Mexico

I just thought I'd let those of you who read this what we'll be doing in Mexico for a week. This winter, about 25 SUU students have the opportunity to visit an orphanage in Mexico to do some much needed repairs and improvements. At the orphanage this year, the nuns have requested that we paint the insides of the girls dorm and babies dorm. Another project requested is to fill in a hole with a retaining wall where a ground-level trampoline exists. Since there is not always supervision on the playground, it is dangerous for the toddlers when it rains and the hole fills up with water.
Also, to improve the overall appearance, we are also going to be painting their metal playground. These are just a few examples of some projects we will be able to do.
San Humberto's Ranch of the Child was founded in 1971 by Hermanas Missioneras del Nino Cristo in Empalme, Sonora. The foundation was created in 1964 by Lucas Carbajal Lopez, a Catholic Priest from Guanajuato and two nuns from Mazatlan, Sinaloa. They were deeply concerned about the unwanted children who lived on the streets. Many of these children were orphaned, while others were abandoned by drug addicts, prostitutes and parents with other social and financial problems. SUU has been taking groups of students to this particular area of Mexico for quite a few years and has been wildly successful in improving the basic standard of living, including homes for three needy families.
I am so excited to be a part of this project this year.
If you feel that you could help our project, we would be very grateful. If you'd like to donate and have questions, please comment and I'll get with you for more information. Also tell your friends about this great opportunity for service!

Random Pictures

Here are just a few pictures of what we've been up to so far this semester:

Supporting our SUU T-Birds! The first home game of the season. We're showing you our game faces. The good news is that the T-Birds were victorious... It doesn't happen too often in football for them.
The Iron County Demolition Derby. It was pretty much awesome. There were so many people though so we didn't get any seats. We kept ourselves entertained during the down time though.

Homecoming 2009. We went to see the mentalist and yes he did play with our minds. So crazy.
We decided to run the Homecoming 5k. This picture is proof that I did it. See I'm wearing a number... It was a good experience and I'll probably do more of them in the future. Of us three, I did come in last. I claim it is because Aly and Shalie both have longer legs that I. Yes I am the shortest.
Waiting for the race to start, just hangin out with Thor. Yes Thor is the name of our mascot.

A few other things we've done:

• Took Shalie to Aurora for a weekend. It was a good weekend and had lots of fun showing her where we grew up. It also included an NSHS football game. Classic. Oh and we couldn't miss out on a slush with ice cream from the Ideal Dairy!
• A couple triple dates. Good times with good friends.
• Celebrating Aly's 21st birthday. That was a great day! It included a treasure hunt, destroying a pinata, laser tag, Olive Garden, and the temple.
• I had yet another season of city league volleyball come and go. It is always fun.
• College football, my favorite
• Watched Elf on Halloween. It was our way of getting away from the Halloween festivities that are so dumb.
• I signed up for a trip to Mexico. My first time out of the country and I'm so excited. I got my passport and am ready to go!
• Oh yeah and I've also been going to school... Yay for classes and homework and tests.
  

The World is Full of Probabilites

Have you ever thought about how often probabilities affect your life? Me neither. Because I'm taking probability and statistics, I see probabilities everywhere. In fact more than I ever cared to. As I come to a stop sign, I wonder what the probability is that the other cars approaching the intersection will stop. I don't really care what the probability is, but yet I'm thinking about it constantly. I hate the class and I don't understand it most of the time. I do the homework without understanding exactly what I'm doing. I suffer through it EVERYDAY. With that said, I am extremely proud of myself for my 93% on test number one. That means I understand it more than I think I do!
Other recent thoughts:
I have decided I really do like to run more than I thought. It's more the feeling of doing some physical activity and having a routine, I think. Also, I'm opposite of Aly. I like running early in the morning for a few reasons. One, I get out of bed and therefore go to class everyday. Two, there are less people around to see me running. Three, I'm tired early and therefore get to bed early. Four, I can run further in the morning.
I find myself thinking alot about how to prove something with things that are already known thanks to yet another math class. Really, who cares why we can say some things are the way they are? Well it is fun to think about really.
It's always so awkward when you have been singing along to a song for a long time and the whole time singing the wrong lyrics. Nobody wants to admit that they thought the lyrics were, "you're turning me on." When really the lyrics are, "you're telling me you're"...
Brian Regan is doing a show at Tuachan in May. I want to buy tickets so that I definitely get them. Is 8 months in advance too early?
I love going to church looking for answers and everything said in every meeting is exactly what I need to hear at that time. It seems that it is things I already know, but it is a good reminder at the right time.
I'm excited for General Conference this weekend.
I was finally released from my FHE calling two weeks ago. The biggest stress in my life is now someone else's stress. I enjoyed the calling for the most part, but towards the end it wore me down.

August 2009

August isn't even over and I've had so much fun! The next three posts are the big highlights of the month so far, including pictures! Enjoy!

SUBWAY

The last week before school starts we decided to squeeze one more amazing hike into our schedules. Aly, Shay, Dan, and I hiked 9 or 10 miles of beautiful amazingness. I did things I never thought I'd do on this hike. I jumped or slid down big boulders into water. And it was the nastiest water ever too. I swam through a hole under water. I climbed down a hole underneath a giant boulder not being able to see what I was doing. I swam through some pretty narrow places in deep water and got stuck. I got down a 20 foot cliff using a piece of webbing and my arms. I slid down some natural water slides and had to land on my bum every time. And I only fell once the whole day. The Subway part of the hike was SOOOO cool! In more than one way. Pictures were limited because we didn't have a waterproof camera and had to put our cameras in a dry pack so it was too much of a hassle to get it out all the time. Next time I'm so taking a waterproof camera. Nevertheless, here are some fun pictures! Oh and Yes we ate at Subway on our way home!

It's just so pretty!

Shay pushed Aly down. They actually had to push me down many times at different points of the hike to get me to just go and not think about it. We all slid down this rock from the top. The spot is just out of the picture.
One of the swimming spots! So cool and so COLD!
Just before the descent. That climb down was pretty easy after Havasupai!

More Hiking! In ZION

The day after I got back from Havasupai, Aly wanted to go to Zion and do some hiking. As long as she didn't make me do any Angel's Landing or other strenuous hikes I said I'd go. We ended up hiking Emerald Pools which was pretty easy, but going up those little hills were pretty rough. Here are a couple pictures of that hike:


Candid moment! haha.

I'm so happy I live in Utah for reasons like this. It's so pretty and I don't have to drive hours to see things like this!

Havasupai

This trip was basically one of the best experiences ever! I've always had a desire to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon because I knew there was so much I couldn't see from the North Rim. I finally had the chance! The whole time we were hiking down, I kept thinking about how I couldn't believe I was actually in the Grand Canyon doing something I've wanted to do for so long!
We left Cedar City Monday around 3 PM and arrived to Hualapai Hilltop (pronounced wallapai) between 11 PM and 12 AM. We got our packs ready and began our descent sometime around 12 AM. The first mile and a half was downhill switchbacks (I didn't get a picture because we hiked in and out during the night :( ). A couple times on our way down the switchbacks, we had to get to the side of the trail to make way for some horses and mules. The animals were not accompanied by any people at all. Very interesting.. Eight miles and four or five hours later, we arrived at the Supai Village where the Havasupai Tribe lives. That was a cultural experience for sure. They had their cows and horses at random places in the middle of all their homes. It's kinda weird to be walking next to a fence at 4:30 in the morning and see longhorn cows right next to you. And their horses were not always tied up. They pretty much roamed free with the dogs. There were SOOOO many dogs. We found some stone benches and slept there til the village opened up their shops at 7 AM. The people were friendly and the children as cute as can be. I did hear them speak their native language quite a bit which was pretty cool. Out of respect for the people, I didn't take any pictures of them. When we finally made it to the campground, we set up camp, relaxed, and ate. That day we hiked over to Mooney Falls (named for a man named Mooney who tried to climb up the cliff behind the falls and fell to his death). The falls were so beautiful. It's a good thing too because of what I had to climb down. It was a good 200 ft descent with tiny footholes and a few random chains to hold on to. We saw a kid fall the last 30 ft or so. Luckily he wasn't hurt too badly. I spent the most time at Havasu Falls. It was definitely my favorite place and was so amazing. The water was so blue. When we hiked out, we went through the village during the evening and so we were able to see so much more. They have an LDS branch down there and a little church building. Awesome! The hike out took us about 7 hours.. Ok not really because we spent a lot of time in the village. But we did stop an excessive amount. We were all exhausted after, but it was so fun. We met quite a few people including some men from Canada. I hung out with them at Havasu Falls while the rest of the group hiked an extra 6 miles to Beaver Falls. Here are a few pictures from my trip! Enjoy!

This was a random diner on the road where we stopped on the way home for breakfast. It looks kinda iffy, but it was definitely the best breakfast I've had in a while!

Here is the little LDS Church building! YAY!
These falls are called Rock Falls. They were formed just last year after their big flood. The Havasupai advise people to not go down to them because the ground is still unstable down there.
This is the monster I had to face to get to Mooney Falls! If you look close you can see a couple ladders and there are some people at the top to kind of give you perspective.
This is the amazing Havasu Falls. The water was super cold at first, but not too bad at certain times of day.
Mooney Falls. This is from just before we climbed down. So pretty!

The Havasu Creek. We were camped just to the right of this picture. I totally took a bath and washed my hair in this creek! That was one of the best parts of the trip... Gotta love clean hair!

July 2009

This hike is so much fun!!! Aly and I randomly decided one Saturday to go for a hike. We started at about 1 and got back home at about 5. I still don't think the hike is that long, we just had lots of fun. Well at least I did for sure. The first time I ever did this hike, I wasn't about to stand under the water falls or go down the rock slide. I did it this time though and it was so fun. So cold but so fun. I think next time, I'll go up the second waterfall. The ladder in the picture above is awesome. Scary but awesome!

More July highlights:

• Camping over the 4th of July with the family. Lots of fun! And Dad made dutchoven potatoes!!! My favorite
  
• The Salina Rodeo... It's always fun!
• My first time eating at Rusty's Steakhouse... And the guy took me on his motorcycle so that was a plus for sure.
• I also tried smoke trout the first time at Rusty's. It wasn't too bad.
• Sunday dinner... Some of you know what I mean (it was just really funny now that I think about it)
• Going to Harry Potter
• The Redmond Road Rally... We took 2nd place!
• 4-wheeler ride west of Aurora... My new favorite place
• Oh yeah and after the hike, Aly and I went to St George for some dinner and a little shopping!
• Playing catch at 1 AM... Good times
• The Lady Antebellum/Due West concert... It was super hot, but good music. Too bad certain company had to complain the whole time.
• I bought my first pair of Chacos. I'm loving them already! According to a friend, I am now a "follower"... hmmm

I hope I didn't miss anything! I've been having so much fun and am looking forward to Park City with my sisters and mom this weekend and then Havasupai next week! We are also going to hike the Subway in Zion in a couple weeks! I'm cramming as much fun as I can into the next few weeks before school starts again!

Summer '09 so far...

I guess if I tell Aly she needs to update her blog, then so must I. The summer seems to be going a little too fast for me. I guess that means I've been having too much fun. Here are some quick highlights of the summer so far:

• Las Vegas with my family. It was short, but fun.
• A day trip to Sand Hollow with some friends, even though I got super super burned!
• Playing volleyball in the Summer Games. It was fun even though we didn't win very much
• My first GOOD Cedar City rodeo with Aly.
• Many many girl's night out with Mikala! I'm gonna miss her.
• My sisters and I surprising Mom. She had no idea!
• Walking through walmart one night with Aly and seeing a group of people dressed as pirates. I made her follow them with me so I could get a picture, but they were moving too fast and then eventually left. Also a friend and I decided we should get dressed up in a certain way and go around town to see what reactions we will get from people. What would you dress up as?
  
• FHE attendance going from 8 or 10 people to 30 or 40 people! It's awesome!
• Seeing Night at the Museum. One of THE funniest movies ever.
• My "ah ha" moment.

I think that covers most of the highlights that I can remember. I'm looking forward to many more awesome times to come.
Also just a quick side note, I have decided that I want to go on a trip to Boston, MA. I have made some goals that I have to accomplish in order to let myself go which will help me get finished with my education. I decided that immediate incentive is what is going to help me most. Not that getting started with my career and getting off Dad's insurance soon isn't incentive, it is.

This picture was taken in Vegas in between the Belagio fountain shows. Daniel looks so thrilled.

Interesting Day

I pulled up to a gas station pump to fuel my car earlier today. As I parked and was getting out of my car, a woman and her young child (probably 3 or 4 years old) came walking out of the store. I didn't see exactly what happened, but somehow the woman tripped and fell to the ground. She rolled a couple times, nearly rolling over the top of her child who was on the ground at that time. When I saw this, I thought, "I should go help her up and make sure her and the little girl were ok." I got out of my car, just as five or six other people ran to their aid. At that point, I decided against going over to help, cause I knew if it were me I wouldn't want all those people hovered around me. I watched as a few people, including an employee, helped the woman to her feet and as another woman helped the young child. After a few minutes, the group went into the store, perhaps to get some ice for the woman or something like that. As I have been thinking about that experience, I am so grateful that others had the same thought to help the woman that I did. So amid all the hate and bad in the world, we can remember that there still are people in the world who care about each other.

Just as a side note, I successfully went a full day without my cell phone. I thought it would be a piece of cake, but it kinda drove me crazy. However, I noticed this morning that I forgot I had my phone with me today. Now I know that my phone is not really a basic neccessity for me.

Just Some Thoughts

I'm down to three days of classes and then finals week of year number four. I'm getting to the end, just a lot slower than most people. One big research paper and four tests. That's not too bad, especially since two of the tests are PE tests! Piece of cake. I think if I leave my cell phone off tonight, tomorrow, and Thursday, I should be able to conquer the research paper without any distractions... Well except my ability to focus for long periods of time doesn't exist, thus I'm blogging.
I've found so many things to keep me busy. Sometimes I think too many things. Family Home Evening is going to drive me to drink some days. Last night we had our last big tri-ward activity. So much work was put into it and I was exhausted by the end. I just hope those who came enjoyed themselves. Next week is our last big ward activity. We're doing some dutch oven and just hangin out. I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited that it's almost summer and thus we'll have less stressful activites. The one thing that discourages me the most about the work I put into FHE is the lack of participation. Our church leaders have told us how important Family Home Evening is, right? So why do so many single adults make everything else a priority on Monday nights? We try so hard to make our ward feel more united and more like a family.

Hahahaha

All I can do is laugh. When I got to work today, I knew to expect something for what I did. I walked in the office and my office door was closed with the light off, which is very strange considering the copier is in there and everyone else had been at work for three hours. So I cautiously opened the door to see what was going on. All my office supplies, my mouse, phone, and chair were saran-wrapped. I just laughed. It got even better when I realized my keyboard had bee replaced by a piece of paper with a picture of my keyboard with the following note: "Ransom- You must repair the damage that you have done if you ever want to see this again!" Well I couldn't do any work without a keyboard, so I just unwrapped all my stuff and then asked what I had to do to get my keyboard back. The nice people I work with requested frostys from Wendy's. A little while later, a manager came in and asked me if that picture on the front door was my engagement picture. I was so confused, then I realized there was a picture of my face on a big body with the ugliest dress. (The second pic) They had put this picture up all over the office. It was sooooo funny. I haven't laughed that hard in so long!

April Fools

My apologies to all those who believed me and now hate me for it! haha...

I had only one person question whether I was really engaged or not. I think that is pretty good. It was a success I think. I made up the date and the supposed proposal story on the spot. Kudos to me! hahhaha.

It was interesting to see and hear different people's reactions. Word got around pretty fast thanks to facebook. Friends hundreds of miles away knew within a few hours after I announced it on facebook. Anyways, sorry again but it was fun! hahaha

Oh and that fake ring turned my finger green. And nobody noticed!

Natalie's Pet Peeves

Lately a few things have been getting on my nerves a lot. These things have always bothered me, but I'm starting to notice them more and more.

1. The word definitely is not spelled D-E-F-A-N-A-T-E-L-Y........ There's not much more to say about that other than, "get a stinkin' dictionary"....

2. People should not text and/or call people while they are in the bathroom. WEIRD! Sunday evening I'm sitting on the couch at my lovely home as all my roommates come home. The last one to come home walks in (very loudly as usual) and walks into our awkwardly placed bathroom. About one minute later I hear her talking to someone and then realize that she placed a phone call while she was using the toilet. Awkward for both parties I think, and also the roommates listening to her talk on the phone knowing where she was. The cell phone does not have a place in any restroom or bathroom.

3. Public Display of Affection. There is a time and a place for this people... Don't make-out while you are waiting in line to ride a go-kart. Rude. Also church is not for sitting on your special someone's lap. Yeah, sadly enough that happens. Its the main reason I don't go to firesides. Hold each other's hand, that is totally normal. But you DON'T have to have contact at ALL TIMES. All I ask is that you respect the people around you. Not everyone wants to see you be all kissy all the time.

Natalie's Pet Peeves

Lately a few things have been getting on my nerves

Everyone's Gettin' Married.... Just Not Me

Yesterday, my friend Shay and I went down to St George for our friend Kelsey's bridal shower. It was fun to see her and spend a little time with her. She is getting married next weekend along with one of my best friends, Olivia. I'm excited for them and their men (they are also my friends). Someday it will be me...
After the shower, Shay and I made a few stops. I wanted to stop at the Nike outlet store, so we did and then stopped in to Tuesday Mornings which is right next door. Here are a few of the fun pictures we took.

As Per Request

Happy Valentine's Day! Haha what a dumb holiday. I will always call this day "Forced Romance Day". That doesn't mean I won't want flowers or a diamond of some sort on this day, just that it is really dumb.
Anyways, February 14, 2009 is officially the first Valentine's Day of my 22 years that actually had a little meaning. Well other than the cute gifts Mom liked to give us, I always did like those. After spending a day in St George with Aly, I came home to find a dozen roses and a few balloons with my name on them. I was so surprised and happy. Honestly I never thought I would ever enjoy receiving flowers cause they just die after a few days. However, I have enjoyed them in my house the past few days. They are so beautiful! They smell good too. I took this picture a little late though cause you can see one flower already wilting... Poor thing. They are still beautiful anyways. Yay!
It was also the first Valentine's Day I ever gave a guy something. It was fun though I didn't know what to get him. It worked out great though.

4th Folder, 4th Picture

Here are the rules:
1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on the computer
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder
3. Explain the picture
4. Tag 4 people to do the same
5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc)

I actually cheated a little with this. The fourth picture in the fourth folder had no people in it, so it was kinda boring. This is number six (cause it was the same as number fivc, just better). Last year for Easter, Mom, Dad, Daniel, Aly, and I went out to the San Rafael Swell for a day. This picture was taken at a place with pictographs. I can't remember the name of it exactly, but I think it had Sinbad in the name somewhere... I'm forgetful. Anyways, I made Daniel get uner the rock and pretend he was lifting it. His face is pretty good I think.

I Can't Come up with a Clever Title...

I have a couple of tests coming up and have been studying, but it seems I can only focus for about twenty minutes at a time. After that it becomes meaningless because I'm not taking anything in. So I decided to take a quick break and blog. Since nothing terribly fun or interesting goes on, I thought I would just point out some of my favorite times this January (so far).. So basically the highlights.
1. The morning I left to go to class/work and found a rose on the windshield of my car.
2. The weekend before my birthday. I got to see some old friends and enjoy good old el Mexicano twice :)
3. My birthday, of course. I don't think I will ever not look forward to my birthday, no matter how old I get.
4. Skiing with my sisters. Thanks, Amy and Aly!!! I managed to only crash once...
5. This year I can actually say that my New Year's eve/day was one of my favorites. What could be better than playing volleyball for three hours and seeing one of my favorite people?
6. The Utes playing in the Sugar Bowl and....... WINNING!
7. I guess I can't leave out my weekly volleyball game. It is always a highlight of my week.
I think that's about it. My January, excluding the 'lowlights'.

Help

I have made a goal for myself to strengthen my abdominals and back muscles and also to increase flexibility. I am looking for a wide variety of ab workouts so that I don't get bored of the workout so quickly (which seems to be my problem when doing certain exercise routines). If anyone has ideas or know of good exercises, let me know.
Also I have discovered that my resting heart rate is a bit higher than I would like it to be. I hate running, but I need to incorporate some cardiovascular exercise in my life. So if you have favorite exercise programs that are not running, I would like to hear of those as well.