Lawn Mowing

I must admit that I'm kind of a nerd when it comes to lawn mowing. I love it. I love being outside getting my hands dirty. I love the smell of freshly cut grass. I love how bad a yard can look and then after edging, trimming, and mowing it looks great. I love analyzing other yards of how good they look. I just love it all. BUT I do NOT love the very first day of the season. My body isn't used to it yet so I become very sore not to mention burnt because I haven't worked up my tan yet. It also didn't help that it was a super long day: NINE hours. Yep, that's right. I was out mowing from about 9 am to 6 pm. That wasn't expected at all. I mean, when you have 6 houses plus a church to mow, I figured, from past experience, it should only take 5 hours- maybe 6 at the longest. But I guess I didn't figure in the lawn mower giving us problem after problem making a church that takes an hour to finish into two and a half because we had to mow the ENTIRE thing with the LITTLE lawn mower. Ugh that was very frustrating. We were finally able to get it started again, but it still gave us lots of problems throughout the rest of the day.

So now I'm just glad the first day is over with and hopefully we'll fix all the problems before next time so the rest of the summer will be better and less frustrating.

Christal laughed at my frustration and got my camera out of my purse to document the situation..

The lawn mower kept dying. So it would start and I'd start to mow when it'd just die.

Just imagine the sound "ugh" coming out right when she took this lovely picture.

So I had to start it again..

And then I was able to mow just a little bit longer until it died once again.

Is it Summer yet?

It's funny how I say just yesterday that nothing eventful has happened in my life and then last night I finally do something fun.

It all started with an awesome water balloon fight. Even just filling up the balloons was fun in and of itself. We were using Rylee's neighbors tap outside the apartment and they tried to pour water out their window onto those filling up balloons. It was hilarious seeing as none of us actually know who lives there. After we were satisfied with our balloons, we piled into a car and drove up to the Hyper field where we sneak attacked some friends playing games there. We managed to hit many people- two of which in the face- and then we retreated back to the car. It was epic.

(Notice how every picture slowly gets more crowded.. haha)

After that we weren't sure what to do with ourselves so we decided to go clean the sink at Angie's. For those of you who don't know what that means- I'll explain. There is a local restaurant here in Logan called Angie's. They have this thing called "clean the sink" and basically it's just a TON of ice cream in a sink that you eat with your friends.

Looks yummy huh? Sadly we got there 15 minutes before closing time so we didn't get to do it. What makes that even more sad is that I've been here in Logan for two years now and still have not done it! You'd think that would've been the first thing I did when I got up here since I love ice cream so much. Oh well. I still have a couple weeks to get that done before I move home for the summer again.

So since we couldn't eat ice cream at Angie's, we decided to go to a new place called Sub Zero. I actually didn't get any ice cream because I forgot my wallet- but I got to try the others'. They make the ice cream right in front of you with- uhh I actually don't know what it's called. Liquid nitrogen maybe? But it's interesting and tasted good so that's all that matters right? haha

We then went back to the guys' apartment and sat around for a while. I had some more epic pirate battles with Ryan and Daniel and Rylee broke the hammock. That was one of those moments where you wanted to laugh but felt really bad. She fell right in between a car and the cement step which was lucky. Oh and I should clarify- it wasn't Rylee's fault. She was just lying in the hammock while Daniel swung her too high and the rope broke. I'm just glad it wasn't me because a couple days before I was in the same situation- but I guess I was lucky.

The night then ended with penny tapping. That was a new experience to me, but apparently Daniel and Jason did it a lot in high school. I was very pleased with the results though. On the first house- which were the next door neighbors who earlier tried to dump water on us- Jason got caught fixing the penny on the window. The girl came out and asked what he was doing. He just answered "not much" and then awkwardly walked away. It was hilarious! We did it to a couple more apartments and then called it a night.

All throughout the night I totally forgot that I still had school the next day. It felt like summer.

And now I REALLY can't wait until summer comes!

The Ross Sisters

Well.. not too much has been happening in my life- at least anything exciting and worth posting about. It's the end of the semester so I'm just getting ready for finals and can't wait for summer! The weather has been sooo beautiful and I love it! It doesn't help with studying though- all I want to do is be outside not studying. Oh well. Can't complain :)

So since I have nothing worth posting about my life- feel free to enjoy this video I found.. It is.. well.. there are no words to describe.. just watch it and you'll know what I'm talking about..

(give it a minute.. like literally- the interesting part starts around 1 minute)

And since the video doesn't fit the screen you can go watch it HERE if you want the full effect.

Daddy

So I explained about the accident a little bit and said that nothing more happened than a possible cracked rib- well I was wrong. Little did we know, my dad had a collapsed lung. He went SIX days with only one lung!

Right after the accident, the ambulance checked him and everything and he was experiencing a little bit of pain in his chest but they figured it was probably just some bruising because he could breathe fine. So he still went to Lake Powell. This all happened Saturday and they finally came home on Wednesday. He was still experiencing some pain and we all told him to go to the hospital to at least get x-rayed to see if he cracked some ribs. They got home late Wednesday night so he went somewhere on Thursday only to be told they wouldn't look at him because they didn't take accident victims (or something like that). But my cousin got married that day so he didn't have time to go anywhere else and went to the reception. Finally Friday he went somewhere else and found out he had a collapsed lung! He was told he needed to go to the hospital and they were going to take him in an ambulance. Now if any of you know my dad- that wouldn't do. He would drive himself. So that is what he did. When he got to the hospital everyone was amazed at how healthy he was and that he had gone six days with only one lung. People aren't supposed to be able to breathe with only one lung- or at least breathing is really hard for them. So he got hooked up to a tube and everything to suck out all the air and what ever else was in between his rib cage and lung. But he wouldn't be Brent Milne if he had to sit in a hospital bed all day long so he was always up and walking around the hospital shocking the doctors at the little amount of pain he was experiencing. And then he just had to shock the doctors one last time by only having to be in the hospital for two days. So now he is back at home and doing good with the only pain really being when he coughs. But now the only hard part for him will be having to recover for a couple weeks. I guess he'll have to finally see what it feels like to work in an office all day instead of being out on the roofs.

I love you Daddy!!

Mountain Wedding

I went home Saturday to be able to go experience a very interesting wedding. My cousin Robby got married at Alta ski resort on top of the mountain. Like literally on top of the mountain. And in their whole ski attire I might add. Can't get more different than that! It was super weird but a very fun experience. After the ceremony, it was free ski time for two hours. I deeply regretted not thinking more about going skiing. I haven't been in years! It just seemed too stressful to pack clothes and even then find skis that I could use. But it would've been worth it. I was sad to watch others ski while I just had to take the lift back down. I was dumb. I think my mind was somewhere else anyways- hence the reason I didn't even prepare well to be on top of a mountain in snow! I mean really, who wears flats instead of boots?! Guess that would be me.. It's a good thing I live in Logan though so I've adjusted to cold weather so it didn't phase me too much. It could've been worse.

Anyways, once everyone was done skiing it was time for the party- not reception. That was also very interesting. It was weird to be at a family event and have alcohol being served and some smoking going on and just an all around different crowd to be amongst.

I'm glad I could experience it all though. Not everyone can say they've attended a wedding on top of a mountain in ski attire before :)

Riding the lift up

Really though.. how dumb could I be?

Lookin good!

Walking- er I mean skiing down the isle..

Ceremony

If only I really could've gone down like that

Lake Powell

Alrighty- it took a while to get the pictures and find time to post but here is my happy outlook on my weekend in Lake Powell. Enjoy. :)

Day 1: The drive was fine. Scary at first because of the snow, but it finally cleared up and we made it safely. BUT we didn't expect to run into snow when we got to Lake Powell!! We thought it was just starting to rain but we realized it was little snowflakes. But in a matter of minutes, the snow turned to hail. That's right- HAIL! What an interesting boat ride that made- getting pelted by hail. But just as quickly as it started, it stopped and a bit later in the day the clouds cleared up and it was beautiful. We got everything unloaded into the boat and then the rest of the night was spent relaxing and not doing too much. I actually pulled out some homework to study for my stats test- which took everyone by surprise haha. I was quite proud of myself. But it was the only time it happened and I only did two problems.. One eventful thing of the day was that Austin put on a wet suit then a dry suit and actually got in the water and wake boarded! Now the weather wasn't the best- it was getting later in the day and it was a little cloudy again, and not to mention the wind- and the water was FREEZING! But he still got in and had some fun.

Day 2: Best day of the whole trip. It was pretty relaxing during the morning. We didn't do much. It was Lucy's birthday- she's 2!! After we ate lunch I went outside and sat on the boat in the sun and read. Not too much later I was joined by the majority of my siblings and we ended up taking the boat out in the middle of the lake so the whole boat was in the sun. We had some fun talking while soaking up the sun. It felt sooo good! It got a little cold at times because of the wind- but other than that, it was the best! A bit later it was hiking time! We got a group together and tried to go hike the arches but never ended up finding them. That didn't matter though because we still had an awesome time! Finding a HUGE lizard, throwing airplanes, and running/exploring everything makes up for not finding the arches. At the end of the day- I was burnt and my feet hurt but I didn't care. It was a very fun day :)

Day 3: The accident made for a more gloomy morning. It was also a little hard to listen to conference so I ended up reading. Had a good time watching Anthony and Jarem get in the water to "shower." The fact that they could barely stand being in the water for more than a second means that I would have probably died if I got in. WAY too cold. It was very entertaining though. Relaxed on the boat in the sun again then took a nice warm shower just in time for the accident victims to arrive. Everyone hugged, story retold, tears almost come. We then got everyone settled in and then it was dinner time. After that just more relaxing and what not.

Day 4: Best weather day- but who would expect anything less- Sunday is always the best weather day when you're at Lake Powell. Woke up to kids running around to find their Easter baskets. Hope the Easter bunny enjoyed making a stop in Lake Powell ;). Ate a big yummy breakfast followed by lots of delicious candy. Tried to listen to conference, but again, it was a little hard to pay attention. Took a walk to the beach and then sadly we had to pack up and head home to where the weather was not so pleasant- lame.

All in all- it was a very successful trip. I am super glad my family decided to buy a houseboat and can't wait to continue the tradition my mom's family started with my own family.

Now if only it was the end of July so I can go back and actually get in the water and stay the whole week! :)

I LOVE LAKE POWELL!!

Lessons Learned

As some of you may know- I did end up pulling a prank on April Fool's day. It was a last minute decision on Wednesday before I drove home to Murray. Rylee had the idea that since I was going to be gone, we should pretend something happened to me. The snowy weather set up a perfect plan for us- that I crashed on the way home and was in the hospital. Little did I know I would later come to deeply regret this plan.

I actually had forgotten about the plan the next day because of the business of getting things packed in the car and on our way to Lake Powell. It wasn't until later in the day- after my sister Chantell pulled a prank on my whole family (She had Tiffany's old pregnancy test and came into the room asking what two lines meant. It was HILARIOUS only because a certain husband of hers isn't set on having kids just yet and the look on his face was priceless. He was pissed!)- that I remembered about it so I texted Rylee. She said that not too many people were responding to it but that she only posted it an hour before so it still needed time. I then expected to start getting texts or phone calls from people and just waited. Well a couple hours passed and the only texts I was getting was from Rylee telling me that a couple more people were asking what happened. It was enough to make me laugh but I was still a little shocked that no one had texted me to ask if I was ok. I later concluded that it was probably because most people weren't sure whether to believe it or not which makes sense. And then finally one person did ask me if I was ok and although who it was caught me off guard it also made me come to my senses that it isn't a good prank to pull on people because it really is a scary thing. So even though Rylee told me not to text back, the guilt started getting to me and I had to tell him the truth and end it.

The rest of that night I still felt a little guilty about the prank. I really thought about how it might feel to read about someone in the hospital and worry for their life. Now I know it was April Fool's day so most people probably figured it was a prank- but still just the thought of it wouldn't be good. I just tried not to think about it and that seemed to work until two days later..

It was Saturday morning and I was lying on my bed on the floor just being lazy when I heard my mom answer her phone and a couple seconds later say "you got in an accident?! Tiff's car is totaled?!"

My dad, brother, niece, and nephew were hit by a semi on their way to join us in Lake Powell. It was snowing so the roads were wet and slushy and the traction was lost. My dad couldn't gain back control of the car. They started to spin and ended up spinning into the other lanes where a semi was coming right at them. It is a miracle they all survived with nothing more than a possible broken rib and a hurt knee.

Now I experienced first hand what it felt like to hear about someone being in an accident. It is NOT a joking manner. It made me feel sick- both in knowing I could've just lost part of my family and that I had joked about this exact thing two days before.

Now I titled this post "Lessons Learned" because I learned many lessons this week. Not only did I learn to not prank about life threatening situations but I learned that God really watches over us and protects us. There should have been a lot more damage to the car and my family, but I know without a doubt that God was with them and protected them.

I learned to never let a day go by without telling my family that I love them because I'll never know if it'll be the last time I see them (at least on this earth). I know that's a depressing thought, but it's true. I could've lost 4 family members last week and when was the last time I told them I loved them? Besides after the accident- I don't know.

One last thing I learned is to live life to it's fullest and have no regrets. It may be that I'm the one that could die unexpectedly and I don't want to look back on my life and regret anything. It is for that very reason why we are told to be prepared. Don't think you have tomorrow to start reading your scriptures, start praying, or just in general become a better righteous person because what if you aren't here tomorrow? We need to live our lives so that at any moment if we die we won't be worried about if we were righteous enough.

(Soon to come: the happier outlook on my weekend in Lake Powell along with some pictures- once I get them from Chantell..)