syrup and ice

i've certainly missed this:

jeremy and i shared this peach, red raspberry, and pina colada shave ice
with cream on top this afternoon. dreamy! i need to have a few more before we head
back to the east. why doesn't boston have shave ice? i will never understand.

it's official...

i love everything about the olympics.

the camaraderie, the anticipation, the heartbreak, the victory, the tears, the sweat, the national anthems, the flags, the amazing stories... i could go on and on, but i'm busy watching the games.

weekend at the ranch

6 down

riley has been out on his mission for exactly 6 months - woohoo!
only 18 to go, which is kind of depressing, but he is doing awesome.
we love getting his emails and letters... he is hilarious!

here's the end of a letter we got from the boy earlier this month:
(fyi- he is the king of hashtags and uses them in everything he writes.)

We were eating at an investigators house on saturday night. They said they would feed us isaan food. Score. We show up with two sisters from the branch. It's going great I'm thinking. The food is alright, no som tom but no bugs either. Then they bring out this meat that looks like straight up pooh. Seriously. It looked like pooh. It was raw meat. Sirens are going off in my mind. Salmonella, hospitals, death. I figure I'll just casually avoid it. Disaster. The dad of the house tells me to try it. #crap. So I get some on my plate and am adding rice to the spoonful when he says eat it without rice. Are you kidding? I can't get a break. I'm about to eat raw meat and I can't even eat it watered down with rice. It's like having to read a horrible novel for school and realizing they don't have sparknotes for it. #worstfeelingever. So what do i do? I eat it. Surprisingly it wasn't too bad. It was doused in enough spices that I was more concerned with my burning tongue than anything else. Crazy right? Well next they bring out snails. #realtalk #wishiwaskidding They give you a toothpick and you stab it in and twirl the little guy out of his shell...then eat him. It was awful. The most bitter thing I've ever eaten. SO gross. Don't do it. Just say no. Life is great. Mission life rocks. Much Love!

sounds crazy! i think i would DIE! well, rye... we are so proud of you.
we miss you and love you lots of tons! keep working hard buddy!

we are runners

what a race! i loved the distance. i think i will have to run more 10ks. we had a great time... although it is significantly harder to breathe here compared to boston, sea level is great for running. i ran the whole thing in less than 1 hour so i am happy! sam stayed with me until about the last mile and half and then he took off. he's a good brother for staying with my that long. it worked out great because he was able to cheer me on just before i reached the finish line. thanks sammy! we certainly enjoyed the free stuff - jamba juice, creamies, powerade, orange slices - after we ran our guts out. no medal though, major bummer! but check out my race number, coolest number EVER! i'm saving that for the rest of my life. now i need another race to sign up for!

his first

we made it to utah safely and we have been playing non-stop.

last night we went to the rodeo! it was jeremy's first time.
can you believe it? i lived in wyoming for 5 years so i have been to a lot.

it was quite the show! jeremy thought it was pretty great and so entertaining.
he even snagged a free shirt that was tossed in the stands. what a fun night!

22 days...

of way too much fun.

now that school is over (i had my last class yesterday! YAY!) and we are happily unemployed, we are heading out to frolic with our favorite people -aka FAMILY- for a good three weeks + one day. i hope time crawls! i can't wait for the stories, the laughs, the late night chats, the many adventures, the games, the delicious meals, and the just-sitting with our best buds. AHHHHHH! so excited over here. i can hardly contain myself.

here we come utah!
see you in just a few hours... or a whole bunch (flying cross-country takes a while).

twenty-two

happy birthday sammy!

me and you in 1990 - i thought you were pretty funny... i still think you are pretty funny

i hope your day rocks! i'm so glad we have been doing this growing-up thing together. we sure have had a lot of fun. thanks for being an awesome little brother and one of my best buds. i can't wait to see you TOMORROW to celebrate your big day... and eat delicious wafer cake! yum. i even have a present for you! woot woot!

xoxo,
your favorite sister... EVER

he bought a boat

jeremy was concerned about all of his free time now that
he is done with school, so he bought a model boat to build.

initially, i wasn't very excited about the idea.

i didn't want to have to keep some fake boring boat around for the rest of our lives. but jeremy was really bored. when we were looking at the models in the store, jeremy so kindly let me pick out the paint. so i rounded up the teal and neon yellow above. oh yeah! i can't wait for the finished product. we'll see if jeremy's bored enough to finish it. i don't think i would have the patience.