Don't you know? Mormons are sexy!

While watching a show today, my interest was peaked by a woman who tried to explain to the world why Mormons are modest. This was her explanation:

The truth of the matter is that Mormons are just sexier than regular people, so we kinda have to cover all this up (said while gesturing to herself). 

What can I say? She nailed it!

How do you say "I love you?"

Hello! It's been...FOREVER since I wrote last. But after receiving an email from my brother today, I couldn't help but share it. I know you may think your brothers/sisters are awesome, but I guarantee mine are WAY cooler. Here's a tidbit from Travis's latest email:
"IM A DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I am a father finally! And my kid is this cool Guatemalan named Elder Diaz. He also would like to write you and marry you eventually. Just so you know. You are very famous here in la mision Nicaragua Managua Norte. Everyone talks about Elder Harris's sister and how good looking she is! So hey! You are a hot ticket item. And remember it too."
So to clear something up really fast..My brother is NOT a dad. At least not in the traditional sense. Those of you who've been on missions know the term well, but for the less informed, to be a dad means to train a new missionary. After reading that message, I just about died of laughter. My face was all shades of red and my stomach hurt from laughing so much. I wish everyone could have a brother as awesome as mine. If you are ever feeling a little down and lacking in self esteem, just let me know and maybe I can have my brother shoot you a message. 
Luckily for me, I have TWO awesome brothers! On a particularly down day, Logan decided to cheer me up by sharing his new-found love of the guitar with me. 

My brothers are continually teaching me what it means to love one another. They are both amazing and I know you're all crazy jealous after reading this. Hey ladies- Travis gets home in just under 8 months, so mark your calendars because he'll be available! He's the one on the left in the picture. So the message of this little post is to remember to share the love and be grateful for your wonderful families!

Love them granola bars!

What a day! I had the morning off from McDonald's and so I did the usual day-off things: sleep in, watch a little TV, do laundry, lunch with Grandma, Target trip with Lexie. You know, the usual. It was shaping up to be a pretty great day. Of course, we can't have a normal day, now can we? On my way out the door, my little brother begged me to drop him off at his school for the 9th grade dance. Being the ever-so-loving (aka pushover) sister that I am, I said yes. Unbeknownst to me, a happy little white suburban was also in the process of leaving. Not two minutes from my home, I found myself following said happy suburban. Strangely, they didn't seem to be able to hear me begging them to go the speed limit from my car and they continued going ten under all the way into town. What should have been a ten minute drive took almost twenty minutes. Of course, by that point I was flipping out because there was no way I could make it to the school and work and still be on time. Enter solution. The corner. Yes, I am probably the most horrible sister ever, but I did in fact drop my little brother off on a random corner. The poor boy had to walk almost fifteen minutes (maybe more?) to get to the school. On the bright side, I got to work on time. RIGHT on time and not before calling my mom and telling her to call her son ASAP. Thankfully my brother made it to the school and home again safe and sound. What a relief!
Granola bars- gotta love them. My mom just loooves to buy granola bars. On any given day, we probably have a variety pack of granola bars just sitting up in our cupboard. So after going almost twelve hours without eating (thank you work), I was famished! A granola bar was the perfect solution. In fact, it's been the perfect solution for the last week or so. You know how in a variety pack there are one or two kinds that you prefer over the others? Well, that's how chocolate chip is for me when it comes to granola bars. I LOVE the chocolate chip kind. So naturally, I've been pretty excited that all I've pulled out of the magical granola bar box in the last week have been chocolate chip. I was really thinking it was something special and was about to share my good luck with my mom when I realized something. The whole box was chocolate chip! Needless to say, that was my blonde moment of the week. Gotta love them granola bars!

New Adventures Ahead!

In the words of an inspired young artist, "It's Friday, Friday. Gotta get down on Friday!" ...Yeah. Today promises to be a good one. Lots of cleaning, finally taking my final, and applying for lots of jobs. If you know of any jobs, give me a holler. I'm on the hunt! I'm sure you're wondering what happened to California. Don't worry, I'm still planning on it. It just might have to wait a year. As it turns out, I'm actually going to be staying in Utah, albeit in a different area. Sorry, you can't get rid of me just yet. On the other side of the canyon is a plethora of new adventures. Exciting! It's been so crazy trying to think of what to take with me and what to leave behind. I'd never really thought of that before. Thus comes the spring cleaning of my life. Lucky me gets to plunge into the world of sorting, tossing, and donating. It's a dangerous journey into the back of my closet, but I can make it through. I think. Should be interesting at the least. Right now seems to be the time for new adventures. With the semester over and spring/summer just getting started, there is that feeling of promise in the air. Congrats to my many friends who are graduating from college this week. How they survived that place is beyond me. I get to try it again in a year or two, but for now I'm just going to work. College and I didn't get along very well. Another crazy thing is marriage. I can't even begin to count the number of bridal showers and weddings I have gone to in the last month. And there are even more to come! Apparently there were some people listening to Elder Scott's conference address. Like I said, there is something about spring that promises a fresh start. Props go to my cousin who chose to make her fresh start by going on a mission. In less than a week, Summer will officially enter the MTC and start working on her Spanish. Looks like I'm going to have to find a new lunch buddy. New adventures. Aren't they the best?

Colorful Death by Baklava

Post? Yes, I think I shall. The requests are in: color festival, baklava making, and near death. But I think I'll throw in opening day for good measure. You ready for this? Okay, here goes nothing.
The Color Festival
In India they celebrate a holiday called Holi. Spring is welcomed in with a burst of color. Literally. Hundreds of bags of colored chalk/paint are thrown up in the air and, subsequently, a massive game of color tag breaks out. Of course, the holiday is usually celebrate by Indians in India. However, it has become a fun cultural experience for people all over. The diversity department at Weber State organized the one I went to with my friends. It was quite fun! It was also Erin van Komen's birthday and how better to celebrate it than with a giant, colorful party? Exactly. Fun, fun, fun! Note of caution to those planning on attending a Holi festival in the future: keep your mouth closed while the color throwing is going on. That stuff does NOT taste good. Just sayin.
Baklava Making
Mmm..Baklava! Don't know what it is? Know what it is, but never had it? Well, you are missing out my friends! It is..it is.. Well, I don't know how to describe it, but heaven-on-earth might come close. I had a project on the country Turkey and I needed to make a little treat to go with it.  Google informed me that baklava is actually a Turkish treat. I know what you're thinking, "Baklava is from Greece, not Turkey!" Well, friends, they're right by each other on the map. Same region, same treats. Yeup. Anyways..As tasty as baklava is, it is mighty expensive! For one little piece it costs a whole $2. Multiply that by the 50 I needed for my class and that's a whole lot of dough. So while consulting with my dear friend, Erin, I decided to make the baklava. That's right, we made baklava. And dang it is tricky! I couldn't have done it without Erin. She is mega pro. You have to work very fast or you have issues. It's also important to know how to work with phyllo dough. Yeah... Let's just say that it didn't all survive. But after a few mistakes and a whole lot of learning, we managed to pull it off. And it was tasty. VERY tasty.
Near Death
Let's play a game. How many times can Alex almost die in one week? Answer: two too many. Friday, I was on my way up to Weber State for a lil' party shindig when I had an oh-so-fun experience. Imagine going 65 on a highway with your foot on the gas pedal, accelerating to get up a big hill. Then imagine a car coming straight toward you in your lane. Scary? That doesn't even begin to describe it. With less than a second to react, I swerved into the next lane over (thank goodness nobody was in it!) and watched as the oncoming car narrowly avoided hitting the guy who had been riding my bumper. As if one near-death experience wasn't enough for the week, the very next day I had another. With a green arrow, I started to turn left from the highway into my neighborhood. I didn't make it very far before a white van blew through its red stoplight, nearly hitting me. Again I swerved, avoiding a collision. In both instances the speed was such that the impact would have left one or both drivers either dead or critically injured. What did I learn from this? A) Slow down going up the hill to Ogden and B) I'm destined to die by car accident (although hopefully not any time soon).
Opening Day
"There's only one Lagoon!" Aren't amusement parks the greatest? They are. It's especially fun working at one. Lagoon opened yesterday with fairly good weather and a decent crowd. Yours truly got to be one of the first to work the new roller coaster. You've got to love new rides. There are always a bunch of faults you don't recognize and little unexpected problems you don't know how to solve. But it was pretty neat to be one of the first people to work the new ride. Special!
There you have it. My little adventures. I'm sure there are more somewhere in there that I've missed. In fact, I know I've missed some. But general conference is on and I want to watch it. Thanks to the snow, Lagoon was closed. It's a little miracle that I'm extremely grateful for. Yay! Have a great day friends!

Run, Run, Run, As Fast As You Can

Note to Readers: This doesn't reflect my actual viewpoint. I just wrote this because it was fun to write. I actually do like running most of the time. And if you run, you aren't a mindless sheep, so don't worry.


Running and I have a love-hate relationship. It's all fine and dandy when you start out. The blood gets pumping and you feel like you could run forever. A couple blocks in you start to notice that your vision is getting blurry. Did the world just start spinning or is it just me? You push through the fog and keep going because you're picturing that chocolate bar you ate earlier. A mile ought to be enough to burn that off, maybe two. Another couple blocks in, the sweat is pouring off and your legs are beginning to go numb. The feeling is somewhat like that of a wet noodle. You're finally approaching the end of your run and the end of the block seems so far away, even though it's really only about fifteen yards. "I can make it," you tell yourself, "Only a little further." Ten feet from the end, your legs decide to stop working and crawling seems to be the best option. You'd think after a good run that you would feel good, but it isn't long before the nausea kicks in, the stomach cramps, the sports asthma. It feels like your insides have turned into an alien monster and are about to tear right out of your stomach. So why do we put ourselves through all this? Why not just sit at home or go swimming or do something fun? Vanity, my friends. It's all vanity. We want to look good and have others think we look good. Some crack pot somewhere said that running makes you feel better in the long run. Sure I'm all for feeling good, but I don't want to have to be running for ten years before I start "feeling better." So as far as I'm concerned, running is definitely overrated. But I suppose I'll be like the other mindless sheep and keep doing it, because in a moment of insanity a couple months ago, I said I would run a half marathon this year. What was I thinking?

Glorious Sunshine!

Arizona. Land of the sunshine. In other words, it's my favorite place ever. Imagine being able to wake up and jump right into the pool. Yeah, it's pretty much amazing. We began the journey on Friday after the longest day of school I've ever had, or so it seemed. I lucked out because my parents decided to rent a car with a more spacious and comfortable backseat. Granted it was still a car and space was limited, but it was ten times better than the Jetta. So how do you fill eleven hours? As much joy as it would bring me to say we sang show tunes, we're not that cheesy. No, instead we listened to the usual- country music. I'm not opposed to it, but after eleven hours of that and news radio, I think I'll be fine to avoid it until the next road trip. But enough about car trips. Let's get to Arizona! Pure bliss. That's the only was I can describe it. The best way to share my adventures would have to be chronologically. 
Day 1
Good morning sunshine! I woke up to 70 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Breakfast was served outside with a picturesque view of our own personal swimming pool and the canal that runs through the neighborhood. Of course, breakfast in Arizona is never complete without...MUFFINS!!! Yum! For our first day, we decided to adventure to the swap meat. It is amazing what treasures you can find there. We spent a few hours just going through all the little shops and exploring them. It was a blast! As it turned out, the place we were staying was only 15 minutes away from the home of my good friend, Jordan. So, naturally we schemed to hang out. After taking like an hour to decide what to do, we went to the mall nearby and found the Barnes and Noble. If you ever want entertainment, just go to a bookstore sometime. Good times. After a Target trip to retrieve treats, we went to the Marriott. They have this amazing fire pit outside which is just perfect for sitting by and talking. And that is exactly what we did. However, it was by the pool. Note to self: make sure seat cushions are dry BEFORE sitting on them. That was fun...
Day 2
What does one do on a beautiful day while on vacation? The options are endless. For our second day, we decided to go to a little outdoor shopping center. It was fun to see all the children playing in the fountain. Everyone just seemed so happy! The best part of our excursion? The cowboys! There was a rodeo going on nearby, so there were hundreds of people walking around all decked out in their Western attire. 
Day 3
Our last day in Arizona. So what did we do? Swim and tan, my friends. Swim and tan. Day 3 was dedicated solely to relaxation. Naturally sunscreen was forgotten and sunburns were the result. But burns turn to tan and I think I can live with that. We'll call this last part "the epic adventure." Since the family was just chillin, I once again hung out with Jordan. Along with some of his friends, we went on a hike up a mountain by his house. It definitely makes my list of coolest hikes I've been on. The bottom of the mountain was mostly sand and gravel, but gradually the rocks got bigger and bigger until we were climbing boulders at the top. The hike was cool in and of itself, but was made all the cooler by the fact that it was pitch black and we didn't have flashlights. Naturally such a hike came with its slips, trips, and falls. Exhibit A: me slipping in the sand and falling on my butt. Thanks to my phone in my back pocket, that felt oh so nice...Not... Exhibit B: jumping off a rock and twisting my ankle (just a wee bit, not enough to worry about). Exhibit C: tripping over barbed wire and killing my awesome purple shoes. But what are a few mishaps in comparison with the incredible view from the top? Looking out at the city lights at night has always been one of my favorite sights. There's something so captivating in the way they shine. Everything seems so small at that point. I can only imagine how astronauts must feel when looking down at the Earth from way out in space. We finished the night with some flan from a nearby restaurant. Best stuff ever! Haven't tried flan? Hop to it! You are missing out! Well, another too long car trip later and we were back home. So there you have it. My Arizona adventure.