Monday, March 30, 2009

Frog Rock


This is a picture I took of some of my friends (Ben, Brynne, Angie, and Andy) last May on Frog Rock. It was Angie's 17th birthday and we found ourselves wandering all over the city shoved into Angie's car that night. It was truly a night that I won't soon forget, especially as sunset hung in the air. Frog Rock is an amazing hulk of rock that lies above Weber High School in the middle of a subdivision. Since that night, I have brought many a friend to Frog Rock to drink hot chocolate and admire the city lights. But on this occasion, the light was just right and my position just so - I snapped the photo. Later I edited the picture using Picasa, and added a quote that my mom found for me. I love the quote! - (click on the picture and you can read it...) I couldn't keep something like this to myself, so of course I framed a whole bunch of the pictures and gave them to my friends so that they would not forget that evening as well. :)

Sunday, March 29, 2009

"Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too"

"It's the Night of Nights..." I'm not a fan of High School Musical 3, but who doesn't mind a little Zac Efron? :)

I've been beginnging to think all little girls have been brainwashed into thinking that Prom is the most glamorous experience one can look forward to in high school. In fact, it's a fairytale waiting to happen. Unfortunately, it's been drilled into mine and all my buddies' heads as well, so when we don't get asked - it's a rather painful experience.

But Hark! Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Jessica was indeed asked to Prom, and is about to announce her experience on the world wide web. Lend me thy ears and lean in close so thou wilt not miss a detail.

'Twas seven days passed from this very day when Jess and her handsome date Chris made their merry way to the land of Hogle, where beasts of every kind roam in rather tight quarters. The two preadults were accompanied by exactly one dozen other couples upon this activity of the day. The group was loud, but so large that it would be quite impossible to wander the zoo together, for it would be assumed that civilians would mistake them for a troop of circus monkeys. So break off they did indeed, and Jess and Chris and Michelle paraded through the home of wild creatures. They lunched together and had a great experience in the utterly beautiful weather of the first day of Spring.

The men dropped off their fair maidens at each of their dwellings at two hours past noon. Jess rushed into her home and immediately began the primping and preening that is expected amongst the gentle sex. Four hours later, Jess's hair was arranged in ringlets and pulled back from her eyes. She felt presentable and was quite satisfied with her hours of work.

Her dress was the color of "spoiled milk" as one short little man-dwarf put it, but Jess's gallant date defended her by chastising him and saying it was more of the color of "eggnog." Eggnog is a much more enjoyable flavor to Jess's buds of taste and was willing to agree although she simply believed it was easier to say "cream."

And it came to pass, that a corsage of beautiful red roses was slipped upon Jess's wrist and a white rose boutonniere was painstakingly and difficultly pinned upon Chris's black tux. They filed into the van of Ben and continued to pick up the other beautiful women expected at the dance.

It was of the hour of dinner and Maddox was expecting a reservation of twenty couples for the evening. Indeed, there is no joking to be had, there were forty preadults to be served dinner. Maddox was so kind as to accomodate the large group and placed them in the Lodge and the group was fortunate to have a whole part of a building to themselves. In fact they were able to provide their own entertainment through the playing of a beautiful baby grand piano. Jess's date was the man in charge of this group and in the making of the reservation, and so the chef led Chris and Jess to their seats, placing them at the head of the table. It was a rather uncomfortable place to be seated, but it was handled with grace and Jess and Chris made it through the night.

There is a moment that must be explained before I can further continue in my story. Jess's date is named Chris Heiner. Yes, he is a member of the Heiners of "the enemy" insurance group "Heiner's Insurance." The clan called Heiner is a rather well known name amongst the people of Northern Utah, and this reputation does not evade Chris. The chef of Maddox knows Chris and worked with him closely in plans for dinner. In fact, the little grand piano was placed there with the thought in mind that Chris would play a few musical pieces for the abundance of people around him. Little did Jess know of Chris's talent to play elaborate songs from memory upon the ivory keys of the piano. With much coaxing the chef and company persuaded Chris to play a melody. Within the first four notes played Jess blushed...or atleast had a stupor of thought come to her mind. Chris began to play the well-known tune "Jessica's Theme" from, "The Man from Snowy River," the movie she is in fact named after. Coincidence...she thought not! She took it as a compliment and felt special for a few moments, for she doubted that not very many people would know the name of that tune. Chris did ask her later if she knew what that song was and she replied with an affirmative yes and a thank you.

The group devoured the meals laid before them and then each took their turn playing pieces on the piano. Jess was so impressed by the talent around her, and felt that it was her most favorite part of the evening! Memorizing is a talent Chris's date lacks, but Jess was able to plunk out her fabulous rendition of "The Entertainer" for all to hear.

They arrived at the dance quite late. It was held at the Events Center of Dee at the institution of Weber State. They took pictures and danced in line while they waited. Conversation was not very snappy considering Jess's amazing social skills...but the evening was wonderful and she enjoyed it thoroughly. She especially enjoyed the part where they managed to fit seventeen couples into a group photograph. It was immense amounts of fun!

They ALL left the dance a little early so as to make it back to Chris's abode and watch a movie. They ate popcorn and candies while laughing at the movie and all were amazed that so many could file into the living room of Chris along with the dresses of immense poof. Chris appeared rather stressed to Jess and was not very talkative towards the end of the evening. She didn't mind, for she was rather worn out herself, but it was so unusual to see Chris act that way. He especially became tense when it came time for all of the party to leave in order to meet a curfew of midnight. His kindly parents took pictures of the couple and sent them out the door.

The van of Ben slowly emptied as the maidens were once again dropped off for the end of a rather eventful day. Chris walked Jess to her front door. She gave him a hug and gave much thanks. She reached for her door handle when suddenly Chris asked Jess if he could finish the night off with a kiss! Shocked that he would ask after the way he had been acting, Jess agreed anyway and thus obtained her first kiss....

It is a rather sweet story but there are a few things to be explained - Jess has no romantic feelings towards Chris whatsoever. She has always had the feeling that Chris liked her far more than she liked him, but she enjoys his company and friendship. So although they kissed, she walked into her front door and had no discombobulated feelings. In fact, she felt no feelings at all! There is not a lie to be had among those words. It was not a romantic kiss, but she decided that it was more of a "thank you" kiss instead. She still has no feelings for Chris - and she has no idea how he now feels. But fortunately, they are still friends, and it does not feel awkward to be around each other, which she feels is good news to report.

So thus ends the tale of Jess and Chris on the evening of Prom. It was a lovely night indeed!

I still believe prom is overrated, but I was really excited to go - heck! It is prom afterall...and I have been brainwashed. It was a fun day. Good times. Good memories. :)



Sunday, March 15, 2009

Inspired by Jen - Some CD Covers!

As I mentioned in my last post, Jen gave me tapes with magazine cutout covers. Those mean a lot to me, and I wanted to give something like that to my friends. So for Christmas I made my friends a CD of all of our all-time-favorite songs. I asked each of them to write down a note that explained why they loved that song so much and then I made a CD booklet of everything they told me. I made CD covers out of magazine cutouts and basically scrapbooked every page of the booklet. 15 booklets later, I was done. Actually...I didn't finish them until mid-February so it became more like a "Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day Present." Even though it was really late, I was so happy with what I had done. I had really put my heart into what I did for them. I kind of miss it now. :)

But I figured I could post a picture of all the covers I created. I think they're kinda fun - I like looking at them. :)


Thinkin' about Jen

I suppose my aunt Jenny has been on all of our minds lately. It's so hard for me to imagine that it's already been an entire year. I've been reading Mindy's and Heather's blogs just admiring how well they can write and tell their memories of Jen. I just wanted to pass on some of my memories that I have of Jenny as well.

Tonight I was at a stake dance and the song "Put a Little Bird House in Your Soul" came on over the crowd. I screamed "I LOVE THIS SONG!" and tried to remember the last time I had heard it. Then I got to thinking of the tapes the Jenny made me when I was in like 2nd and 3rd Grade. I remember Jenny Sykes (that's how I remember her) said once in a comment on the blog Heather put together for Jenny that "If Jen took the time to make you a cd, then you were receiving a gift straight from her heart." I was fortunate to recieve a couple of those gifts. She made me two tapes with the covers made from magazing cut-outs. In fact, Jenny inspired me to do the same thing for my friends this year for their Christmas present. I just wanted to share with you some of the songs she put on those tapes for me.
What a Wonderful World - Heavy Cloud No Rain - Chain of Fools - Superstar- Angel - Always You - Sigma -Getting Better - Just Around the Riverbend - Grease - Sweet Home Alabama - There She Goes - You Were Meant for Me - Don't Turn Around - Material Girl - The Promise - Angel - Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Theme from Charley's Angels - I Will Follow Him - Moon River - Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Because You Loved Me - Lullaby
On the other tape, there were songs like "Wonder Woman", "Bird House in Your Soul", "Baby Let Your Hair Hang Down", "Little Bitty Pretty One" and a whole bunch of other songs. If you've noticed my music that I have on this blog, a lot of it came from Jen's tapes...and you thought I was weird. :) Those tapes got me hooked to 60s music. I remember she accidentally put the song "Angel" on my tape twice. Little did I know it was probably a mistake that she didn't want to go back and fix, but instead of telling me that, she told me that she thought I would like that song the very best and put it on their twice for me. And you know what? It was my favorite.

Another memory was those amazing times at Lake Powell. I remember on one trip Jenny made up stories off the top of her head and shared them with all the cousins. We would beg her at the end of each day...or whenever we were bored or not swimming...to tell us the next half of the story. The one I kind of remember was about these Fish-People (not mermaids! They were people with gills) that lived deep in the ocean and they discovered a city or something...I don't completely remember. But I do remember that it was one of mine and Ariel's favorite things to do - to sit in the shade of the cliffs on top of the house boat and listen to Jen.

I also remember, probably on that same Lake Powell trip, that Jenny gave me, Ariel, Brent, and Bryce nicknames. I'm not sure what my nickname was, but Ariel's was "Tuts" and I think Bryce's was "Hawce." We just loved that! She also was trying to see how tan she could get on the trip. She had a pack of star stickers with her and everyday she'd put one on her ankle - hoping to leave a tan line of a star...for a 6 or 7 year old, I thought that was weird.

Do you remember that evil killer bunny movie Jenny and Jen Sykes made? I remember that show SCARED ME TO DEATH. I hated it.

Me and Ariel used to think Jenny was so mean because she was always yelling at us to stop running around. What a fun sucker. Then she went on her mission and when she came back, we thought she was really nice! Me and Ariel decided that her and Mindy had switched places (no offense Mind). :) Jenny left mean and came back nice and Mindy used to be nice but was the mean one now. Me and Ariel always loved Jenny though (and we loved you too Mindy).

My other favorite thing to do was go to Smith and Edwards and see Jen working in the candy aisle. For the longest time I thought that the only thing they had at Smith and Edward's was candy because that was the only thing I ever got there. I'm still not exactly sure what's all at Smith and Eddy's.

Gosh...I miss Jen. Little did I know how much she inspired me to be so much of the person I am today. One of mine and Marie's favorite things to do now is make up bedtime stories. Smith and Edwards is still the best place to get candy. My love for music. She helped me realize how I could design things. I call Marie "Tuts" sometimes. I love taking photos. I love sharing new places with my friends. Me and Alyssa used to love making movies. Jen helped me to realize that school doesn't have to be all about the work....it's funny how things worked out. I guess I had to realize it the hard way - I didn't know what I had until it was gone.

As cliche as it might sound, Jen is my inspiration. I think about her so much. I find my mind wandering over the things she did in life all the time.

I love you Jen. Miss you too.