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. I was actually pretty impressed by how realistic they were. (The one of me by myself is at the real one 4 years ago.)



We also strolled around Little Italy and ate perfect little fruit cups and sat and listened to guys play dueling pianos in the Times Square bar. Basically, it was just chill and fun.
And then I finally got to see the Bellagio fountains. I've actually been to Vegas a couple times with my family but only for about an hour. And I'd never seen them. I had no idea it was like a huge lake!! So fun.
AND...the escalator. This is something I wish I could have taken a picture of, but there was really no way. After going up several elevators over the last few days, Jonmark suddenly says to me as we walk by an escalator, "I can go up that."
"Um, what?"
"Yup. Stand behind me. Let's go!"
And so we did. Like 3 times. And it was awesome. Mostly to see everyone's reaction. As we got off one, a 20-something kid came up to us and was like, "Dude, that was the coolest thing I have ever seen in like, the LONGEST time."
It was.
We finished off the night with delicious Carl's Jr. and a quick stop at the Hoover Dam at night. It was beautiful. And such an awesome trip.

Vegas Baby!! - Day 1

So school is over. And I've decided to take a hiatus. Maybe a long one. Which has freed up my schedule a bit to do fun things. Like go to Vegas. With boyfriend. To see Phantom.
Because of all the things I've done and seen in my life, I've never seen The Phantom of the Opera. Not the movie. Not any performance. Ever. And Jonmark loves it. And sings it. Well. But that's a different story. Phantom plays every night at the Venetian. Which is where we almost stayed, except that it would have been like a million dollars.
So instead we stayed (click here). It used to be the old St. Tropez, and it definitely was an old hotel that seemed like IKEA got a hold of. It was really fun. And the pool was awesome. And so was the DJ who played all day long.
I knew Vegas was a Jonmark place when he came into my room at noon shouting, "Wakie, Wakie!! There's a pool party at noon! Whoo-hoo!!" (We didn't get in until like 2 the night before).
So I got up and got ready and headed off to Planet Hollywood for Earl of Sandwich. Brittney from work said we HAD to go there, and she was totally right. The sandwiches were delicious!


Then off to Sephora because I forgot my bronzer. And the one place pale girls don't want to go without bronzer is Vegas....And Jonmark talked me into this:

The lipstick. Not the picture. I seem to do this about once a year. And then remember how utterly impractical red lipstick is. And how it gets in the way of kissing. And gets on my teeth. And makes me self-conscious. It is, however, a great red. For special occasions.
I also bought a shirt that seemed very Vegas to me, which is somewhat hard to do when considering sleeves and hemlines, but I was excited. I also curled my hair with my flat iron and was very very proud (How sweet is the Venetian's bathroom?)

And Jonmark found a sweet shirt 15 minutes before the show started at Banana that was half off and I had $30 in coupons, so, um, yep. It was free. So sweet.
Phantom was PHENOMENAL. The auditorium is created for it, so it's all very exciting and just awesome. I snuck in one picture....

Next we went to eat at Canaletto still in the Venetian. Our waiter was actually from Italy and was so cool and friendly. We had caprese and pasta and seafood. And it looked like this.


And it tasted like YUM. And there was even a pigeon for authenticity! (can you spot it?)

And then.... TAO!!!
Tao is the nightclub in the Venetian. It was just rated #1 in Vegas and we really wanted to try it out. I've never been dancing in Vegas, but I wanted to, and Jonmark really loves getting his groove on :-).
The line was crazy long, and so while I went outside to look where the end was, Jonmark asked the usher where the line started. The usher asked how many of us there were. Then suddenly the two of us were being ushered to the front of the line, past all the people who actually had to pay to get in, into the elevator, and up to Tao. The place was definitely vegas, and so so crowded, but the people were all really cool. I never knew quite how much attention a girl could get from dancing on the lap of a guy in a wheelchair. (p.s., mom, it was really REALLY crowded. I was literally being shoved constantly. There was no where else to dance!) We didn't stay for too long, but it was so so fun.


And then we went to the parking garage. Where we stayed for 2 hours because neither of us could remember where we parked. And we were led all over the place to different garages until finally we broke down and asked security to go find it. And they did. On 7b. In between the 7th and 8th floors. In a weird dumb place that I still couldn't figure out how to get to so I crawled up through the steel ropes and then drove it back down. Never ever ever will either of us ever forget to remember where we parked!!

Microwave Cookout

ATTENTION MINDY: Jonmark and I are back on.

Moving on....
so Jonmark has begun his healthy summer diet. I suppose I have started it with him, as I did finish of the last of my Butter Crunch Blue Bell earlier. (Also, I thought I might have had a little chest pain associated with it, so I went running, too.) Afterwards, I met up with Jonmark after some work appointments for a workout.
Then we stopped by his mom's house for a bit and for our post-workout meal.
Jonmark and I eat very much the same. We eat veggies and fish and chicken and brown rice and pride ourselves on being pretty healthy. (Even if we might eat a lot of taquitos. Guacamole=avocados=good fat.)
The difference in our eating is that Jonmark can make these things quickly. Like in a microwave. I generally take about 30 minutes longer to cook anything, at which point I've likely consumed enough sugar to balance out the healthiness. (Hence, Brad yelling "I'll make you a sandwich! I'll make you a sandwich! every time I get hungry.)
Oh, and I eat butter on my rice and veggies. That's different, too.
Today, however, Jonmark made a delicious discovery. Now, Jonmark's mom is 73. She has a few idiosyncrasies. For example, she loves the dollar store. LOVES IT. And yesterday she discovered Sweet Chile Garlic Sauce. Today Jonmark discovered it.

He put it on his rice and green beans. I was skeptical. "No, really! It's good! Try it," he said. "It's like Chinese food now!!" Oh boys.
While eating this delicious Chinese food, I myself made a discovery. It was this:

Following a questioning look, Jonmark said, "She gives money to save the Jews."
Um, what?
"Yeah, she might be overdrawn like crazy and have no money and she'll still give money to the Jews. She feels she'll be blessed for saving God's people- kind of like tithing."
I don't know why this struck me as hilarious. I think it just struck me as the absolute most random thing anyone could ever do. Especially a 73-year old American Mormon woman. Really? Is there a special Jew in your life? Did you ever visit Israel? Or, for some reason, it just is your sweet mission to help save the Jews? Whatever it is, I'm glad she does it. And so are they.
It was the best random cookout ever. And I even learned how to cook tilapia in the microwave (not with the rice).